Page 85 of His Haunted Desire

I burst into tears.

“We go on,” Raiden says softly, stroking his hand through my hair. “We repair. We grow.”

“Yes, yes, we will,” Evangeline whispers. “But I meant… with you two, what happens now?”

“I’ve got an idea,” Raiden says.

I look up at him with teary eyes.

“What idea?” I ask.

“You heard what Martino said at the party, beautiful. You’ve got serious talent, maybe generational talent. I want to help you start a boutique, a bespoke service where you design for high-end clients, how and when you want. You can work around college. When you graduate, you can expand. You’ll never have to worry about anything except the work.”

His voice is pure passion, husky and heated. “I’ll take care of the boring nuts-and-bolts side of things. The business, the management, and the client acquisition. It will mean extra work, but when you graduate, you’ll already be firmly established in your dream job.”

I gently cup his face in wonder at how I got so lucky. “That sounds amazing. But I don’t want any special favors.”

“You’ll be doing me a favor by agreeing to work with me,” he says. “Together–if Grandma sees fit to allow me access to the Blackwell fortune, of course–we’ll fight those Goliath bastards until there’s nothing left. We’ll set you up for life.”

“I’m on board with all of this,” Evangeline says. “You’re the one who’s been so stubborn about earning your own money. It’s always beenourfortune. I can’t think of a better use than highlighting Aurora’s talent for the whole world to see. But that wasn’t what I meant.”

“No?”

“I meant… what happens between you two now? To your relationship?”

Raiden swallows, looks down at me with shining eyes. He’s not crying, but he’s filled with more emotion than I’ve seen in him, than I could’ve imagined before all this happened.

“I want to go into business with you, no matter what you decide,” Raiden says.

“What doyouwant?” I ask.

He gently wipes tears from my cheeks. “I want to be in your life. I want to see where this, wherewego, Aurora. I want to learn what and who we are once we take off the masks. This isn’t Hollywood. I’m not going to fall to my knees and ask you to marry me because we watched some movies together. But I care about you more than I’ve cared about any other woman. The idea of ending this… it hurts me.”

His voice gets croaky.

“Me too,” I admit, leaning up, and kissing him gently on the lips. “It’s not going to be easy though. With college and this new business.”

“We’ll make it work. We’ll make time for each other.”

“What if…” I don’t want to say it, but we have to be realistic about these things.

“What if we break up? What will that mean for the business?”

I nod. “I’m sorry, but?—”

“Don’t be sorry. It’s a mature question. The business will be separate. So, Aurora…” He takes a step back, then falls to one knee.

My hand flies to my mouth to catch a gasp. “Raiden!”

“Aurora Maren,” he says, taking my hand. “Will you do me the honor of dating me?”

Evangeline lets out a half laugh, half sob. A cry of pure joy escapes me as more tears flow down my cheeks, but these are happy tears.

“Yes!”

He leaps to his feet and pulls me into his arms, kissing me passionately. When he stops, I sense the hunger in him, knowing he only stopped because his grandmother is in the room with us.

CHAPTER 32