His Christmas Wish

Ten

Bryce

I just knelt there on the floor, staring at my usually spunky, sassy redhead as she buried her face into her hands once again and her shoulders shook with a sob.

"Bailey..."

"You cannot be serious..."

"I promise you that I am."

"We've only been dating three days!" Bailey exclaimed, still hiding behind her palms. "This is crazy!"

"Bailey," I began. She stayed hidden from me, so I snapped the ring box shut and stuffed it back into my pocket before I rose to wrap my arms around her. She instantly moved her hands and instead buried her face in my sternum. "Baby, I know it seems fast," I whispered directly into her ear as I stroked a hand down her back. "But I also feel like we've been playing this game forever. Admitting our feelings might be new, but that doesn't mean they themselves are." I leaned back, lifting my hands to her cheeks as my thumbs gently swiped at the tears. "I love you. I love you more than I even knew I could love someone. I've spent so long denying myself of you and these eyes and these lips... I can't do it anymore, Bailey. We don't have to get married tomorrow or next month or even in the next year. But I need you to know how much I want this. How set on US that I am, because while it's only been three days since I confessed, it's been three years of pretending. And I refuse to pretend anymore."

"I don't want to pretend either," she responded all sniffly. "But what are people going to say?"

I scoffed a bit. "When was the last time I cared about the opinions of outsiders? This is about me and you, Bails. No one else."

She laughed a little, and those her eyes were still full of tears, they had stopped rolling down her cheeks. "I want to say yes..." she spoke softly.

"So say it," I beamed. "Say yes, Bailey. I promise you I'll spend the rest of my life making all your dreams come true."

Bailey gulped and straightened her posture. I could tell she was about to start a negotiation. "I'll say yes on one condition."

I chuckled a bit at that. "What's your condition, my love?" I asked, cupping one hand around then base of her head.

"I'm not signing those papers. I'm not taking half of your company."

"Bailey, I..."

"No, listen," Bailey commanded, her voice so stern it was almost startling. "If we're getting married, it's all "what's yours is mine", anyway right? So there's no point..."

"There is a point, darling," I argued. "I want you to know you're taken care of. I want you to know that whatever happens between us, even if you said no right now, that you'll be okay. The stocks and the ring don't go hand in hand. You can have one and not the other."

"Well, I want the ring and not the stocks, so there," she retorted. "I'm not taking half of what you worked for, Bryce. I won't."

"You've worked for it, too, Bailey..."

"Yeah, and you've paid me for my work," Bailey stated. "I'm not budging on this one, Bryce. Forty percent of Jordan Group is way more than I would ever need, even if we didn't make it..."