The Final Chapter
She didn’t catch up with Dane, and when she got back to the office, he was gone. His office was dark, and his door was locked. Feeling as if her heart was going to break in two, she closed herself behind her office door and pulled her cell phone from her purse, calling Jeffrey.
“Hey, dollface, what’s going on?” he asked casually, until he heard her sobbing. His tone changed completely. “Oh no… what’s wrong? What happened?” he asked worriedly. He had never heard her cry so hard before.
“It’s Dane and Paul,” she began, trying to speak through the sobs.
“What happened?”
“Dane told me that he’s falling in love with me!” She wept bitterly.
There was a moment of silence on the other end. “And what did you tell him when he said that?”
“I told him that we couldn’t be together because we need to only have a working relationship!” She sniffled and wiped a tissue at her nose, dabbed her eyes and continued to cry.
“Oh dear.” Jeffrey sounded disappointed. “And what do you think you should have told him?”
“That I’m falling in love with him too. Just as much. Just as strongly as he is.” She finally admitted it. She had seen the heartbreak on his face when he saw her with Paul, when he saw Paul proposing to her and giving her a ring, and she felt the same heartbreak in her own heart. She knew what he was going through, because she was going through it too, and trying to deny it was useless.
“I think that’s wise. I think you should have told him that too.” Jeffrey replied. “Just in case you wanted confirmation. So, what happened then?”
“We were out. We came back to the office, and Paul was here. Paul asked me to go for a walk with him and when we did, Dane must have followed us, but I didn’t see him right away. I didn’t see him until after Paul got down on one knee and gave me a diamond ring and asked me to marry him!” She began sobbing again.
“Oh god.” Jeffrey groaned. “What did you say to Paul?”
“I told him no of course. I gave him the ring back. I told him to go back to San Francisco. He said he’s not giving up on me, though.” She wiped her fingers over her eyes and reached for a new tissue. “That’s not the worst thing though.”
“There’s something worse?” Jeffrey asked with growing concern.
“Yes. When Dane saw Paul propose, he saw me take the ring and the box, but I was just looking at it, I don’t know why I was. I think he thought that I said yes to Paul, and he took off. I gave Paul the ring and took off trying to catch up with Dane, but I couldn’t find him, and now he’s gone. I have no idea where he is. I couldn’t believe his face. He was so brokenhearted! I am the worst!” She wept more and dabbed at her eyes again. “How could I have hurt Dane like that, when I’m falling in love with him?”
“You’re falling in love with me?” Dane asked, and she gasped and looked up at the doorway of her office. Dane was standing in it, his hand on the door knob, his eyes wide and red rimmed.
“Oh my god, is that Dane? Did he just come into your office?” Jeffrey asked hopefully.
“Yes,” she answered quietly, to both questions. Then, she spoke more into her phone. “Jeffrey, I’m going to have to call you back.”
“You better! I want a full report! And stop telling him no!” he snapped at her happily.
She ended the phone call and set the phone down on her desk as she stood up.
“I don’t know if you were talking to me or to the person on the phone. Did I just hear you say that you’re in love with me?” His voice was thin, and he sounded as if he couldn’t believe his ears at all.
She nodded. “You did hear me say that,” she admitted, walking slowly around the desk to him.
He came in and closed the door behind him. “That’s the best thing I’ve heard all day.”
Nicole wiped at her face with a tissue once more and then tossed it in the trash and took a deep breath to steady herself. “What are you doing here?” she asked quietly.
Dane shook his head and walked toward her. “I guess you saw that I followed you outside when you left with Paul. I just couldn’t take it. I had to. I knew that he was here to try to talk you back into being with him, and I was just so afraid that I was going to lose you to him. So, I followed you out, and then I saw…” He trailed off and narrowed his eyes as if he was in pain.
“You saw him propose to me,” she offered.
“Yes.”
“And you saw me take the ring from him,” she continued.
“Yes.” He sounded miserable, as if he had swallowed something poisonous that would kill him at any moment.
“And then you left before you could see me hand the ring back to him and tell him no.” She drew in another breath and watched as realization dawned on his face and his eyes grew wide again.
“You… you gave the ring back to him?” he asked in astonishment.
“Yes.”
“You… you told him no?” he continued.
“I told him no.” She walked toward him and stood before him. “I told him to go back to San Francisco.”
“You did?” Dane asked as a smile began to form over his mouth. His beautiful brown eyes were shining with more than tears then.
“I did.”
“Why?” he asked quietly, his eyes searching her face.
“Because I didn’t want to marry him; I will never want to marry him, and I couldn’t possibly even consider marrying him when I’m in love with someone else.” She reached her hands to his and held them.
“Say it again. Say that you’re in love with me,” he asked her, smiling widely.
“I’m in love with you,” she admitted, loving the way that the words sounded on her tongue and in her ears.
“I’m so in love with you too, and I am never going to let you go.” He leaned forward and closed his mouth over hers, kissing her long and sweetly, wrapping her up in his arms as she kissed him in return.
When he lifted his mouth from hers, she smiled at him. “I hope you never let me go, business or lover, keep me here in your arms always.”
“Always,” he answered, promising her with another kiss.
THANKS FOR READING!
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