Unfortunately, I do **OLD VERSION**

Chapter 6 - The Proposal

Jace's POV

2 weeks flew by so quickly that today was our engagement party. Since the incident with Rebecca, she has kept her distance from both Leah and me and only interacted with us about work. I still noticed the looks she was giving Leah whenever they were both in my office at the same time, but Leah being the bigger person, brushed it off and always spoke professionally to Rebecca.

That woman that I can call my fiance has a heart of gold and she isn't petty to hold a grudge against someone, even if that person still sent seductive glances toward me, Leah could tell that I wasn't giving in to her small advances and seemed much happier, which in turn made me happy knowing that I was earning her trust.

We were currently at home getting ready in our bedroom together, ready for our engagement party tonight. Yes, I said our bedroom. We ordered the furniture for the spare bedrooms but we were comfortable sharing a bed together now that we decided to keep it as it is. And if I'm being honest, I'm thankful for that, I don't know if I'd be able to sleep if we were in separate bedrooms. I've grown used to going to sleep and waking up with Leah in my arms, it feels right.

Once I was finished getting ready, I left Leah to finish off her make-up and hair and rushed downstairs to get the lounge ready to propose to her. Two days ago, I bought Leah an engagement ring and I planned to make the proposal special for her. When we first moved in together and we were getting to know each other, Leah had told me about her dream proposal. She dreamt that it would happen in her own home, with candles, and rose petals scattered around the area. So I am doing just that. I want to make my wife happy in, anyway, I can. It may be a loveless marriage, but the least I can do is still make her happy.

Instead of scattering the rose petals around the floor, I decided to make a trail from the bottom of the stairs towards the lounge and make a heart shape with the words 'marry me?' in the middle. I also added candles on either side of the rose petal path to make it look more romantic.

I had finished just in time as I heard our bedroom door closing and her footsteps walking towards the stairs. I quickly got down on one knee behind the heart holding the open ring box out in front of me. As her footsteps were getting closer, I started to get more nervous but why? We signed a contract for us to get married. I guess I'm just hoping she loves what I'm doing for her.

I heard her gasp once she reached the bottom of the stairs, and started to follow the trail towards where I was still kneeling down on one knee. She looked so beautiful in her black wrap-around dress. I couldn't keep my eyes off her.

As soon as she saw me on one knee, her hands flew straight up to cover her mouth as she looked at the heart shape and read the words aloud. She started to cry and I couldn't help the huge smile that broke out just looking at the emotions on her face and in her eyes. She walked slowly closer to me and I reached out for her hand and asked her the 4 words that I never thought id ask anybody in my whole life.

"Will you marry me?"

Leah couldn't speak, but instead nodded her head with a huge smile on her face which I reciprocated, and took the ring out of the box and slid it onto her left ring finger before she could pull her hand back to adore her ring, I kissed it and stood up fully, still watching her whilst I pulled her close to me.

I was staring at her lips, wanting to feel them on mine so badly. I looked into her eyes and saw she was staring at my lips too before she looked into my eyes. I started to lean forward slowly, giving her plenty of time to stop me, but she didn't. Instead, she closed her eyes and leaned toward me. There were literally millimetres between our lips, and I closed the distance.

The second our lips touched, I could feel the burning and tingles within me. The kiss itself was soft and delicate, slowly becoming more passionate, as Leah wrapped her arms around my neck, and my hands were wrapped around her slim waist, holding her closer and tighter to me. After a few more moments, our kiss ended, and both of us panting for air. I looked deep into Leah's eyes and saw so many different emotions in them, excitement, lust and love? I don't know if that is what I saw exactly.

"This was amazing Jace, it was so perfect. Thank you" She gave me a shy smile and I smiled back, but my smile widened once I saw the blush creeping up her neck and cheeks. I loved it when I made her react this way, whether it be my little compliments towards her or the flirty chat-up lines I threw her way, or just being shirtless around the house. I loved knowing I had an effect on her.

"Leah you don't have to thank me, I wanted this to be perfect for you and what you have always dreamed about, instead of me just putting the ring on your finger. But did I succeed in making your dream come true?" I asked with a nervous smile. Hoping I had done her proud and fulfilled one of her dreams since she was a young girl.

"Oh my god, Jace, do you really need to ask that question?" she asked incredulously. "It was the most beautiful thing anybody had ever done for me, when did you even plan all this?"

"I planned it a few days ago. I bought the ring, and then decided to get the candles and petals after when I was wondering how to give you the ring." I replied back with a sheepish grin.

"I can't believe you did all this just to make me happy" She whispered with tears welling up in her beautiful forest green eyes, that I could get lost in.

"It may be a loveless marriage but I want to make my wife happy, and if these types of things keep that smile on your face, then I will forever keep surprising you like this," I said with a boyish grin on my lips, but when I mentioned the loveless marriage, I saw something flash across her face, she looked hurt. Does she want to be in love with me? Is she already in love with me? My smile faded when I saw her smiling at me but it didn't reach her eyes. "Hey, are you okay?" I asked, concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine. We should probably go, we don't want to be late for our own party" She laughed out, but again it didn't reach her eyes.

I shook it off and held her hand and walked us to the limo that had arrived to take us to our engagement party. Maybe she was just nervous about the party.

All I knew was that I was falling in love with this woman, hard and fast.