Give Me More--A Sexy Billionaire Romance A.C. Arthur (the giving tree read aloud .TXT) 📖

“I’ve learned so much from you,” RJ went on, “and not just about the business. But about love and tolerance. And compromise. You’ve shown Riley, Major, Maurice and me what it means to be a couple, to cherish someone and to hold their heart as tenderly as if it were precious as gold. For that I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I love you both and wish you nothing but happiness for the next thirty-six years and beyond.”

Tears filled Grace’s eyes as the crowd came to their feet, lifting their glasses in a toast to Ron and Marva. Her chest felt full and she struggled to breathe as emotion overwhelmed her. She needed air. Turning, she started to move toward the door when she bumped into Chaz.

“Hey, there. You okay?” he asked.

She nodded. “Yeah. I mean, yes, I’m fine. Just need to get a little air. I’ll be right back.”

And then she was on the move again, not stopping until she was in the hallway, her fingers clenching her purse tightly. She didn’t know how long she stood there staring at the marble walls, trying to get her thoughts together, but the moment she felt a hand on her shoulder she knew who it was. Chaz had no doubt hurried to tell him she was there.

“Hi,” RJ said when she turned to face him.

“Hi. Sorry I was late.”

“No. I’m just glad you made it.” He laced his fingers with hers. “Let’s go over here and sit down.”

She followed him to a row of red velvet benches.

“It’s really good to see you,” he said when they were seated.

Grace took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Yes, it’s good to see you again, too. I have something I want to say to you and I’m just gonna say it now before I lose my nerve.” Because she was in danger of totally losing it right now. Hearing RJ’s words, the sound of undeniable love in his voice as he spoke of his parents and all they’d taught him, had triggered something in her that she’d been waiting to feel for a very long time.

“Okay,” he said. “I have something I want to say to you, too, but I’ll let you go first.”

“Good. Thanks.” She smiled nervously and stared into his beautiful brown eyes. “I love you. I’ve loved you for longer than I can remember and it’s still here.” She reached up and rubbed her fingers over her heart. “I didn’t know before. I didn’t believe I was ready to be a wife and a journalist at the same time. I really believed I had to make a choice, and I made the right choice for me at that time.”

“Grace—”

“No,” she shook her head earnestly. “Let me finish. After we returned from the island, I still wasn’t sure. I thought, ‘See, you were right not to marry him,’ after our last argument and the realization that we didn’t trust each other.”

“I know, baby, and that was my fault. I should’ve trusted you. I just thought about my parents and I reacted.”

She lifted two fingers to touch to his lips. “Your love and dedication to your family is one of the many things I adore about you, Ronald Gold III. I also love the way you never asked me to be anything but myself. The way you supported my goal as a journalist, reading all my articles and even keeping some of them.” She was filled with awe and complete reverence remembering the times he’d done that.

“I know that I can be myself whenever I’m with you and that’s enough. It’s enough for you and for me. And in the end, that’s all that matters, isn’t it? What you and I feel and what we have together?” She let her hand fall from his lips and pressed it to her purse, which was sitting in her lap. “I knew what I wanted to say to you when I came here tonight but then when I heard you talking, I actually felt it. I felt that thing that I think has sustained your parents and my parents in their marriages all these years.” Hurriedly, she opened her purse and pulled out a black velvet box before lifting her gaze up to him again. “I love you, RJ, and I need to know if you’d still like to marry me.”

RJ glanced down at the box and back up to her, his expression perplexed and then animated as he shook his head.

Her heart sank. “You’re turning me down?”

He reached into the inside pocket of his tuxedo jacket and pulled out another black velvet box. “No, baby. I was gonna ask you to marry me again.”

Grace stared at the ring box he held and then pushed hers until the boxes clinked together like champagne glasses. “Then I guess we’re getting married.”

RJ smiled and leaned in closer to her. “I guess we are,” he said before taking her mouth in a soft kiss.

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