Page 152 of Talking Dirty with the Billionaire Boss

The puppy snuffles and tries to bite her finger, and she laughs and hugs it. Then she shows him to Gus as I finally let him free. “Look, Gus, it’s your little boy! Isn’t he gorgeous?”

My throat tightens as I see her genuine delight. I can remember getting Gus and feeling like that. She told me she’s always wanted a dog but had never been able to have one. I’m thrilled that she finally gets to have the experience.

And it’s at that moment that she spots it, tied to the puppy’s collar.

She frowns. Turns it to look at it. Stares at it. Then lifts her gaze to me.

Heart hammering, I lower onto one knee. “Sidnie Beecham,” I say, and smile, “will you marry me?”

She blinks.

Then she bursts into tears.

“Not quite the reaction I expected,” I say, a little nervously, sitting on the carpet next to her.

Still holding the puppy, she puts an arm around me and buries her face in my neck. I rub her back, smiling as Gus bends down with his backside in the air, tail wagging furiously, wanting to play. I stroke the puppy’s ears, which are long with curly strawberry-blond hair. He’s soft as silk and incredibly beautiful. Carefully, I untie the ring from his collar.

“Hey,” I say eventually, when it looks as if her tears are finally drying up. “Are you okay?”

She wipes her face and nods.

I hold up the ring. “You haven’t answered me yet.”

She stares at it with wide eyes. “Is it a real diamond?”

“Of course it’s a real diamond. Did you think I’d get you a fake one?”

“It’s enormous.”

“It’s eight-point-seven carats.” It also has tinier ones set in the side of the ring. It cost me three hundred thousand dollars, but I don’t think I’ll tell her that because she might faint.

She looks up at me with her big blue eyes, fringed with wet lashes. “You really want to marry me?”

“I do. Hence the ring.”

“But we’ve only been living together for a month.”

“That’s true. Like I said, there’s no rulebook. Is there an official length of time I need to wait?”

She gives me a wry look. “No, but… how can you be sure?”

I give her an exasperated look. Then I realize she’s genuinely bemused. Even after everything I’ve said to her over the past few weeks, and all the amazing sex we’ve had, she honestly doesn’t comprehend how I feel.

I lift her left hand to my lips and kiss her fingers. Time to put aside the jokes and teasing, and speak from my heart.

“I’ve never felt about anyone the way I feel about you. I’m madly in love with you, Sidnie. I think I fell in love with you the moment I walked past you in the building, when you were wearing your cleaning coveralls, with your crazy hair. That feeling has only intensified. You make me a better person. You’ve changed me so much for the better. You’ve enriched my life. I can’t imagine ever being without you. I love you. And I want you to be my wife. I want you to wear my ring so every other guy who looks at you knows you belong to me. And yeah, I know that sounds prehistoric, but I don’t care. You’re mine, and I want to stand next to you in church, or on the beach, or anywhere else you’d rather do it, and, in front of our friends and family, promise to love you forever.”

I stop, a little embarrassed at my outburst.

“Oh,” she squeaks.

“Is that a yes?” I ask helplessly.

She smiles then, the most beautiful smile I’ve seen her give. “It’s a yes.”

Relief washes over me like a tsunami, so strong it takes my breath away. With a shaking hand, I push the ring onto her finger, where it catches the sunshine streaming through the window and glitters.

Then she lifts her face to me, and I kiss her, while the puppy wriggles between us, biting her hair and tugging it until we break apart with a laugh.

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