“I’ll call my guys and have them head over to the site tomorrow morning, early, and get it cleaned up. You won’t even be able to tell it’s being renovated by the time we’re done.”
“You don’t have to do that, Aiden. Seriously, you’ve done enough already.”
He came to my chair and spun it around so I was facing him, then bent at the waist and put his hands on the armrests, bringing his face so close to mine, my breath caught.
“Hey,” he said, his eyes darting back and forth between mine. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m in this for the long haul. Whatever you need done, if I can do it, I’m going to.”
Of course he was.
“Did you know I love you?”
He didn’t answer me with words, but he leaned down and kissed me so sweetly, it took my breath away.
“Been a long day,” he said softly when he pulled away.
“Yeah,” I said on an exhale.
“Wanna go home and get into bed?”
“Yes,” I agreed enthusiastically. I didn’t bother asking whose home we were going to, because it simply didn’t matter. If Aiden was there, I was already home.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Aiden
I
built houses for a living. There were days that were labor intensive, and there were days that consisted of me sitting in a chair for eight hours. The spectrum was wide, but I considered my job fairly active.
I was wrong.
Rose’s job was active.
It was only four in the afternoon and I was exhausted.
Granted, we were doing things she and her team didn’t usually do, but still, she was like an energizer bunny. She just kept going. And going.
The first chance I got, I was taking her to a tropical island for a week. And I wasn’t going to give anyone the phone number to where we were staying.
She’d insisted on getting up at 6:00 a.m. and coming with me to meet my crew at the estate. She’d helped and generally just charmed the pants off my team. By the time the place was spick and span, all my guys were tripping over themselves to talk to her.
I couldn’t blame them. She wore those damn black stretchy pants.
She was currently running around, instructing different vendors on where to set up their stuff, while her employees worked on the lists she’d given them.
Riley and I were in charge of getting the chairs set up around the tables. It wasn’t hard to do, but a thousand chairs were a chore.
“Rose mentioned that your mom showed up at the cabin,” Riley stated as she unfolded the white wooden chair and lined it up with a place setting that had already been put on the table.
“She sure did,” I said with a laugh. “And aside from the fact that my mom had really, really, bad timing, it actually turned out okay. I think Rose liked my mom, and I know my mom loves Rose already. It’s hard not to love her.”
“I agree,” Riley replied with a smile she tried to hide from me. She was quiet for a moment, but I could tell she had more to say, so I waited. I knew Riley well enough to know she couldn’t keep quiet for long if she had something on her mind. “Okay, can I just say...” she started, making me smile. “I think you owe me a little bit of credit.”
“For what?” I barked out on a laugh.
She scoffed at me and then, with her hands on her hips, said, “If I hadn’t been sick that one day, it would have been me in the port-o-potty with you and you would have never met her.”
We were both quiet for a moment, then I relented.
“Okay, you got me. I do owe you.”
“Told you,” she teased. “All I want is an invitation to your wedding.” She said the words with a shrug and I said the first thing that came to my mind.
“Sure thing.”
Then I realized what I’d said. And with that realization came the most satisfied, content feeling I’d ever had.
I was going to marry Rose.
I was just as sure of that as I was that the sky was blue or the ocean was wet. It was just a fact. Rose was it for me.
Riley’s eyes went wide, and she turned, trying to hide her reaction.
“Tell me, Aiden. How’d you convince the owner to let you use the property for this?”
“It wasn’t hard. He figured since we were having the fundraiser here anyway, it wasn’t that big of a deal.”
“It was that easy?” she asked, pressing the issue.
“I may have also offered a severe discount on my fee for renovating.”
“Aiden.” She gasped. “Does Rose know?”
“She doesn’t. And I don’t want you telling her either. She’ll throw a fit. She already gave up the fee for throwing this party. And that was the right thing to do. I’m not going to make her pay to use this place too.”
“Well, aren’t you just the knight in shining armor?”
“Come on now, Riley. You and I both know Rose isn’t a damsel in distress. She doesn’t need me to save her.”
“No, you’re right. But she’d love you to help her.”
“And I’ll happily do that as long as she’ll let me.”
“Aiden,” Rose called from the other side of the tent.
I winked at Riley, then turned to Rose. “Yeah, babe?”
“Can you help Justin and Camden put the dance floor together?”
“Anything you need, sweetheart.”
Rose smiled, then went to oversee something else. Once she couldn’t see us anymore, Riley made a gagging noise.
“You guys are too sweet. I think I’m going to be sick.”
“Just remember whose fault this is.”
Hours later, everything was set up, the place looked spectacular, and the fancy buses were pulling up the hill with the partygoers.
“This is it,” Rose said, standing next to me in a professional-looking black dress. Around six she’d sent everyone home, and most of them had refused. She told everyone to take an hour and get something to eat and come back in black, so an army had arrived to help with whatever she needed. She was surprised by the support, but I wasn’t.
She was also surprised that I owned black dress pants. And a white button-down shirt.
The wonders never ceased, apparently.
“You did a great job today, Rose. They’re going to have a blast. Who wouldn’t love this party?” I looked around and only confirmed my statement. The Belmont Estate looked like it was out of some sort of movie. There were twinkle lights in all the trees, everything had a soft golden glow, and it could have easily been a party for A-list celebrities.
“I hope so. I can’t imagine looking forward to celebrating a successful marriage, hitting that milestone, and then having a terrible experience at your own party. I just want them to experience something worthy of their marriage, you know? I want them to have a beautiful memory to look back on.”
“Well, when we celebrate forty years, we can take a trip around the world or something.”
She turned toward me a little and gave me a funny look, almost as though she were nervous.
“You think we’re going to get married?”
“Oh, I know it, sweetheart.” I reached over and linked my pinky through hers. I wanted to pull her close and wrap my arms around her, but I knew she was in boss mode, so I had to be covert about my affection. Lord knew if we were anywhere else I would have already stripped that stupid black dress off her.
“I’ve never been to France,” she said with a shrug.
“Me neither.”
We stood there, watching the guests exit the bus, all of them oohing and awing over the estate and the view.
“Here we go,” she said, taking in a deep breath.
I quickly brought her hand to my lips, kissing the back of it, then winking at her.
“Go get ’em. I’ll be here if you need me.”
“Thank you,” she mouthed.
The rest of the night I made myself available.
Rose didn’t need me at all, never once sought me o
ut to ask for assistance.
But I was there anyway, helping her along the way.
Epilogue
Rose
“Y
ou’re turning pink, sweetheart.”
I was almost asleep, the sun lulling me into a beautiful mid-day nap. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been asleep in the middle of the day. And as much as I wanted to continue into dreamland, enjoying the warmth of the sun on my skin, I did not want to spend the next five days on this tropical island with a sunburn.
“Want me to put some sunblock on you?”
I opened one eye and looked right at Aiden.
“That’s your sole responsibility as my boyfriend. SPF duty.”
“Well, then, scoot over, baby. I’ll lotion you up.”
I had to laugh when Aiden got silly. There was something about this giant lumberjack man using silly voices that totally made me go goofy.
“I think we need to clarify something, though,” he said as he rubbed the cold lotion into my back, making my entire body go a little wobbly. The man’s hands always made my body react in amazingly magnificent ways.
“Hmmm?”
“Like that, do ya?” he teased.
“Shut it and keep rubbing.”
“Right. So, about my responsibilities, as you so eloquently put it.”
“Yes?”
“Is SPF the only responsibility? You said sole, and I’m not one to argue, but I was under the impression I was in charge of more than just UVB rays.”
“Are you looking for some sort of promotion? And oh my God, please don’t ever stop rubbing lotion on my back.”
He chuckled, and the gruff sound of his laugh did ridiculous things to my lady parts. We’d been on this island for only one day and I was already completely relaxed and totally over-the-top in love with my boyfriend. If he wanted to rub lotion all over me, I would absolutely let him. And then I’d return the favor. Over and over again.
“I’d take a promotion, but I want to discuss terms.”
“Like what? Your title?”
“That and compensation.”
“You’re a smart business man, Aiden Daniels. Anyone ever told you that?”
“A few people.”
His strong fingers kneaded the muscles between my shoulder blades and I let out a moan. I had not one care about who could hear me.
“So, your promotion. I could be persuaded to call you man friend. I know boy is a little misleading. There’s nothing boyish about you.”
“That’s an interesting offer.”
“There are lots of perks,” I said, looking over my shoulder at him and waggling my eyebrows. “Should we discuss your benefits package?”
I watched him toss his head back and laugh the best, full, deep, rumbly laugh—my absolute favorite laugh of his—and considered my job done. If Aiden was rubbing lotion on my body and laughing, there was absolutely nothing that could make this day any better.
When he was done laughing he said, “Babe, my hands are covered in lotion. Can you grab my sunglasses case?”
“It’s the very least I could do,” I said, a little sass in my voice. I was feeling particularly cheeky. Was this what being relaxed felt like? It was a totally new experience for me. I reached into the beach bag that was right next to my lounge chair and found the hard case that held Aiden’s sunglasses. I rolled over and sat up, then opened the case to grab his glasses and put them on, so he wouldn’t have to get sunblock all over them. But when I opened the case, the sunglasses weren’t there.
Instead, a beautiful diamond ring sparkled in the light.
“What did you find there?” Aiden asked, his voice knowing and a little haughty.
I glanced up at him, my mouth hanging wide-open, only to find him wearing his sunglasses.
“What is this?” I managed to ask, my voice up two octaves.
“I’m hoping it’s part of my benefits package for my new promotion.”
“Aiden,” I whispered, looking down again at the ring, lying where plain black sunglasses should be.
He reached into the case with his giant fingers and pulled out the ring, which wasn’t small by any means, but looked dainty next to his big paws.
“I was thinking, though, as part of the negotiation of terms, we could put the title of husband on the table for discussion.”
A sob escaped me. I couldn’t help it. The word husband came out of his mouth and I was a leaky faucet.
“I think I’ve put in a lot of hours—hard hours, Rose—lots of manual labor. Not to mention tech support. Who programed your fancy new tablet last month?”
“Stop,” I cried. Well, laughed and cried.
Before I could stop him—and I wouldn’t have even if I could—Aiden knelt to one knee in the sand next to me and pushed the sunglasses up into his hair, so I could see his beautiful eyes. He wouldn’t admit it to anyone, but he was getting teary too.
“Rose, since the day I first laid eyes on you, there was no doubt in my mind that I wanted you forever. I want to be worthy of your love and I promise if you give me the honor of becoming my wife, I’ll spend the rest of forever making sure I earn every precious moment.” He took in a shaky breath, and blew it out, seeming to compose himself, and all I wanted to do was jump in his lap and kiss him silly. “I want children with you, a house with you, a life with you, and I can’t imagine any of that with anyone but you. You make every day worth living, and I hope to spend the rest of my life trying to make you ten times as happy as you make me. Will you marry me, Rose?”
I had no words to compete with that, so I just nodded, smiling through the happiest tears of my entire life.
“I love you so much, sweetheart,” he said as he slid the gorgeous ring down my finger.
“There was never anyone but you. Ever, Aiden. It was always you.”
I flew into his arms, not caring one bit what anyone else around us thought. In the distance I heard clapping and hollering, and eventually it would register that people were celebrating our engagement, but for me, right then, it was just him and me.
The way it was always meant to be.
Books by Anie Michaels
*The Never Series*
Never Close Enough
Never Far Away
Never Giving Up
Never Standing Still
Never Tied Down
Never With You
*The Private Serials*
*The Love and Loss Series*
The Absence of Olivia
The Presence of Grace
*The With A Kiss Series*
Kiss Cam
Riled Up
Had Enough
Coming Up Roses
*Stand Alone Novels*
The Space Between Us
Instead of You
Acknowledgements
There are a bunch of people who helped me get this book out, so hang with me while I try to remember all of them. I will fail, of course, but know I appreciate all the help I receive equally.
Becca, Andrea, Stefanie, Ali, Danielle, Rachel, Lesley, Nic, and Kathy – thank you for allowing me to send you ridiculous rambling words and then for sifting through them and trying to find the goodness there. You all got to hear me whine and complain the most about how difficult it was to write this book (and all the others), and you were always so supportive and helpful. Everyone who reads this book owes it to you all because it wouldn’t have gotten done without you.
Melissa from MGBookCovers and Lindee Robinson from Lindee Robinson photography– thank you for your talents and for giving me that wonderful moment when I saw Rose and Aiden for the first time. It was a spectacular feeling.
To my friends and family who are constantly supporting me – especially my parents for taking my children a lot – thank you for giving me this wonderful opportunity for the last 4 years. I absolutely could not have done any of this without you all.
15 books is a lot. When I released my first one I never imagined I would then release 14 more. And
it’s been the most fun I’ve ever had, writing these books, meeting these characters. I hope there are more to come, but the future is unclear.
The biggest thank you of all to my readers. If you’re reading this, YOU have given me the biggest gift of all. I’ll never be able to put into words how blessed I’ve been because of readers. Never stop reading.
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Did you love Coming Up Roses #MeetCute Books? Then you should read Instead of You by Anie Michaels!
Two brothers.
Cory was my best friend, the boy who I’d resolved to spend my entire life with. I’d grown to love him, gotten used to the idea of our life together, even if it wasn’t the all-encompassing, soul-crushing, heart-shattering romance it appeared to be.
Hayes was the boy who seemed entirely out of reach. Untouchable. He stole my first kiss, a secret I’d hidden away in the recesses of my heart, protecting the memory and hoping it would be enough to last me a lifetime. When he became my history teacher, it was impossible to hide from him any longer.
There was no way to anticipate just how important both Wallace brothers would become to me, how deeply they would change my life, or how the loss of one would propel me into the arms of the other.
Also by Anie Michaels
Love and Loss
The Absence of Olivia
The Presence of Grace
The Never Series
Never Close Enough
Never Far Away
Coming Up Roses Page 25
