One Night With a Billionaire - By VickiLewis Thompson Page 0,33
a man in love.
The light in her gray eyes was faint at first, and he almost missed it. Then it grew brighter, and he felt the pressure of her hands clutching his. Heart pounding, he watched her expression change from disbelief to tentative hope.
“I love you,” he murmured again.
Her smile began slowly, and as it widened, her eyes glistened with unshed tears.
“Do you believe me?”
Still not speaking, she swallowed and nodded.
“Will you give me a chance?”
“Oh, Drew.” Her voice was hoarse with emotion. “You don’t need any more chances. You had me the minute you ran after those muggers.”
“I did?”
“Of course! Didn’t anyone ever tell you a woman loves a knight in shining armor?”
“I wasn’t trying to be—”
“I know.” She pulled her hands from his and cupped his face. “And that’s why I love you.”
She loved him. He felt the tightness in his chest give way as warmth flowed in. She hadn’t known about his money, and she hadn’t been looking to cash in on her relationship with him. She’d been taken by his effort to protect her not with his money but with his strength. She loved him.
She leaned closer. “Do you believe me?”
“Yes.” He was grinning like an idiot and couldn’t stop doing it. “You know this means we’re getting married, right?” Then he winced. What a boneheaded proposal. He was not bringing his A-game.
“My mama and daddy will like that.”
“What about you? Will you like that?”
“You mean will I like sleeping in your bed every night and making love whenever we feel like it?”
He chuckled. “Among other things. Listen, I can give you a much better proposal than this. You don’t have to say yes yet. Let me get the ring and do it up right.”
“Good grief. Never mind all that drama. My answer is yes, I will like being married to you. I will like it very much.”
“Good. I’ll slip the ring under your pillow some night after we’ve had lots of good sex. How about that?”
“Sure. Whatever.”
“You don’t care about the ring?” He should have known that, too.
“I only care about you.” She met his gaze.
“And that’s why I’m the luckiest man on Earth.”
“And I’m the luckiest woman. I guess that takes care of everything, huh?”
“Almost.” He reached for her seat belt and unbuckled it. “Except for the kissing part. Please stand up. My knees are killing me.”
Laughing, she let him pull her up and into his arms. Their kiss was long and heartfelt, punctuated by more murmured words of love. It lasted until the plane lurched and Suzanne came back to advise them of turbulence.
Drew held Melanie close for one second more and gazed into her eyes. “There’s so much to talk about—whether we want kids, where we’ll live, the size of the wedding, where we should go on our honeymoon . . .”
“We have a long plane ride. We’ll figure it out. But I know where I want to go on our honeymoon.”
“Bali? Tahiti?”
She shook her head. “Paris. There’s this small hotel there, and—”
“I can’t think of anything better.” He supposed at some point in his life he’d been this happy, but if so, he couldn’t remember when.
Epilogue
It was a three-margarita night when Melanie met her friends Astrid Lindberg and Valerie Wolitzky at Stetsons & Golden Spurs, their favorite watering hole in downtown Dallas. Two weeks earlier, Drew had joined them so Val could meet the paragon Melanie planned to marry, and Astrid could get reacquainted with the childhood friend she hadn’t seen in years. But tonight was just for the girls. Melanie wanted to show them the antique ring Drew had given her, which was perfect and so much better than a huge rock. And meanwhile, Astrid said she needed some advice on her own love life.
The three friends went back a long way. They’d met and bonded their freshman year at a small college in east Texas. They’d joined the same sorority, and because they were all only children, they’d cherished the sense of sisterhood more than most. After graduation, they’d stayed close. Val, the only one who wasn’t from the Dallas area, had deliberately taken a job with a Dallas law firm so she wouldn’t lose touch with her buddies.
Melanie’s wedding plans took up most of the first round of drinks. They discussed dress designs, venues, and the bachelorette party. Because Melanie was the first to get engaged, they spent part of the time on their phones doing internet research on current wedding fashions.
By the second round of margaritas, Astrid