Page 32 of Valentine's Day Daddy

I give her a rueful grin. “Yeah. Looks like.”

“Why, Mr. Mullen, is that nervousness I hear in your voice?”

I scoff. “Hardly,” I say. “Sit back and watch a master work.”

“Oh, I’ll be watching. Call it morbid fascination and a small, sick spark of desire to watch you fall flat on your face.”

“I appreciate your support,” I say.

She laughs. “Go get her, tiger.”

I give her a faux salute and a smile as I turn and walk over to Ashton.

“Hey, hold up a minute,” I call out. “There’s one more testimonial we need to film.”

Ashton turns to me, an expression of curiosity on her face. She checks her clipboard and then raises her eyes to me again.

“No, we got them all,” she says.

I take the clipboard from her hand and set it down on the table beside me. I give her director a nod—he’s in on it as well and has been expecting this. Ashton looks at me, the confusion on her face deepening as I pull her over to the set.

“What are you up to, Ezra?”

“We need to film our testimonial, baby girl.”

“No,” she squeals then giggles. “I don’t want to be in front of a camera telling everybody how we fell in love.”

“Oh yes,” I say. “Yes, you do.”

The crew erupts in cheers of encouragement and applause. It sounds like dozens of voices are hollering at her to get up on the set and to do it. She finally relents and allows me to pull her onto the set with me. We go through about ten minutes of the basic questions the interviewer asked everybody during their testimonials. But then I slip off the stool and turn to her, a grin on my face. She looks at me and I can see the questions in her eyes.

“What are you up to, mister?” she asks.

As I pull a small black velvet box out of my pocket, I lower myself down to one knee. Ashton claps her hands over her mouth, her eyes wider than dinner plates. A mischievous smile crosses my face.

“Ashton Rodgers, I love you with everything in me. You are the most beautiful and unique woman I have ever known and I can’t picture my life without you. No, I don’t want to picture my life without you in it,” I say. “Ashton, would you do me the honor of a lifetime and be my wife?”

It feels like the air has been sucked out of the room as I wait for her to answer. Her eyes shimmer with unshed tears as she stares at me, her trembling hands still over her mouth. But then she lowers them and a look of sheer amazement crosses her face.

“Is—is this for real?” she asks.

“It’s for real,” I confirm. “I want to marry you, Ashton. I want to be with you from now until the end of time. All you have to do is say yes.”

Her mouth opens and closes like a fish out of water for a long moment and she seems unable to speak. Ashton swallows hard, like she’s trying to work some moisture into her mouth. But she nods as the tears begin to roll down her cheeks.

“Yes,” she says in a trembling voice. “Yes, I’ll marry you.”

The crew erupts into a loud round of applause and wild cheering. Ashton throws herself into my arms and I pull her tightly to me. She kisses me once and pulls back, her smile wide, still wearing a look of disbelief on her face.

“You’ve made me so happy,” she says.

“And you’ve made me the happiest man in the world,” I tell her. “I love you, Ashton Rodgers. With everything in me.”

“And I love you, Ezra Mullen,” she says. “Now and forever.”

“Now and forever,” I repeat.

I spin her around as we kiss and truly do feel like the luckiest man in the world.

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