Chapter 2

The decision to ask Samantha to marry him had come while he made love to her on his desk. It wasn’t the most romantic of situations for him to realize he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her, but he was going to make sure that his proposal would always be remembered.

Arranging a surprise proposal in less than 12 hours wasn’t the easiest thing in the world to do. Luckily, Drake knew the restaurant owner and was able to get their cooperation. But he still had to manage his surprise and get the ring of Sam’s dreams within just a few hours.

For a man who often let his assistant, Sam, do all the planning for parties and events, it was a huge task for him to try and pull everything off at such short notice. But once Drake made his mind up about something, that was all there was to it. He acted quickly and made sure his vision was followed. For his proposal to Sam, it would be no different. He had a goal, a vision, and he was going to ensure that she was totally surprised by his proposal.

“Dinner at eight o’clock,” Drake said as he called Sam’s cell phone. “Be ready, okay? Not the normal ready, with another hour of actually getting ready to do,” he teased her.

Drake had taken off from work and told Sam that he was meeting some friends for golf. It wasn’t on his schedule, and she seemed annoyed that he hadn’t told her sooner, but Sam was busy with her own things around the office so she didn’t mind too much. Drake was a hard CEO to work with, and she had always been willing to do her best with his schedule; Drake knew he was difficult and appreciated everything she did for him.

“I’ll be ready with bells on,” Sam said smiling.

“I’m serious. Really ready. Like I’ll swing by the house, and you can come out to the car right at eight.”

“You’re not going to ring the bell like a normal date?”

“It’s my house goofball. Just be ready.”

“You’re so demanding,” she teased. “I’ll be ready.”

“Okay, darling, I’ll see you at eight,” Drake said as he hung up the phone.

He sat in front of Harry Winston jewelers thinking about what it would be like to be married to Samantha. Throughout his life, the idea of getting married had always scared the hell out of him, but the idea of being married to Sam made Drake happy. He wasn’t nervous about proposing, he wasn’t worried at all; instead, all he could think about was how his life would be better because she was in it.

He walked into Harry Winston Jewelers and went right up to the clerk to explain what he needed. Drake wasn’t sure they would be able to accomplish what he wanted all in one afternoon, but he hoped they could figure out some sort of compromise so he could give Sam the ring of her dreams when he proposed to her.

“Can I help you?” the sales clerk asked.

She was a middle-aged woman who was dressed in a finely tailored suit. Her blonde hair was cut short, above her ears, and she clearly took good care of her skin and her body. It was normal to see women like her in stores throughout Los Angeles, though. They might not have high paying jobs, but the demands of living in an image-conscious town still weighed heavily on these women.

“I need a ten-karat engagement ring; I have ideas for the design, but I need the ring today, so I’d like to talk with the designer right away.”

The woman looked at Drake skeptically at first but then went to the back room without replying to his request. Drake waited in the lobby and looked at some of the beautiful pieces that were displayed in the cases around him.

“You need a ring today, young man?” Harry Winston himself said as he came out from the back of the store.

“Yes, sir. I’m not the kind of man who can keep his feelings to himself once I’ve decided. I’m happy to work with you on a design that is already completed.”

“It is very expensive to take up my whole day on one item,” Mr. Winston said.

“I am ready to pay whatever you request. She is the love of my life, and I want her ring to be perfection. That is why I’m here.”

Mr. Winston seemed to enjoy the flattery that Drake was giving him, and he pulled out a sketch pad so he could start writing down what it was that Drake wanted in his ring for Samantha.

“I have an Emerald cut diamond that is near perfect quality and nine karats. It’s very expensive, though.”

“Can I see it?”

“You can, but let’s discuss the rest of the ring. Tell me what your dream ring for this love of yours looks like.”

Drake went into details as he described wanting one large diamond in the middle and smaller diamonds and sapphires around the edges. He had a picture in his mind of exactly what he wanted the ring to look like and even grabbed the pad of paper away from Mr. Winston as he drew out the design. When he had finished explaining what he wanted, Mr. Winston nodded in agreement.

“I’ve got a base ring in white gold I can use; I’ll bring it out with the diamond for you to see.”

Drake stood still in awe as Mr. Winston brought out a quick mock-up of the ring he would design for Drake. He had loosely placed a couple of sapphires and diamonds around the most sparkling of diamonds that Drake had ever seen. It was perfection, and he didn’t care at all what the ring cost; it was the ring he wanted to give to Sam. It was the ring that he knew she wanted to wear for the rest of her life with him.

As he left the jewelry store, Drake couldn’t help imagining what the rest of his life with Sam might look like. He hadn’t spent much of his adult life thinking of the future, typically he just lived in the present and didn’t worry about the future at all. But thinking of a future with Sam was exciting, and he couldn’t help smiling at all the possibilities their life held.

Being a good husband, maybe even becoming a father, had been such foreign ideas to him that he would have thought someone crazy if they had told him he would be thinking about those ideas. Drake even told his friends they were crazy when they talked about wanting to have children with their girlfriends or wives. But as Drake sat in the parking lot of the best jeweler in all of California, he knew his life was about to be turned upside down by his feelings and love for one woman.

He stayed away from work and finished the planning of his surprise throughout the rest of the day. He was a perfectionist in all that he did and planning his proposal was no different. To Drake, anything that he felt worth doing was worth doing better than anyone else in the world. He hadn’t become so successful because of cutting corners or doing things halfway. Drake was successful because he went all out in everything that he did.

With Robert on vacation, though, Drake had to call in a few favors to ensure his plan went off seamlessly. As hard as he liked to work, there were still things that he wasn’t sure of and normally would ask Sam or Robert about them. But Drake didn’t have the luxury of going to Sam or Robert to discuss his plans. Instead, he was planning everything himself.

He smiled at the thought of how surprised Sam was going to be when he proposed. After taking five years to come to terms with their feelings for each other, it would surprise her a lot that he was so quick in wanting to marry her. But it didn’t surprise Drake at all.

Every successful decision he had made in his life had happened quickly. When a vision struck him for new technology, there was no time to wait and re-think things. A newer, cooler version of his design would be on the market before him if he waited or played it safe.

Playing it safe really wasn’t Drake’s thing at all. Not in business, and not in love. He didn’t need another five years with Sam to realize he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. Drake knew Sam deeply. He knew about her likes and dislikes; he knew how she took her coffee and where she liked to hang out when she was sad. Drake knew everything he needed to know about her.

Life had finally brought them together, and Drake wasn’t going to waste any more time before he declared his love for her. Samantha was the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with, and he didn’t need more time to think about it.

He gathered up the last few things he needed for his surprise and got himself ready for their date. Sam had returned to the house to get ready, so Drake got ready at the office where he had spare clothes and everything else he needed.

Right at 7:30 p.m., a courier from Harry Winston brought him Sam’s ring with a security guard attached to the case. Drake signed the required paperwork and looked at the ring in total admiration. It was absolutely everything he could have possibly imagined for Sam’s ring.

The middle diamond sparkled in the light, and the blue sapphires were radiant in the reflection as well. Drake wouldn’t have changed a single thing in the ring, and he couldn’t wait to see Sam’s face when he dropped to one knee and asked her to marry him.

The one knee aspect of the proposal was the only thing that Drake was thinking about. Sam was a progressive woman, and Drake didn’t know if she would see his proposal as genuine if he used a cliché technique like getting down on one knee. But he finally came to the conclusion that he had to be true to himself during the proposal, and he wanted to get down on one knee.

The other thing Drake really wanted to do before he picked Sam up was talk to her father and get his blessing. Her family knew him well, and they were excited about the relationship between the two of them. Drake didn’t expect any concerns when he dialed the phone and her father answered.

“Mr. Holt, I’d like to ask your permission to ask your daughter to marry me tonight. I know it’s fast, and we have only been dating for a few months, but it’s right, and I know it.”

The silence on the other end of the phone was deafening as Drake looked at his cell phone to make sure it was still on. He didn’t know what he was going to do if her father denied him.

“You love my girl?” Mr. Holt asked.

“Yes, of course. I love her more than any woman I have ever known.”

“You’re going to treat her right and be good to her?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Then you have our blessing. Her mother and I would love to have you as our son-in-law. Call us tomorrow to tell us how it all went. Congratulations.”

The call was short and sweet, but exactly what Drake needed before he asked Sam to marry him. He knew how important her father was to her, and Drake felt even better about his proposal knowing that her father gave his permission.