Faking It by K. Bromberg
Page 26
“No, it’s really cool. It . . . it validates every reason I had for walking out on the contest with the guys. Shit. Just give me a second,” Zane says and I watch his very fine backside retreat into the villa on the screen in front of me. It must be pretty cool for him to be going to this much effort.
When it takes more than a second, I lean my head back on the chair and close my eyes.
“I think I’ve just about got it.”
“Mmm-hmm. Just tell me when and I’ll open my eyes because this sun feels way too good.”
“I think it’s ready,” a voice calls out from the other room.
When I open my eyes, it takes a second for what I’m seeing to appear on the screen in front of me.
“What are you . . . ”
And then it registers.
Zane is standing behind me dressed in a tuxedo. A full blown tuxedo. His smile is tinged with nerves and his eyes are locked on mine.
“Zane?” I turn to face him as he walks toward me.
“This video may not be for public consumption, but it’s something I want recorded.”
Every part of me shakes and trembles and I don’t know whether to sit or stand or walk to him or stay where I am. The only thing I do know, is that if he drops to his knee—or doesn’t—and asks me to marry him or doesn’t—no matter what he says to me, the answer is yes so long as it means I get to be with him.
That’s all that matters.
“Hey?” He looks at me, centers me, grounds me. “You okay?”
I nod frantically. “I’m not sure what to do right now.”
“Don’t do anything Cinder but stay just as you are.”
He crosses the distance to me—him in a tuxedo and me in a bikini—and I lean in and press my lips to his. I can’t resist.
“I have rehearsed what I want to say a million different ways. I have notes hidden all over this damn place of things I want to say—no, that I need to say—but there’s one that matters more than any of them. I love you, Harlow Nicks. You and your feisty temper and tell it like it is attitude. You and your soft heart and generous spirit. You and your slurping straws and mad Galaga playing skills. Sure, you played me at my own game to start this all . . . but it’s been me that’s been played ever since.”
He leans in and presses the most tender of kisses to my lips. “I love you and I’m going to keep loving you and telling you I love you until you’re sick of me. . . and then I’m going to tell you I love you some more.”
“Never.” I murmur and swoon because when he places his hand in mine, his is trembling.
I know it’s coming but I gasp when he lowers himself to one knee. “You once told me that you wanted the fairytale, Cinder. That you deserved the fairytale. And I couldn’t agree more. I want to give that to you. I want to be that for you. Will you marry me, Harlow?”
“Yes. Yes. Oh, and yes.”
Some may say it’s silly that I never even looked at the ring when he put it on my finger, but I didn’t. I was too busy looking at the man. My real diamond in the rough. The man I couldn’t wait to spend the rest of my life with.
“So that’s a yes?” he asks.
And when I jump into his arms and topple him over onto his back on the ground and smother him with kisses, I think he has his answer.
Who knew love could ever feel this good?
“Hey, Cinder?”
“Mmm?”
“If your lips keep doing what they’re doing, we’re going to have to turn off that camera.”
THE END
New York Times Bestselling author K. Bromberg writes contemporary romance novels that contain a mixture of sweet, emotional, a whole lot of sexy, and a little bit of real. She likes to write strong heroines and damaged heroes who we love to hate but can’t help to love.
A mom of three, she plots her novels in between school runs and soccer practices, more often than not with her laptop in tow and her mind scattered in too many different directions.
Since publishing her first book on a whim in 2013, Kristy has sold over one and a half million copies of her books across eighteen different countries and has landed on the New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal Bestsellers lists over thirty times. Her Driven trilogy (Driven, Fueled, and Crashed) is currently being adapted for film by the streaming platform, Passionflix, with the first movie (Driven) out now.
With her imagination always in overdrive, she is currently scheming, plotting, and swooning over her latest hero. You can find out more about him or chat with Kristy on any of her social media accounts. The easiest way to stay up to date on new releases and upcoming novels is to sign up for her newsletter or text KBromberg to 77948 to receive text alerts when a new book releases.
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