Beneath This Mask (Beneath, #1)(71)

She looked up from beneath her dark lashes and shot me a saucy smirk. “Since I wasn’t planning on letting you leave, that works for me.”

I reached for my door handle, but Charlie was already out of the car and crossing the street. What the hell was her hurry?

Impatience or anxiety or something else I couldn’t quite identify had been rolling off her since she’d asked me to bring her back to the apartment after dinner. As much as I’d wanted to tuck her into my bed, I hadn’t argued. Strangely enough, she’d suggested leaving Huck curled up at my mother’s feet. Something was up, but I had no idea what. With Charlie, it could be anything.

When I climbed out of the car, she was already shoving her key into the ancient lock. “Excited to see Harriet?” I asked.

She smiled and held open the gate. “You first.”

“What’s going on here?”

She bit her lip, unsuccessfully holding back a laugh. “Just roll with it, Simon.”

I leaned down and brushed a kiss across her hair. “Only for you.”

I walked through the narrow passageway into Charlie’s garden oasis and stopped dead. Dozens of fat, white pillar candles sat on the table, the edge of the fountain and koi pond, on the ledges of the brick walls, and around the splash pool. The yellow flames flickered in the evening breeze.

I spun in a slow circle, taking it all in. A romantic gesture from Charlie. I liked where this was headed.

“How did you manage to pull this off?” I asked, finishing my circle just as she tugged her black T-shirt over her head and dropped it on the ground. The best sort of déjà vu rushed through me.

“Harriet. And she was kind enough to give us some privacy.” She reached behind her back and unclasped her bra. It dangled from her fingertips for a moment before it landed on her shirt. She was so goddamn beautiful she stole any other thoughts straight out of my head.

I watched with pure male appreciation as she toed off her Chucks and reached for the zipper on her jeans. She shimmied them off as she said, “Last time I tried this, you told me to let you know when I was ready for more than a quick f*ck.”

She exposed the pale, white skin of her legs as she kicked her jeans and panties aside, and I fought to follow her line of conversation. “I remember saying something like that.”

“This is me telling you, without a single reservation, that I want more. A whole hell of a lot more, Simon. I want it all. With you.”

My heart hammered at her words and the sight of her before me. Naked in every way. No walls. No masks. No secrets. No lies. Just Charlie. My inked, pierced, beautiful Charlie.

My already wide smile stretched further. “That’s convenient, because I wasn’t going to take no for an answer.”

She tilted her head. “An answer to what?”

I stuck my hand in my pocket and felt the ring that I’d been carrying around since yesterday morning. After my grand airport reunion   plan had been derailed, I told myself I was going to wait. That I wasn’t going to do this tonight. That I was going to let her settle in for a few more days before I brought it up. But for some reason, I’d kept the ring in my pocket anyway. And I was glad as hell, because I couldn’t let this moment pass without asking.


I dropped to one knee on the concrete in front of her, pulled the ring out, and held it up.

She slapped a hand over her mouth. “Are you serious? Now? You’re doing this now? While I’m f*cking naked? Seriously?”

I grinned. Now was the perfect time. I reached for her left hand.

“Charlotte Agoston, I love you. Every goddamn piece of you, including your past, because it made you who you are, and it brought you to me. I want to spend the rest of my life with you by my side. I want to stand up in front of God and everyone and make you mine. Will you marry me?”

She squeezed her eyes shut. “Why do you never do what I think you’re going to?”

I lifted her hand to my lips and kissed it. “That’s not the answer I was hoping for, baby.”

“Jesus, Simon. You realize we can never tell this story to anyone. Because if you tell anyone we got engaged while I was naked...”

I stood and drew her against me. “Is that a yes?”

She reached up to wrap her arms around my neck. Just before she pressed her lips to mine, she whispered, “Of course, it’s a yes.”

The kiss started sweet, but I couldn’t stop myself from taking over. I would never get enough of her. Never. When we finally separated, I remembered the ring, which I’d managed not to drop. I reached for her left hand again, and stared into her shimmering aqua eyes as I slid it onto her finger.

She glanced down at it for a moment before twining her fingers in mine. The diamond flashed in the candlelight as Charlie led me toward the edge of the pool. Releasing my hand, she stepped down the stairs and sank into the water.

With her hair floating around her on the surface, she looked like a pagan goddess. Thank God Derek got drunk enough to want Mandy’s name tattooed on his ass.

“You coming in?” she asked.

I tugged off my T-shirt and stripped off my shorts and boxer briefs in no time.

“Wherever you are is where I want to be.”

A soft smile stretched across her face, and I knew that if I could make her smile like that every day for the rest of my life, I’d be a damn lucky man.