Never The Bride(49)

'Here's your cookies.' Miller wedged the basket between my stomach and the centre console. 'I stole one,' he added with a grin as he took a bite of one in his hand. I peered into the basket to see that he'd nabbed the "Miller" one.

'Why not the "Love" cookie?'



       
         
       
        

'Because now, other than about fifty of my employees witnessing it first hand, there's no record of my girlfriend proposing to me. It just says, "I love you, marry me."' He grinned as he bit off another section of it.

'Was that your proposal, as it wasn't exactly heartfelt!'

'No,' he laughed. 'You'll know when I do.'

'And by choosing the "Miller" cookie, you're eating yourself,' I added.

'Don't worry, I'll let you eat me later,' he winked, a devilishly playful look on his face that made my stomach warm. 'See you in a while, baby.'

'See you in a while.'

He shut the door and waited for us to pull away, and I grinned and clapped my paws together. I was his girlfriend and his baby again. And I loved it!



I twirled in the mirror, checking out my appearance. After having a huge yellow tummy and hips for most of the day, I was pretty happy looking at my figure right now. To show off my lovely Mexican tan, I'd put on a white, thin-strap maxi dress that skimmed my feet, with the pair of bright multi-coloured heels that I'd been wearing at Rachel's wedding, the first time we'd met. A bright turquoise clutch bag and some silver jewellery completed my summery, and not overtly sexy, look. I was still Abbie Carter, country girl at heart. I'd pinned my hair back on one side and swept it over my other shoulder, then made an effort with my eye make-up.

I wasn't sure why I was nervous, but it kind of felt like a first date, like we were starting over. I guessed we were in a way. We'd both acknowledged our flaws and were prepared to try this regardless. I quickly pulled my mobile out of my clutch when it started ringing Elvis's Teddy Bear, my new ringtone for Miller, and I felt those butterflies in my tummy starting to stir.

I answered, feeling giddy with excitement, and he told me a hotel porter was on his way up to collect my bags, and Guido, who was already waiting outside, would be taking me straight to him. I hoped I was dressed up enough. Last time I'd stayed, he'd taken me to some quite fancy restaurants, the kind you had to book months in advance, but he'd been able to snag a table at short notice. There were bonuses to having money and a recognisable name. He'd found it highly amusing, though, when I'd admitted to him that gorgeous as the gourmet food had been, I much preferred the slices of pizza and New York cheesecake we'd had from a walk-in place in Little Italy.

Guido was waiting with the AMD luxury limo and helped me into the back with a smile as the hotel porters loaded my two cases into the boot. Then I sat back and gazed out of the privacy windows, drinking in the vistas of my soon-to-be new home. I wasn't sure I'd ever get used to living in a city, but being with Miller was more important. 

I was surprised when instead of pulling up at his building on the Upper East Side, Guido parked at the head of Central Park. As I stepped out of the car, my breath was stolen from me. Miller was waiting, never looking more handsome, in a bespoke custom-fit tuxedo, standing by a horse and carriage. The two horses and fairy-tale, Cinderella-style carriage were white, and everything had been adorned with red roses.

'I thought it would be a nice night to have a ride around the park, to end a memorable day in a memorable way,' he confirmed, as I stared up at him in awe. He kissed me, then helped me up into the carriage and jumped in himself, draping his arm around my shoulder as our driver and an assistant called the horses to walk on.

'This is amazing,' I cooed as I snuggled against him, my eyes wide with excitement as we trotted through the park, a number of other carriages following us. The sun was just setting as we pulled up at the Bethesda Terrace, with a magical fountain set below it.

'Come on, let's go for a walk,' Miller suggested as he hopped out and held out his hand to assist me.

'What's going on? Is tonight a special horse and carriage night for gay couples and we've gate crashed?' I asked, as I noticed sets of men alighting from each of the four carriages that had followed us.

'No,' Miller laughed. 'It can be kind of dangerous in the park at night. They're some of my security team, to make sure we're safe and to give us some privacy.'

'Privacy for what? I've got to tell you that after an over-amorous dolphin called Mahi tried to mate with me in broad daylight in Mexico, I'm over the whole public-sex thing.'

'We have a lot of catching up to do,' he said with an incredulous look, then wove his fingers through mine as he led me down the steps at the side of the terrace and across to the imposing fountain. I gasped as the warm white lights that had lit up the fountain and terrace changed to hues of red, pink, and purple.

'It's so beautiful, Miller,' I exclaimed, gazing up at it in wonder.

'I thought you'd like it,' he confirmed, letting go of my hand as I stepped a little closer. 'And I figured as our relationship started with water, it would be as good a place as any to take it to the next level.'

'You want to climb in the fountain?' I giggled, as I leaned over the side of it and dipped my hand into the cold water. 'Miller?' I looked around, wondering why he wasn't answering me, and inhaled sharply, my hands flying to my mouth to see him on one knee, holding out an exclusive Havershams' leather ring box.

'I promised soon, Abbie, and I like to keep my word. These last few months without you have been the most miserable of my life. I've missed your crazy sense of humor, your laugh, your smile, your cuddles, and your kisses, especially your kisses,' he grinned with a twinkle in his eye. 'Marry me, Abbie Carter. Marry me and start a family with me, so we can give our children a life filled with all of the love that we missed from some of ours. Marry me and – '

I cut him off in his prime by throwing myself at him, thudding against his chest as I dropped to my knees and threw my arms around his neck.

'Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, YES!' I cried. He laughed and wrapped his arms around me tightly as he kissed my neck.

'I wasn't done, I had a whole heartfelt speech prepared.'

'It doesn't matter, you had me at the first "Marry me," Miller.'





Chapter Sixteen


June



'WE'RE DOING THIS? WE'RE really doing this?' I asked, yet more tears appearing for the umpteenth time today as we hugged each other, the soothing noise of the fountain behind us gurgling away.



       
         
       
        

'We're doing this,' he confirmed, gently prising me away from his body, then sliding one of his hands across my cheek to palm it as we exchanged an emotionally charged look. He leaned forwards and kissed me softly. It wasn't a kiss of passion, the kind of kiss that ignited my body, but a loving kiss, the kind that ignited my heart and reminded me how in love I was with this man. 'You realise you said yes without even seeing the ring?' he whispered as our lips parted, but our foreheads remained touching.

'I'm not marrying the ring, I'm marrying you,' I reminded him.

'Which is why I should have asked you sooner, Abbie. You have no idea what it means to me that you're not bothered that I'm August Miller Davis, that you'd marry plain old Miller Davis, the kid that came out of the foster system without a penny to his name.'

'You should be so proud of yourself, Miller, for what you've achieved. I know I am. How did you sort  …  I only left you a few hours ago, how did you organise all of this and a ring so fast?'

'The flowers, the carriage ride, and the colored fountain were easy, money talks,' he chuckled. 'But the ring, well, that was harder. I spent weeks searching for the perfect one, the one that you wouldn't feel embarrassed or uncomfortable wearing because it was too ostentatious for you. But I also wanted one that told everyone how much you meant to me, that warned other guys to take a hike, that you were already taken. But most of all, I wanted it to mean something to us both. I wanted it to remind us of the first moment we met, that split-second that took both of our breaths' away because we knew we'd just looked at our soul mate.'

'Weeks? But  …  I only proposed today, I don't understand,' I replied, my eyes flitting across his face in confusion.

'I came to England with Quinn with the intention of proposing to you, Abbie, wanting to have my only family, my new sister, with me when I did. But I royally screwed up my chances of that when I was tempted to make you jealous first, to make you realize how much you wanted me, and you ran away instead. I already had the ring, I just needed the girl.'

'You've got her,' I nodded vehemently, overwhelmed to know that even though I thought I'd chased him, he'd been chasing me first without me knowing it. I knew how hard that must have been for him. I swallowed a lump of emotion as he slowly opened up the leather box, and I inhaled sharply, stunned. Traditional it wasn't, massive it wasn't, but it was the most beautiful ring I'd ever seen, and the second I saw it, I understood the significance, which made it even more special. It was a slim platinum band with a modern design that had a square white diamond at its centre, then brightly coloured square and rectangular diamonds of varying sizes surrounding it. I saw purple, pink, yellow, orange, green, turquoise, and fuchsia. 'My dress, it's my technicolour bridesmaid dress,' I exclaimed in wonder.