“You,” Ashley said.
“Me, unfortunately,” Monk said. Then he looked at her. “How do you feel about that? Being the boss’s girl?”
Ashley looked straight ahead. “You can’t get out of it, even if you don’t want to be boss.” Then she looked at him. “Right?”
Monk nodded. “Right. There’s no getting out. Better wise guys than my ass tried it and it never worked. An old enemy shows up. Or somebody tries to settle a score. And you’re right back in. It’s better to have the backup of a family, of a syndicate, in my line of work. But how do you feel about it?”
“The way I see it,” Ashley said, “is simple. If you’re going to have to stay in, you may as well run the thing. You may as well be the boss. That’s how I look at it.”
Monk smiled. And then he laughed. And nodded. He really loved the way she thought about things. “You have a point there,” he said.
And then the thought that they would have to part came over both of them again, and silence returned.
Ashley didn’t like that heavy feeling. If it was left up to her, she’d never leave Monk’s side. But it wasn’t up to her. She turned on some music, to drown out that reality.
And, to her shock, that song was on again. The one by the Manhattans. The one she heard for the first time on his plane.
Monk was about to change the channel. “I know you don’t like that kind of music,” he said.
“Except for that song,” Ashley said, stopping him. “Let it play.”
Monk was surprised, but he let the song, A Million to One, play.
“Now, everybody that I know stop and stare.
Even now they can’t believe that you care.
They’re all saying,
you’re just wasting,
wasting your time instead of getting bored.
A million to one,
that’s what they said,
would be my chances.
A million to one,
but I found love,
here in the warmth of your arms.
A million to one.
You, never miss the way to say I love you.
Funny how a miracle can come true.
Here we are, side by side, so in love.
I, gambled with this love of mine from the start.
Hoping that I’d find a way to your heart.
And I won,
they were wrong to,
to tell me, to tell me now now:
A million to one,
that’s what they said,
would be my chances.
A million to one,
but I found love
here in the warmth of your arms.
A million to one!
Before the song was even over, Ashley was in tears. And Monk was beating them back with all he had too. And he wanted to do it. He knew it would be the most selfish thing he’d ever done. But he needed her unlike he’d ever needed anybody before. She could handle his life. The way she handled those four gunmen made him convinced of it. But it would be so narrowminded. So selfish. So everything that was wrong that he knew he shouldn’t do it.
But how would letting her get away from him be right? How could that possibly be right?
And as soon as he turned onto the tarmac, and made his way toward his plane that was primed and ready to fly her back to Jericho, his heart sank. He looked over at her. When he realized she was crying, he became angry with himself. “Fuck it!” he said angrily, slamming on brakes. Then he removed his seat belt in a mad rush, and got out of the car.
Ashley was stunned. Where did that anger come from, she wondered as he walked around to the passenger side of the car and opened her door. Was he that upset because she had tears in her eyes? What did she do?
But then, to her shock, Monk got down, on that tarmac, on one knee.
Ashley wanted to believe what she was seeing, but she was too stunned to believe it.
And then he pulled out a ring box, opened it up, and showed her a gorgeous diamond ring. “Ashley,” he said, “I shouldn’t do this. I’m asking you to be a part of a world that’s not easy even for me. I’m asking you to leave your comfort zone in Maine, and move to Jersey to be with a dumb ass like me, and to be with me forever. I’m asking a lot of you, Ashley. But I have to ask it. Because I love you. I’ve never loved a living soul the way I love you.”
Ashley had her fingers on her mouth. She could hardly believe what was happening.
“Ashley Sinatra,” Monk said, “will you marry me?”
Ashley had tears dropping like rain. “You want to marry me?” she asked him. The most she was hoping for was that he’d ask her to stay in Jersey and move in with him.
But Monk was nodding. “Yes,” he said. “I want to marry you. I’ve never wanted anything more in my life.”
Ashley smiled. She was beyond floored. “So you really want to try to tame me, hun?” she asked him.
But Monk was shaking his head. “No, darling,” he said with all sincerity, “I don’t want to tame you. You’re going to tame me,” he said. Then his look was dead serious again. “Will you marry me, Ashley?”
And when he said those words again, as if confirming that he said them the first time, Ashley couldn’t contain herself a moment longer. “Yes,” she said happily, crying tears of joy now. “Yes, Monk, yes!” And she leaned over and hugged him so hard that she fell out of the car, on top of him, and he fell down onto his back.
His flight crew ran off of his plane, with their guns drawn, and hurried toward them, wondering if their boss was in danger. But they stopped in their tracks when they realized Monk and Ashley both were laughing. Which was shocking for them all to see their boss laughing like that.
And he looked at his crew, unable to stop smiling. “She said yes,” he said. “She said yes.”
And his crew smiled and began applauding her answer, even though they had no idea he had ever planned to pop the question.
But Monk didn’t care. It wasn’t about them. It was about him, and his bride-to-be. It was all about Ashley. And Ashley was still crying tears of joy, and rocking in Monk’s arms.
And Monk? He just shook his head. He could not believe his good luck.
“She said yes!” he said again, only louder, and more forcefully, as if he was daring even the universe to recognize.
Visit
www.mallorymonroebooks.com
or
www.austinbrookpublishing.com
for more information on all titles.
Monk Paletti: Taming Ashley Sinatra Page 20
