Fuck.
He turned back and grabbed the doorknob, but then heard himself say, “Marry me.”
10
He gripped the doorknob, holding his breath, just waiting.
He wasn’t panicking. He wasn’t hoping she hadn’t heard him. He wasn’t hoping she’d laugh it off.
He really fucking wanted her to say yes.
Finally she did answer.
“What?”
He turned. She was staring at him as if he’d just announced that he was going to take her gall bladder out right here and now with nothing but a butter knife and a bottle of hydrogen peroxide.
“Marry me,” he said again. Firmer. “It’s the perfect solution.”
“To what exactly?”
“All of this.” It really was. He hadn’t even realized just how perfect until now. As the idea kept going through his mind, it became more and more clear. He nodded. “I want to help. This allows me to do that. You need help. This provides that. You don’t have insurance. This would give you insurance. We’ll add you to my policy. That won’t cost me anything more. I already pay the premiums, and we have an exceptional plan with excellent coverage and a very low deductible.”
Those were all true statements. He and Cam had found the best plan for their company. While the five partners were all healthy, single guys and didn’t need a lot of coverage, they needed to cover their employees as well, and they’d all agreed that a comprehensive plan that didn’t cost the employees much was going to be a perk of working at Fluke Inc. Cam had also agreed with Grant that they needed good coverage, not because any of the partners had chronic illnesses but because two of them had the chronic tendency to do things like travel in foreign countries on whims and skydive with only a couple of lessons.
“But we would have to actually be married,” Jocelyn said.
“Yes.”
“That’s… fraud.”
“It’s not fraud if we’re legally married,” he said. “They don’t need to know why we’re married. All that matters is that we have a legal marriage license.”
“But…” She frowned. “We would have to actually be married,” she repeated.
“Yes,” he said again.
“Why would you do that?”
“For all of the reasons I just listed.” He crossed the room, coming to stand right in front of her. “And because I can think of a lot of things far worse than living and sleeping with you every night.”
Her eyes widened. “You were just complaining about the fact that I was ‘making’ you stay here in Appleby longer than you’d intended,” she said, lifting her finger to put quotes around making. “Now you want to commit yourself to even more?”
Grant lifted a hand and tucked her hair behind her ear. She really was beautiful. She was sassy at times. She had more spunk than he’d anticipated. But she was sweet, and he knew she thought his inability to forget about her was romantic.
“Look, I’m going to be totally honest with you,” he said, his voice getting gruff without him even trying. He could convince her of this. He could sweep her off her feet. Not because he was so smooth and romantic but because she liked the idea of them having instant chemistry and a connection he couldn’t deny.
He didn’t want to use that against her. At least, not entirely. He wanted her to know the score.
Her bottom lip was trapped between her teeth as she studied his eyes.
“If it weren’t for your gall bladder I wouldn’t have proposed already,” he said. He gave her a little half grin and was gratified to see her smile in return. “But I wouldn’t have been leaving town any time soon either. I would have wanted to keep seeing you. I would have wanted to keep getting you naked. So this is going a little farther than all of that, I’ll admit, but it’s for a good cause.”
She just stared at him, but she took a deep breath.
“And I really need to know that you’re okay now that I’ve gotten to know you,” he said. “That’s who I am. I can’t stand leaving people more vulnerable than I found them.” He smiled. “You can ask my sister and my grandmother about how stubborn I can be when I decide I need to take care of someone.”
Jocelyn blinked. “You take care of your sister and grandmother?”
He nodded. “My sister and grandma needed someone to look out for them and I was that guy. I’ve helped them become a lot more self-sufficient and independent and I love that. But when they really needed help? Yes, I was