The Allure of Dean Harper (The Allure #2)(64)

There’d been a few nights in the last month when Lily and I’d had to tackle bar duty together.

She scooped some ice into the shaker and shook her head. “Nah, there’s plenty to do in the office and I don’t want to be here until 3 AM again.”

Her mischievous smile confirmed that she was referring to the week before when we’d worked late and shared Chinese food in the back office. She’d leaned over to wipe something from the edge of my mouth, I’d licked her finger, and we’d ended up on the floor in a messy pile of love and lo mein.

I tapped my knuckle against the bar. “Come find me when it slows down.”

…



There was a knock on the office door and I glanced up as Lily strolled in, kicking the door shut behind her. She held a bottle of chilled champagne in one hand and two champagne glasses in the other.

“How were your parents?” she asked.

I leaned back in my chair and motioned her forward.

“Good, but they were sad you couldn’t make it. Why the champagne?”

She slid down onto my lap and I wrapped my hands around her waist. She nuzzled the side of my neck and I inhaled her sweet perfume.

“It’s to celebrate.”

“Celebrate what?” I asked, pulling back so I could look into her eyes.

She smiled. “This place has been open for almost six months. That article in the Times has taken our business to a new level. I think we have like 250 reservations for Friday night already.”

I drew a strand of hair off her cheek. “Are you happy with it? The hours and the work?”

She shot me a sidelong glance. “Are you kidding me?”

The Times article had been a human interest piece more than a food critique. Word got out soon after we opened that I’d opened the restaurant in Lily’s honor. The dishes and their names were all charmingly named for her. She’d become something of a celebrity in the food world overnight, but there was no time to relish in the popularity except for stolen moments in our back office with stolen champagne.

“What about you?” she asked.

“I’m happy if you’re happy.”

She rolled her eyes at my cheesy comment and then held up the champagne. “Should I pop it open?”

“I have something to ask you first,” I said, feeling the weight of the ring in my pocket.

She rubbed her lips together to contain her grin. “I think I already know what it is.”

“Do you?”

She nodded. “I found something in your pants the other week when I was doing laundry.”

“Lily—”

She smiled and kissed me.

“And guess what?” she continued.

“What?”

“I already tried it on.”

I shook my head, surprised that she’d been able to keep the secret as long as she had.

“Did you?”

She nodded, not the least bit ashamed. “And I might have also sent a photo of it to Jo.”

I laughed. I shouldn’t have been surprised. This was Lily after all. “Well then I guess I don’t even have to ask you then?”

Her eyes widened with the fire I’d grown to love. “You'd better ask me, Dean Harper.”

I shrugged, trying to play it off. “Nah. I think I’ll wait for a better moment. Maybe I’ll plan something next month? Or maybe next spring when the trees look nice in Central Park?”

She fumed at the idea of waiting that long. “Please don’t make me wait.”

I shook my head. “This can’t be our story. We can’t get engaged in the back of our restaurant.”

Her head fell to my chest and she rocked it back and forth. “No! I want this story. This, right here.”

I already had the ring in the palm of my hand. There was no way I’d wait another minute.

“Lily Noelle Black.”

She smiled and I could feel her body shake with excitement.

“Would you do me the honor…”

Her big eyes stared up at me with unabashed expectation.

“…of opening that champagne? I’m parched from my plane ride.”

“DEAN!”

She slapped my chest and tried to move off my lap. I’d teased her too much and she wasn’t going to let me get away with it. Too bad for her, I already had her hand in mine and the ring was poised at the end of her finger, ready to rest in its rightful place.

“Marry me, Lily. Marry me. There’s no one in the world better suited than the two of us. I can’t promise that we won’t fight—you know I’d be lying if I did—but I promise that no one will ever love you more than I do.”

She laughed and nodded over and over again as I slid the ring onto her finger.

“You’re going to drive me insane, I already know it,” she said.

I smiled.

“You know…most people just say yes.”

She narrowed her eyes and slipped her hands to either side of my cheeks. I knew she was about to kiss me and I inhaled just before her lips brushed mine.

“Yeah well, we aren’t most people.”



The End