Page 24 of Milk For The Billionaire's Little

“Would you look in the cupboard where the divided dishes are and pull a couple out?” That was where I had hidden his main present. Or at least, I hoped it would be his main present. It still depended on if he wanted to accept it or not.

“You’re a tricker, Daddy.” He took out the Happy Birthday bag. “I’m opening it now. I don’t care if I have cake yet or not.”

“There’s no rule here about cake first.”

“Good, because that’s a silly rule.”

There was a story there, but that was for another time. I was too excited to watch him open his present.

He pulled out the box and lifted the lid. Inside were two things: a key and a ring.

“This doesn’t look like the key to your house,” he said, holding it up.

“It’s a symbolic key, one that says, I want to live with you but that we can decide where our wholeness together is.”

“I don’t like it when we don’t sleep together.” His eyes were still on the key, his face not giving much away.

“I don’t either.”

He squinted, looking at the key more carefully. “I think that we need to change the key to one from here. And then we can decide later.”

“Sounds good to me.” I waited for him to address the ring, and he didn’t, instead playing with the key.

“Is there anything else in there?” Maybe he didn’t see it. I was hoping for that. Ignoring it because I was asking too soon would sting.

“Oh, there’s more?” He reached inside, pushed back the cotton batting, and held up the ring. “What is this, Daddy?”

“What do you think it is?” I took it from him and knelt down in front of him. “I was trying to be clever, and I almost thought you were just turning me down.”

He shook his head.

“James, I want to walk this life with you. I want to go to sleep each night with you in my arms and wake up each morning to you by my side. Will you marry me?”

He covered my hands with his. “If we do this, no one where I work is going to care. They all loved you at bingo. But people atyoursmight.”

As much as I loved him looking out for me, I hated that he had to worry about that kind of thing, but he probably was right to. I wasn’t hiding my relationship with him. Heck, it had been in the gossip rags more times than I wanted to think about. But the people who mattered, they didn’t care.

My mother was the one who helped me pick out the ring, telling me to put a ring on it already. I was surrounded by support. “I don’t care what any of them think or say or do. What I care about is spending these times with you. So, James, if it was just you and me, what would you say? Do you want to be mine?”

“Oh, silly Daddy. I’m already yours. And yes—I’d love to marry you.”

He held out his hand, and I slid the ring on. And before I could right myself, he was peppering my face with kisses, telling me, “Love me, Daddy.”

“I do and always will.”

He turned the stove and oven off. “I think we have something better to do before dinner,” he said, nipping at my bottom lip.

“Better than chicken nuggets?”

“So much better.”

And up the stairs we went, clothes flying off the second we reached my suite.

EPILOGUE

JAMES

It was hard to believe it had been one year since we got married. Daddy had always been the one to plan all of the celebrations—my birthday, my promotion, even our wedding. But today… today I was taking the reins.

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