Page 36 of His Curvy Obsession

“Rebecca,” he says, his voice deep and soft. “I’m doing my best. This is new to me. I’ve never done any of this before, because no woman has ever made me want to try. So I’m learning. I’m going to need you to meet me halfway here.”

I’m still staring at the ring, speechless.

“Did you hear what I said?” he presses.

“You bought a ring,” I say. “You actually bought an engagement ring for me?”

“Yes,” he says. “That’s what you’re supposed to do, isn’t it? When you want a woman to marry you? You go out and buy an expensive ring to sweeten the deal?”

“If you think an expensive ring would change whether or not I want to marry you,” I say. “You don’t know me well enough to marry me.”

“Dammit,” Eric says loudly, running a hand through his hair.

He strides to the nearby window, looking out at the city cloaked in darkness with his hands on his hips. When he turns back around, he’s staring me down with that familiar intensity in his hazel eyes, rubbing his jaw.

“I don’t know how to do this, Rebecca. And the more I talk, the more I’m going to put my foot in my mouth,” he says to me. “So I’ll stop talking. It’s up to you. You either want what I’m offering…or you don’t.”

“What are you offering?” I ask.

I expect him to answer with any of the many things he’s said before.

Stability. Freedom to change careers. A family. A home. A fancy ring.

“Love,” he answers. “Iloveyou, Rebecca. That’s what I’m telling you, that’s what I’ve been telling you this whole time.”

I nod, fidgeting with the ring box in front of me.

“I love you. I want to marry you,” he continues. “The only question is, do you want to marry me?”

“I’m afraid,” I confess.

“Of what?”

“Of you changing your mind,” I reply. “You began to feel this way about me so suddenly. What if you stop feeling this way just as suddenly?”

“That’s not possible,” he replies. “Loving you is like…it’s like waking up. Sudden and unplanned maybe, but not easily reversed. I can’t just fall back asleep and forget about you. I’ve been awakened to things I feel, things I want out of life, and they’re not things that I’m going to walk out of this room tonight and forget about. They don’t just slip away like that, not for me. You know me, Rebecca. I might take my time coming to a conclusion…but once my mind is made up, it’s made up.”

I nod.

He’s right.

I’ve watched this careful, thoughtful man for seven years and in that time he’s been steady. Dependable, reliable, consistent.

A man of habit and routine, a man who exhibits almost obsessive devotion to the things that he’s dedicated to.

What if his newest obsession really is me?

How would it feel, to be the object of so much intense attention?

I’m already getting a taste of it, I think. He’s staring at me, walking to me and taking the ring from my hands.

“Yes.”

“What?” he asks.

“My answer is yes,” I reply. “I want to marry you.”

He tips my chin up with his fingertips, taking my mouth with his.

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