AUBREY MADE IT through her client meeting. Then she made it through a phone call with a judge. By lunchtime she was ready to pull her hair out, thanks to Liam Archer and his stubbornness.
She left the building to get lunch at Barley and Bran down the street. After treating herself to her favorite roasted turkey sandwich with goat cheese and fig jam, she was feeling a bit better as she walked back to her office.
She was trying really hard not to be angry. While Liam had said he couldn’t come back to Ribbon Ridge, he’d also said they would talk about it. Maybe she could change his mind. Maybe there was the slightest chance he was open to compromise. She’d do her damnedest to convince him—hadn’t he told her she was a great orator?
As she climbed the steps to her office, she worked to push Liam from her thoughts for the rest of the workday. She had a trial memo to finish and a deposition to read. Oh joy.
She went inside and said hello to the receptionist on her way to her office. When she hit the threshold, she stopped short. Sitting on her desk was a vase of long-stemmed red roses. She counted them—not a dozen, but seventeen. What an odd number. Red roses could only be from one person, couldn’t they?
She stepped into her office, and the door swung closed behind her. Liam stepped away from the wall.
“You brought me roses,” she said. “Eighteen of them?”
He came toward her. “There’s a reason for that.”
She took off her jacket and hung it on the hook on the back of her door. Then she rounded her desk, eager to put something between her and him. His presence here reminded her dangerously of their first encounter. She couldn’t help glancing down at her desk.
No, she couldn’t go there with him. There were too many things that needed to be resolved. But he had brought her roses. Red roses.
“What’s the reason?” she asked.
“I heard the number three on your tattoo isn’t your law-school rank.”
One of the girls had to have told him that. When? Why? What they’d shared that night was supposed to be inviolate. “You aren’t supposed to know that.”
“Blame Sara. I ran into her at the florist—she was doing wedding stuff. I was trying to decide how many roses to buy you, and she told me to buy eighteen because it would mean something to you.”
Aubrey frowned. “It doesn’t mean a thing.”
“It should—it means family. There’s you and your aunt and uncle—that’s three. My parents—that’s five. All of my siblings plus Derek—that’s another six, plus their significant others—that’s five more for a total of sixteen. And I had to include baby Archer to make seventeen.”
“There’s one missing.” Her heart soared as the math finally made sense.
He came around the desk and took her hand. His fingers were warm, his gaze full of love. “Eighteen is me. You can’t have your family without including me—sorry.”
“But I don’t understand. Earlier you said you can’t live here, and I said I can’t move. What happened?”
“I realized I can move home, I just didn’t want to. More accurately, I didn’t want to move on.” He dropped to his knee, and she gasped, her hand rising to her mouth as tears stung her eyes. “It’s time for me to move on. From Denver, from Alex—to you.”
This couldn’t be happening, could it? She’d just barely gotten her head around him loving her, was trying to process how they were going to make this work, and here he was down on one knee.
“This isn’t just a proposal. This is a promise. I promise I’m going to get help with my grief and my anger about Alex—I’ve already asked Maggie for a referral. I promise I’m going to spend as much time here as possible—I’m taking over Archer Real Estate and folding Lion Properties into the company. I plan to put someone in charge in Denver, but I’ll have to travel there from time to time. I promise to scale back my hobbies—I’ve already canceled the FJC this weekend.” He kissed her hand and looked up into her eyes. “But most of all, I promise to love you for the rest of my life and beyond. I know this might seem fast, but as Derek said to me once, ‘When you know, you know.’ Aubrey, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”
She was quite literally speechless. Gibberish swirled in her brain, and her mouth opened and closed like she was some fish out of water.
He smiled at her, that sexy little grin that hinted he was maybe enjoying her utter shock. “I called your uncle while you were at lunch—he sounds great, by the way—and he gave his permission, provided you agree.”
Why wouldn’t she? Everything she wanted was right here. All she had to do was say yes. “Yes. I’ll marry you. Tomorrow. Next month. Next year. Five minutes ago.”
He stood up. “How about fifteen months ago, when we broke in this desk?” He nudged his thigh against the wood, and she was instantly overcome with desire for this man. Her man.
“I don’t know if I was quite ready to marry you then. We started out wanting to choke each other.”
He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and gently tugged the lock between his fingers. “I don’t know. The minute I saw you walk into our house, I thought you were the sexiest woman I’d ever seen. You had this air about you—confident and crisp, but warm, too. Approachable.” He put his arm around her waist and pulled her against him. “Plus your legs. And this red hair. Also your incredible eyes.”
“We can’t do that here, now. Everyone would hear—the office was empty the first time.” Still, she was pretty sure the rest of her workday was absolutely screwed.
“I can be quiet when I have to be. The question is, can you?” His lips curved up, and his eyes glinted with trademark Liam sex appeal.
She slipped her hands beneath his leather jacket and dug her nails into the shirt on his back. “I’m not as fun when I have to be quiet.”
He chuckled low in his throat. “I doubt that, but I do love the noises you make, especially when you have my cock in your mouth.”
She felt that cock against her, hard as a rock, ready to go.
He let go of her and stepped back. She pouted in disappointment. “Where are you going?”
“I almost forgot.” He turned and went to the loveseat beneath the front window. He came back with a shiny emerald-green helmet tied with a bow. He’d been a busy boy today. “I didn’t want to pick out a ring without you—seemed like something we should choose together. Plus, I didn’t have time to get to a jewelry store. Ribbon Ridge needs a jewelry store.”
“Yet you had time to get a helmet?”
“I ordered it two weeks ago, and it arrived yesterday afternoon.” He’d ordered it before he’d gone back to Denver.
“I guess that means I have to go for a ride.” She imagined sitting behind him, her thighs pressed against his ass. There were worse things.
“Just a short one—your house isn’t very far.”
She grinned. “No, it isn’t.” She pulled the bow off, then set the helmet on her head. “How do I look?”
“Gorgeous. Perfect. Mine.”
He pulled her close and kissed her, his mouth warm and eager. She held him tightly, never wanting to let go. Luckily she didn’t have to.
She tugged her lips from his. “Let’s go. How fast does this bike go?”
“Hey, I’m moving out of the fast lane, remember? From now on, I’m getting my adrenaline rush from one source: you.”
She cupped his cheek and kissed him. “I hope that’s enough.”
“Baby, when we kiss, it’s all I ever need.”