Counselor Undone (28 page)

Jordis’s eyebrows rose.

“Okay. I’m not proud of that, but
if I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have found you. And kissing you that night changed my
life.”

Jordis shifted into the far
corner of her seat and crossed her arms. “Michael, don’t do this to me. I saw
you with her. I know you weren’t sure—”

“I think I’m doing this wrong,”
he interrupted. Lifting the seat arm between them, he pulled her into his arms
and kissed her, hard. He kissed her until her resistance melted. Then, he
lifted his head enough to breathe into her lips, “I love you.”

She blinked rapidly. “W-What?”
Surely, she hadn’t heard him right.

He pulled back to more clearly
see her expression. “I love you very much, Jordis, but I’ve fallen down on my
duties as Prince Charming. So, do me a favor? Quit arguing with me so I can do
this right.”

Too stunned to speak, she bobbed
her head.

He reached into his pocket. “What
kind of Prince Charming would I be if I didn’t bring along a talisman to prove
I have the right fairy princess?”

He leaned over and attached the
silver charm bracelet to her left wrist. Her mouth dropped open.

“I’ve been wondering why you
always fool with your wrist when you’re distracted. I thought maybe you’d lost
your watch or something. I realize now you’ve been missing this.” He pointed to
the bracelet.

He fingered each charm, as he
explained, “The number twenty-three for the college basketball champion, a
giant redwood tree for the Stanford graduate, the Eiffel Tower for the student
who spent a year in Paris, the scales of justice for the lady lawyer, and a
glass slipper for the little girl inside who loved the Cinderella carriage. You
dropped it during your taxi escape on New Year’s Eve.”

The woman who never cried felt
dampness roll down her cheeks. Michael wiped her silent tears away with his
thumbs.

“Stay with me, Jordis. You don’t
have to switch divisions, but you won’t be working on the Metra Pharmaceuticals
case any more. Actually, neither will I.”

“How’s that?”

“I fired the client this
morning.”

“You did
what
!” Her mouth dropped open. “Why?”

“Because I had to choose between
losing the client or losing you, and there was no contest.” He reached into his
other pocket. “You once asked me what I was giving up to be with you. I can answer
that now. I’m prepared to sacrifice or give up whatever it takes. I just need
to know one thing.”

“What’s that?” she whispered.

“Do you love me?”

The tears flowed stronger, but
she didn’t respond.

“Jordis?”

Finally, she nodded her head, her
hands gripped tightly together in her lap.

Michael’s tense shoulders
relaxed. “Good, because a car wasn’t all I picked out this weekend.”

He pulled out a small box from
Tivol
jewelers and opened it. “As you can see by the bauble I selected, I’ve never
had any doubt as to who my true Juliet is.”

Jordis peeked in the box and
started laughing. Inside sat the most beautiful princess cut diamond solitaire
she’d ever seen. It was mounted in a twisted white and yellow gold setting,
which meant she could wear her silver bracelet without clashing or wear gold if
she so chose. The most unique and the most touching aspect of the ring,
however, was the three-carat stone was chocolate. He’d bought her a chocolate
diamond!

“I have to admit when I bought
it, I thought I’d be putting it on your right hand as a way to express to you
how serious I am about our relationship.” He pulled the ring out of the box and
set the box aside. “Now, however,” he looked up, “I find myself hoping you’ll
want to wear it on your left.”

Jordis’s eyes found his slowly.
She dared not interpret what his words implied.

“Jordis Morgan, I know you’re the
woman for me. I want you to marry me. I love you, and I want to spend the rest
of my life proving that to you. I realize this may be a bit sudden. You may
need time to think about it, and that’s fine as long as you wear my ring in the
meantime. I’ll be content with you wearing it on your right hand until you’re
ready to move it to your left.”

He looked down at her clasped
hands. He didn’t reach for them. He simply waited for her to decide which hand
she wanted to give him.

Jordis sat unmoving, trying to
absorb her shift from severe depression to near euphoria in less than fifteen
minutes. This man did dangerous things to her body and her psyche. She didn’t
think she should trust herself to make a major, life-altering decision under
the current circumstances. The practical side of her fought to intellectualize
this turn of events, wanting to be cautious and avoid the mistake she’d made
the last time she’d accepted a man’s ring. Her heart struggled to ignore the
clearest sign of his feelings for her, and it wasn’t the ring he held waiting
for one of her hands to move.

She lifted a hand towards him.

Michael let out a long, slow
breath. “You’ll marry me?”

The joy inside her commingled
with amusement. She nodded and waggled the fingers of her left hand.

He smiled. “For the record,
counselor, I’ll need you to answer that question out loud.”

“Yes, Michael. I’ll marry you.”
She grabbed him and kissed him deeply. “I love you.”

What wasn’t there to
love about a man who, to be with her, threw away a multimillion dollar case
he’d waited for his entire career? Something she had no intention of letting
stand. She didn’t know whether Michael had read her memo on settlement
strategy, but as soon as they landed, she had a phone call to make. Their
involvement in the case was far from over.

* * *

Michael slid the ring onto
Jordis’s left hand and kissed her again.

Pulling back, he realized he’d
lied when he’d said he’d be content with her wearing his ring on her right
hand. There was only one hand he’d wanted to put that ring on, and he was more
than relieved she’d seen fit to give it to him.

A bell dinged indicating everyone
needed to fasten their seatbelts for takeoff. He fastened his safety belt, glad
he’d managed to shoot off a quick text message to Chase about his bike. It
didn’t look like they were getting off this plane until it reached its destination.

Jordis looked up at him, mischief
dancing in her eyes. “You know, this doesn’t get you off the hook about my
car.”

Michael sighed deeply. “Yeah,
right.” He rubbed an index finger along the band of her engagement ring. “About
that.”

“Yes?”

“I didn’t handle that so well.
Can I get a do-over?”

“What did you have in mind?”

“How about we really compromise
this time?”

“I’m listening.”

“I give you back your Bee, but
you allow me to buy you the SUV of my choice to drive when conditions warrant.”

Jordis laughed, noticing he’d
said when
conditions
warrant and not simply when the weather warranted,
which left room for broad interpretations. “An SUV of your choice?”

“Yes.” His tone was adamant. He
glanced at her. “It’s a gift. I know I have to work on not stepping on that
fierce independent streak of yours. But you have to work on accepting my desire
to take care of you. Not because you’re incapable of taking care of yourself,
but because it makes me happy to do certain things for you.” He ran his fingers
gently along her cheek. “And perhaps, learning to do that for each other is
going to truly be the greatest compromise of all between us.”

Jordis nodded. “I think you may
be right.” She leaned into him and said in a soft voice, “Okay, Mr. Remington.
We’ll do it your way. This time.”

“Good.” He laced his fingers
through hers then sat back to enjoy the flight. After the plane lifted off, he
rolled his head against the seatback to look at her. His brow furrowed. “I’m
curious about something.”

“What’s that?”

“When I was searching for my New
Year’s Eve mystery woman, I remembered the markings on the taxi you left in
that morning. When my investigator traced the address you were taken to, it
wasn’t the same as your current address. That threw me for a bit.”

“I didn’t go right home. I had
the driver take me to my cousin Narisa’s house.”

“Your cousin’s?”

“Yeah. I was shaken by our
encounter and didn’t want to be alone. Plus, I needed to give Narisa a
tongue-lashing for standing me up that night. She convinced me to go to that party
then left me hanging. If I’d known she’d be a no-show, I’d never have gone.”

He nodded his understanding.
“Boy, am I glad you did.”

Jordis arched up and brushed her
lips against his. “Me, too.” She pulled her legs up into the seat and placed
her head on his shoulder.

Michael looked out the window.
While he watched clouds engulf the plane, it occurred to him he had no idea
where he was going. He’d been so intent on getting to the departure gate, he
hadn’t paid attention to the flight’s destination. He looked down at the woman
curled against his side and decided it didn’t really matter. Wherever she was
going was exactly where he needed to be.

* * * * *