Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 66697 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 333(@200wpm)___ 267(@250wpm)___ 222(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66697 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 333(@200wpm)___ 267(@250wpm)___ 222(@300wpm)
The silence held for exactly three seconds before Pippa burst out laughing. The sound exploded out of her so hard she toppled backward onto the floor with a startled yelp, arms and legs kicking. Nadine covered her mouth with both hands but couldn’t hold it in. Carrie howled. Within seconds the whole room was roaring, women wiping tears and clutching each other and collapsing into helpless, wheezing fits. Everyone helped Pippa, of course, but by the end we were all laughing so hard tears rolled down our cheeks.
Antonio watched them with an amused smile. Sure, we still had problems to address, not the least of which was Iron’s gambit. But today wasn’t about death, but about light. And lots of it, if Ellie was any good at what she does.
“I guess that explains why Tillie isn’t here,” I said with a grin.
“Yeah,” Nadine. “She said once was enough for a while. I called her a party pooper, but I’m beginning to rethink that stance.”
I stepped into the center of the circle, tugging Antonio with me. The laughter faded to a low, expectant hum. All those eyes on me.
“Antonio Miles.” I turned to face him, squared my shoulders, and looked him right in the eye. “I’m keeping you. I want a ring on my finger, and I want the right to claw out the eyes of all the women looking your way and I want it now.”
For a heartbeat, he didn’t move. Then his mouth curved.
“All you had to do was say so.”
He dropped to one knee, right there in the center of Ellie’s smudged herbs and scattered ash. Then he put a ring on my finger. And it was unbelievably ostentatious.
The ring centered around a massive oval diamond that rose from the band, surrounded by a double halo of smaller stones. The band itself was platinum, thick and polished to a mirror shine, with pavé diamonds crawling down both sides in glittering rows. The matching wedding band curved around it fit perfectly, stacked with more diamonds and edged in delicate filigree. Together, the rings formed a blinding crown of ice and fire, extravagant, heavy, and impossible to ignore.
“Oh, wow,” I whispered. “That’s… a lot.”
“Well, I wanted to get your attention.” Tonio grinned. “Don’t worry. I’ve got you a plain band, but I wanted to make sure, when you go out, everyone will know you’re already permanently taken by an obscenely wealthy man who wants to keep you and buys you anything you want.” He smiled but I could tell he honestly thought money might be the best way to keep me and thought to start as he meant to begin. He’d shower me with gifts and every material thing he could. More than anything, I knew Tonio’s only wish was to make me happy.
“I’m sorry.” I tilted my head giving him a “so sorry for you” look. “Did you think you got to put your claim on me?”
He blinked up at me, standing slowly. “I don’t understand.”
“Oh, no, Mr. Antonio Miles. You can put your ring on my finger, but I’m the one claiming you.”
I pulled his hand to mine and slid his own wedding band onto his ring finger. The metal was warm, heavy, the same platinum as mine, the same filigree curling around the edges. I’d had Kass order it two weeks ago, the day I’d found the ring Tonio had bought. I’d been carrying it in my pocket ever since, waiting for the moment he proposed to me.
His eyes dropped to his hand. He stared at the ring like he didn’t recognize it, like it had fallen out of the sky. “You bought me a ring,” he said.
“Damn right I did.” I lifted my chin. “You think I’m gonna let you claim me without claiming you back?”
The women around us erupted. Several of the guys had poked their heads in and were now guffawing. Most had now stepped forward and clapped Antonio on the back as he looked down at the ring I’d put on his finger and back again. His throat worked. His eyes went glassy, and for a second I thought he might actually lose it right there in front of God and everybody, this man who’d held himself together through gunfire and blood and had proven he would always come for me. No matter what.
He pulled me into his arms and lifted me clean off my feet, spinning me around once while the whole place whooped with applause and laughter, and when he set me down he was laughing, open-mouthed and unguarded, the sound of him shaking the rafters.
From the doorway, Seth watched. He gave me a nod and a half grin before turning away and going back outside.
Antonio’s arms were still around my waist when Hawk bellowed from outside, “He said yes!” and then the whole compound erupted. They poured in through every door at once, men and women shouting, fists pumping the air, and Antonio lifted me again, higher this time, and the sound that came up from the group was loud as thunder.