Free IRISH: a Bad Boy Fighter Romance by Olivia Hawthorne, Olivia Long

Eighteen
    Lennon
     
    “This is too much,” I said and shook my head while staring in awe at the giant diamond on my finger. “I can’t take this.”
    “If ye like it, it’s yours,” Knox said calmly.
    I’d been a bit of an anxious ninny over almost every single ring he’d shown me. I also felt way in over my head and way out of my comfort zone. This one was perfect though, it fit my finger and shone like a sky scattered with stars.
    When he’d said ring shopping I’d expected we’d drive downtown to some jewelry store and pick one out of a glass case.
    Apparently that’s what you did when you didn’t have the Knox O’Connor celebrity and financial pull.
    The store we’d come to was not recognizable from the outside. It was a simple blacked out glass door in a tall office tower downtown. Knox had hit the intercom button, announced who he was, and we were let in with a buzzing alarm.
    Inside it had felt more like a museum with every piece of jewelry and precious stones out on display, not behind glass.
    I guess the ultra rich weren’t into shoplifting.
    The man who was assisting us acted more like a dutiful butler than a salesman, carefully explaining the pros and cons of each cut, each band, each precious metal, but never once mentioning price.
    I did love the one on my finger though.
    God how it sparkled.
    “I just can’t,” I said, glancing at the butler shop fellow. “I mean this thing costs a fortune, doesn’t it?”
    “Eighty six thousand dollars,” he replied.
    I gasped and said, “No way, I can’t do it. I’ll lose it down the garbage disposal or something.”
    “That’s not including the setting,” the butler fellow added.
    “Get it, kitten,” Knox said, taking my hands in his and looking me in the eye. “You need something that’s even half as beautiful as ye are, and I can see you love it. Yer eyes light up like a little girl at Christmas every time ye look down at it.”
    “I do like it,” I sighed and held my hand out once again, admiring it on my finger.
    “It’s sold,” Knox said, pulled out a buttery soft black wallet and handed the shop person a black card. He retreated to the back and left us alone for a moment. “Are ye happy, Mrs. O’Connor?”
    “I’m beyond thrilled, Mr. O’Connor,” I said. “This all feels like a dream though, but I don’t want to wake up.”
    “Ye don’t need to wake up, kitten,” he told me, taking my hand in his and looking at the ring. “This is yer life now. I’m the King and yer my Queen. And I love you, more than you could ever know but I’ll spend my entire life trying to show you how much. Yer mine, kitten, and mine alone.”
    I was overwhelmed with how much I did feel like a queen, his equal, his love and partner in life. I didn’t know how to express the emotions that were rising in my chest and threatening to bubble up uncontrollably so I simply whispered, “I love you Knox O’Connor.”
    He wove his fingers in my hair and pulled me to kiss him.
    I felt the familiar crush of his mouth on mine and my body reacted immediately. I felt my stomach quiver and my pussy clenched as hot desire pooled in my panties.
    He had that way with me, with my body. The moment his lips were on mine, all bets were off and I probably would have gotten on my knees for him right then and there in the store.
    That should have been a warning sign, but it wasn’t. I was falling too deeply to feel anything but absolute certainty that I was heading in the right direction.
    The butler shop fellow returned and handed Knox his black card. He smiled and said, “Would you like us to fashion a matching wedding band?”
    “Definitely,” Knox said. “We’ll need it next Friday. That’s the day we’re getting married.”
    “Friday?” I squeaked my surprise.
    “Aye, is that a problem?” Knox asked with a grin. “I’ll give ye the day off from George’s.”
    “Excellent,” the fellow said, clearly not wanting to get involved in our