Bossman(98)

“Do you remember which table I was sitting at before I moved to yours?” Chase asked.

“I do.” My eyes searched across the restaurant, and I pointed, remembering that night. “You and your date were sitting right over…” I squinted, sure my eyes were playing tricks on me. “Right over—wait…is that? Oh my God. Is that, is that Owen?”

My brother smiled, held up a champagne glass, and tilted it in my direction with a nod.

Chase didn’t turn around. “It is.”

There was no surprise at all in his voice. I looked to him, confused.

He smiled mischievously. “See anyone else you know?”

For the first time, I looked around the room, and it was as if all the faces suddenly came into focus. There were my parents to the left. Chase’s sister, Anna, and her family to the right. In fact, the entire restaurant was filled with our family and friends.

My old boss, Josh, and his new wife, Elizabeth.

My best friend and business partner, Jules, and her boyfriend, Christian.

Travis, Lindsey, the entire Parker Industries marketing department.

Chase leaned in and whispered, “It really is my Aunt Opal and Uncle Henry’s anniversary. That part was just a coincidence.”

I was confused as hell.

Why was everyone here?

And why was everyone smiling and staring at me?

My mind was a muddled mess. I couldn’t even add two plus two and see that everyone was there four me.

Until…

Chase stood.

The restaurant, which had been a loud rumble, suddenly quieted.#p#分页标题#e#

Everything after that happened in slow motion. All of our family and friends faded away as the man I love got down on one knee. I heard and saw nothing but him.

“I had this whole thing to say planned out in my head, but the minute I saw your face, I completely forgot every word. So I’m just going to wing it here. Reese Elizabeth Annesley, since the first time I laid eyes on you on that bus in middle school, I’ve been crazy about you.”

I smiled and shook my head. “You got the crazy part right.”

Chase took my hand, and it was then I noticed his was shaking. My cocky, always-confident bossman was nervous. If it was possible, I fell a little more in love with him in that moment. I squeezed his hand, offering reassurance, and he steadied. That’s what we did for each other. I was the balance to his unsteadiness. He was the courage to my fear.

He continued. “Maybe it wasn’t a school bus or middle school, but I fell hard for you in the hall, that much I’m sure of. From the moment I saw your beautiful face light up that dark hallway a year ago, I was done. I didn’t even care that we were both on dates with other people, I just needed to be closer to you any way I could. Since then, you’ve distracted me every day whether you’re near me or not. You brought me back to life, and there’s nothing I want to do more than build that life with you. I want to be the man to look under your bed every night and wake up next to you in it every morning. You’ve changed me. When I’m with you, I’m myself, only a better version, because you make me want to be a better man. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, and I want it to start yesterday. So, please tell me you’ll be my wife because I’ve already been waiting for you my entire life, and I don’t want to wait any more.”

I pressed my forehead to his as tears streamed down my face. “You know I’m going to be even crazier once we live together, and probably even worse when we have our own family. Three locks might turn to seven, and doing my check in that big house of yours is going to take a long time. It might get old and tiring. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to change any of that.”

Chase reached behind me and bunched my hair into his hand, cupping it along with the nape of my neck.

“I don’t want you to change. Not any of it. I love everything about you. There’s not a single thing I’d change if I could. Well, except your last name.”