Adrian let out a tired sigh as he pulled up to his apartment, just after noon. He’d spent most of the morning at work, alone, doing his best not to call and disturb Sam. She was spending the day with her family, while his had fled. Heather had gone to Daytona, and his mother was on a cruise in Alaska with her latest boyfriend.
But then, there was nothing unusual about that. He hadn’t had a family Christmas since he was fifteen.
For the last eleven years, Christmas had meant nothing more than a heated TV dinner eaten in front of bad television shows.
“I hate Christmas,” he muttered as he got out of his car, and went to his apartment.
He opened his door. Then, he froze dead in his tracks.
Someone had put a small Christmas tree in his living room and decorated it.
Frowning, Adrian closed the door and took his coat off, then went to the tree where a medieval-looking note card was tied with a ribbon to a branch.
He flipped it open.
Milord, Knight in Shining Armor, methinks thou hast a present in thy chamber.
He smiled at Sam’s writing. She must have stopped by while he’d been at work. How he wished she’d called him. He’d love to see her today.
Oh, well, she’d be at work tomorrow.
Holding the card to his heart, he went to see what she’d left for him. He opened the door to his bedroom and went stock-still as his jaw fell open.
Sam was lying on his bed dressed in a teddy that made his mouth water, and she had a bow tied around her neck.
“Where have you been?” she asked with a seductive smile as she closed the book she’d been reading and put it on his nightstand.
Adrian couldn’t speak, since his tongue was hanging on the floor.
Her smile widened as she left the bed and moved to stand in front of him. “Carpet got your tongue?” she asked.
He smiled.
Cupping her face in his hands, he stared in awe. “I thought you were going over to your mom’s.”
“I am for dinner. But I wanted to surprise you.”
Adrian pulled her to him and kissed her until he couldn’t stand it anymore. He wanted her in a way he had never wanted anything else.
And that flimsy outfit that barely covered her and left nothing to his imagination, was making him way too hard for comfort.
Growling, he pulled his clothes off in record time, then tossed her over his shoulder and deposited her gently on the bed.
Sam laughed.
Adrian ran his hand down the curve of her thigh, amazed at how much he loved her.
Sam kissed Adrian’s bare shoulder as he reached into his nightstand for a condom.
He turned to her then, but instead of handing the condom to her as he normally did, he kissed her.
She felt something strange in his mouth.
Pulling back, she frowned as he pulled a ring out from between his teeth and handed it to her.
“I was going to give this to you tomorrow at dinner,” he said, looking a bit sheepish. “But since you’re here . . .”
Completely stunned, Sam couldn’t breathe as she stared at the ring. It was a one-carat, heart-shaped diamond engagement ring in a medieval-style setting that made her heart pound.
Tears welled in her eyes as she blinked in disbelief. “Are you sure about this?”
He ran his hand down her arm. “You’re the only thing in my life I’ve ever been sure about,” he whispered before he took the ring back.
He left the bed and went down on one knee beside it, then took her hand into his.
Tears fell down her cheeks at the sight of Adrian naked on the floor.
“Samantha Jane Parker, will you marry me?”
She launched herself at him and knocked him flat against the floor. “Of course I will.”
He laughed as she straddled his bare stomach.
Adrian placed the ring on her left hand, then he kissed it. “I love you, Sam.”
“I love you, Adrian,” she whispered, knowing in her heart that she had finally found her one, true knight in shining armor. And she was never, ever going to let him go.