Passionately.
Fervently.
Desperately.
Longingly.
My mouth had missed his. It knew the taste of his tongue, the play of his lips. My body surrendered to the very familiar, very real feel of his wide hands on the small of my back, gripping my body.
He pulled away as we panted and caught our breath.
“Don’t apologize for a thing,” he said.
“What are you doing here?”
He licked his swollen lower lip. “I came for you.”
“How did you find me? Preeti?”
“She only promised not to tell anyone your address. She told me your new workplace, and I might’ve been stalking you for the past couple of hours.”
“You’re a weasel.” I laughed.
“Lawyer.” He pointed at himself, proud and amused. “I came because you’re the one,” he rasped. “You’re mine. I’m yours. We don’t belong with anyone else. I don’t stand in front of you, or run after you. I walk alongside you. I will be damned if anything breaks us. Do you understand me?”
He gently took my jaw in his hand. “Do. You. Understand. Me?”
I bit my lip and nodded. “What about your family? Are they still okay with us?”
“They love you, and you know that.”
“What about how embarrassing my drama is? That I’m too much of a mess after all? That your family is appalled by the drama, how vile my dad is, the fight ahead bringing to light what Mukesh did?”
“None of that is true. I should’ve stopped them from talking, should’ve taken you out of the room, but I was in shock. And then I just wanted to bash Mukesh’s face in. I didn’t think. I was always going to come after you, no matter how fast or far you ran, but they weren’t going to get out of that room without knowing where we stood, where they stood. I am so sorry if you felt alone or abandoned or humiliated.”
“I was afraid that you might believe them.”
“Never, ever think that I wouldn’t believe you.”
I swallowed and blinked away tears.
“Your dad won’t bother your mom that way again. Mukesh will be removed from his responsibilities and his position at mandir. He will go to jail if you want to press charges. I will take care of it. I will be by your side. You will never stand alone ever again.”
I nodded, relieved beyond reason to finally hear those words. I gulped in several deep breaths to keep myself from getting emotional. “Do you understand why I hate Houston now?”
He cupped my face and wiped my tears with his thumbs. “I do. Baby, I’m so sorry that you endured all that pain alone for so long, that you hurt so badly last night and I wasn’t there to hold you.”
I hiccupped. “You’re making me cry.”
He pressed my forehead against his chest. “Then I’ll just hold you while you cry.”
His shirt soaked up all of these stupid, dreadful tears, but his arms around me made everything one hundred percent better.
When I managed to control my crying and pull away, he kissed my nose and softly asked, “Can I see your new place?”
I squeaked out a laugh, took his hand in mine, and went upstairs. We took off our shoes and snuggled on the couch as he looked around. “Not bad. Kind of big for one person. Maybe you need a roommate?”
“Are you…offering to move here?” I squeaked. My heart fluttered with anticipation, that we would move ahead and get our happy ending.
He sucked in a breath. “Liya, you’re wild as hell, a whole lot of trouble cushioned by a whole lot of amazing. I can’t sleep when you’re not next to me. I can’t keep my focus not knowing if we’ll be together. You challenge me. You keep pace. Hell, sometimes you even leave me in the dust. I love that. I adore you. You’re the madness I need, the passion I breathe, the spark that brings me to life. I will go wherever you are.”
I swallowed hard, afraid to ask, “Won’t you hate me for making you leave your family?”
“I talked to them. Before I even opened my mouth to tell them, they told me to go. With happiness. With blessing. With support. I wasn’t going to ask them for their permission or advice. I already knew, the moment you walked out of that room, I knew that you had to get out of Houston and that I would go wherever you needed to be.”
“But your job.”
He laughed. “I wasn’t anywhere near making partner with my law firm after the debacle with your company. I can start over. I have connections here. Things will work out. I’ve been eyeing Dallas and some other cities. Honestly, I was afraid to leave Ma after my dad died, but my dad would’ve wanted me to live my life, to be with you. My dad would’ve loved you as much as the rest of us do. Besides, Houston isn’t that far. It’s a long weekend at worst.”
“Do you mean to say that you’re really going to move in with me?”
He kissed me with absolute need. The answer was in his eyes, swirling with resolution, determination. “Do you think you can escape me so easily? What? Just drive off to Dallas and think I won’t find you?”
“I tried.” I half smiled, and he grinned.
“I’ll follow you to the ends of the earth because you are most definitely worth it.” He traced my temple down to my jaw. “Do you have those shoes that I bought you?”
“Yes.”
“Put them on,” he said.
“Now?”
“Yep. Are they in that suitcase by the bedroom?”
“Um. Yes.”
Jay returned and lowered himself to his knees in front of me. He caressed the side of my calves and looked up at me with irrefutable longing.
“I should get dressed first,” I said.
“Actually, I want you undressed, but just wearing these heels.”
I bit my lip at the implication of his words, of the images that swept through me.
“There’s something you should know first,” he said.
“What?”
“There’s something wrong with these heels.”
“If they’re fake, I didn’t even notice.” I laughed.
But then Jay handed me a shoe upside down, the sole facing the ceiling. I blinked twice to make sure I wasn’t seeing things.
Around the tall, spiked heel rested a white gold ring.
My breath shook. What was happening?
I looked to Jay for an explanation, but he shrugged, and we both returned to looking at the ring: not a diamond ring, but a sapphire one, one that sparkled with every deftly cut facet more brilliant and colorful than any diamond.
“What—what is this?”
Jay took the delicate ring from me and slid it on my right hand.
“I know you’re not into marriage and arranged engagements and such, but here’s a ring. A symbol of my devotion, whether it’s officially on paper or just officially in our hearts. Liya Thakkar?”
“Yes?” I whispered.
“Will you be mine? Forever and always?”
I couldn’t speak. I could barely nod my answer.
“I am so in love with you, you may never know the full extent of my devotion, but I promise to show it every day. In how I treat you, not like a princess, but a queen. Not as my submissive other half, but as my equal. I know you can take care of yourself, but should someone try to hurt you, they’ll still have me to deal with. Not one day will go by without you feeling my love, in action, words…or when we turn down that bed every night.”