Chapter Ten

Rose

It’s almost dark outside by the time Stuart returns, and I fold down the copy of Lady Chatterley’s Lover that I found up in the master bathroom—for “light” reading material, I guess. I’m sprawled in our bed, wearing a simple, white silk negligee. I hope this crazy island doesn’t mind if I take this thing home with me. I think it’s genuine silk.

Most of the lights in the villa are off, and we don’t have a television in here but I’ve lit some candles and already taken my bath for the evening. I’m ready to fold up and turn in. I could brave that beach during daylight hours, but you couldn’t pay me to go there at night. I bet it’s filled with the shadows of humping lovers. No, thanks. I’ll just be here if Stuart wants to go out into what I can only imagine as a sweating, heaving mass.

“Hey,” I say, a natural smile blooming on my lips.

It doesn’t even occur to me to suspect that he might have done something with someone else. I trust him. And it helps a little bit that Wish Lists are binding. It probably helps convince women who are on the fence—like I was. “Where have you been? I was getting worried.”

“No need to worry, love,” he replies. “I needed to get some help from an old friend. Did you know there’s a shopping center here?”

My mouth slants to one side. He doesn’t have any bags, which is weird for someone who spent at least a few hours shopping. “I’m almost totally broke every year by the time Christmas rolls around, so… It doesn’t matter for me. But I can walk with you tomorrow if you want to go see what they have.”

His eyes warm with sympathy. “I’m sorry I was gone for so much of Christmas Eve. Why don’t we go relax by the tree? I’ll start a fire.”

I smirk but I also crawl over to the side of the bed. He absorbs even this simple gesture with an appreciative gaze, and that warms my heart. I know that he desires me.

“Isn’t it a little warm for a fire?” I wonder.

“It’s…” A little blush touches on Stuart’s cheeks and excites me. “It’s one of those optical illusion fireplaces. But I can still start it.”

“By pushing the button?” I tease him as I pass, nudging against him.

He snatches after me but I’m already out of the room and moving toward the den.

“That’s right,” he says. “By pushing the button.”

We move together down to the den and he “fires up” the fireplace, which dances warmly in tones of blue and orange. I think it might be a hologram but I don’t care. It’s beautiful.

Stuart’s strong arms snake around me, and he draws me back against his warm chest. I melt into him and exhale, getting so loose and comfortable now.

“What did you do today?” he wonders. “While I was gone?”

I purse my lips and lift my chin. I don’t want to look like a little baby girl to him. “I went out for a little while, and I made a friend. A woman named Cheryl. She’s been coming here for twelve years, and she met her husband here.” I exhale and let my head fall back on his shoulder, deciding to tell him the truth. He can probably already guess. “That made me feel a little better, at least.”

“Making a friend?”

“Knowing that someone here actually met their husband.” I swing my eyes up to Stuart. I’m really enjoying all of this—the tree, the lights, the fire—but it’s just an illusion. “It seems like the kind of a place that only exists for a few weekends out of the year, the kind of place where nothing matters, and no one is an actual person.”

“That’s not why I invited you here,” Stuart says. “You know that.”

“Do I?” I shrug. “Okay.” I force a smile, even though I might be a fool who gave up her virginity to a sexy man who might as well have been a stranger.

“I have something that I want to show you.”

Stuart shifts away from me, and I twist toward him, furrowing my brow as he roots in his linen pants for something. The pockets are deep, and I didn’t notice the bulge before but he pulls out a black velvet ring box. What the heck?

“What are you doing?” I demand to know.

This can’t be what it looks like… but Stuart descends to one knee and my fingers fly to my lips. The black velvet ring box pops open and there’s a fat diamond ring sparkling inside. It’s surreal.

“Rose Parsons, will you marry me?” he asks, and I burst out laughing in his face. I can’t help it—I’m so shocked! What could he possibly be thinking?

I know I’ve been weird about losing my virginity before marriage… but that doesn’t mean we need to rush and get married, either.

“Very nice,” Stuart says, flatly. “Laugh it up.”

“Oh, god, I’m sorry,” I say, covering my mouth so that he won’t be able to see how I can’t stop smiling. I just can’t believe him. “You took me by surprise. That’s all.”

“I know that you want to predicate sex on an important relationship,” Stuart explains to me. “Inviting you here may have been a mistake on my part. Maybe it gave you the wrong kind of idea for my intentions. I don’t just want you in the bedroom, Rose. I want you everywhere. I want you with me. For as long as you’ll stay.”

I smile softly, and my hands slip from my lips. “You don’t even know me.”

“I know a lot more than you think.”

He goes on to tell me my entire history, as if we stayed up all night talking. He knows about my biological parents. He knows about my adoptive parents. He even knows about my grades and my extracurricular activities.

“You’re kind, hard-working, and a woman of true principle,” Stuart tells me, eyes shining hard on me. “It’s not just because you’re beautiful, although I have also never seen a more beautiful woman. It’s also you. I just want you.”

“How did you know all that stuff about me?” I have to know.

“My security team pulls a bio on everyone,” he explains. “But yours was special. You’re special.”

Tentatively, I pull the ring from its black velvet box and examine that chunky thing. It’s mind-boggling, and I want to slip it on but I don’t want to give him the wrong idea. There’s no way I can just marry him like that. I’m still in college. He’s a freaking billionaire. And maybe he does know me—but I don’t really know him. Not yet.

“Look, Stuart…” I let the ring travel up my finger and hold my hand at a distance, admiring how the stone twinkles. I do feel—precious. Claimed. But I can’t settle for that. I have to claim him, as well, and I just can’t. Not yet. “I need to know that what is happening here isn’t just a weekend fling with a girl you know. But I don’t need to get married. Not right now, anyway. It would be nice to feel like I almost waited, since you’d be my fiancé, but it’s still too soon.”

“Then keep the ring and I’ll make you a promise,” Stuart says, lacing his fingers through mine and tugging me back against his chest. “If you’ll have me, I will marry you someday.”