French Vogue?” Stevie raised a brow and crossed her arms over her chest.
Julian’s grin turned into a smirk as he showed her the magazine. “I still cannot believe Collette Agustin is your mum. Look at her!”
“Great, my boyfriend thinks my mother is attractive. Shoot me now,” Stevie whined before she left him to his magazine stash and went into the kitchen. She took out the Sprite from the fridge and a glass from the cupboard, pouring herself a drink. “You better clean all that up. Don’t forget that Ally’s moving in next week!”
He had made a loud groaning sound before he entered the kitchen and joined her. This time he held a copy of Sports Illustrated. “Seriously, I am so glad your mother is this attractive. She definitely passed it on to her offspring.”
Stevie cringed. “Ew. Now I wish I never told you about Collette being a model. And why do you have every cover spread my mother did in our apartment, anyways?” she asked sipping her beverage.
“Because she’s coming to stay with us!” he announced in excitement.
She spat out her drink, coughing. “What?” More coughing. “My mother cannot stay with us! I don’t care how hot you think she is!”
“Then take the internship back at Rogers & Co. It was unfair dismissal, and Mona misses you.” He pulled his best puppy dog eyes at her, and it made her want to slap him. “Please, Stephanie?”
Stevie shook her head. “No. Absolutely not. You’re the vice president. I don’t want ‘she’s banging the boss’ to travel around. Plus, now that I won’t be taking online classes for my final year, I like going to campus. Did you use my mother to get me to return to work?”
“No,” he sighed. “You’re mother isn’t coming over to stay with us. But she’s welcome to at any time.”
“Thank God,” she said, relieved. Then she picked up the bottle of Sprite and began to top off her glass.
Julian stepped closer until his mouth was close to her ear and whispered, “Have my offspring, Blondie. We’d make beautiful terrors.”
That was when Sprite made it onto the bench rather than in her glass. “Are you shitting me?”
He took the bottle from her hands and spun her around, her back pressing into the counter.
“Julian, we are not having kids anytime soon,” she warned.
He rolled his eyes at her. “Fine. Then can I ask you something else?”
“Fine.”
Julian’s lips had brushed over hers before he pulled back. Then he let out a heavy sigh and got down on one knee.
“What are you doing?” she asked. Her eyes widened as he glanced up at her.
“I’m tying my laces.”
“Oh, thank God. I thought… never mind.”
Julian’s brows furrowed as he knotted his laces. “I was going to ask if we could get a dog?”
Stevie bent down and cupped his face. “I let you live here. I think that’s enough for a little while. I’m still getting used to you leaving clothes on the bathroom floor. Plus, we’d have to ask Ally if she’d be okay with a dog, too.”
“Ally is the worst roommate ever!” he complained.
“She hasn’t even moved in yet,” Stevie scolded and then lightly kissed his lips.
“I have something for you.”
“You do?”
The twinkle in his eyes had her smiling. Julian dug into his jacket pocket and took out a small cube. Her heart stopped as she took in the velvet box.
He didn’t…
Julian opened it and presented it to her. Inside, sitting on the cushion was a rolled up piece of paper. He took out the small scroll and handed it to her. Stevie stood up and began to unroll it. When it was uncurled, she read what he had written.
One day I’m going to marry you. When everything is right for both of us. Someday you’ll be my wife and I’ll get to proudly call you that. You’ll probably be complaining about how annoying your husband will be and I’ll wear that title like a cocky bastard. In the end, it doesn’t matter if you marry me today or tomorrow because I know someday we’ll get there. We’ll have awesome children and all the other lame stuff because you’re my all-in.
And I love you endlessly.
Her hearts swelled as she gazed up at him and his beautiful smile. “Did you just not propose to me?”
“Oh, right.” Julian raised a finger in a ‘one second’ gesture and dug his hand back into his pocket. Then he held out a silver ring with a silver cutout of a bird on it and returned to