Forever Ours (The Billionaire Next Door Book 8) by Violette Paradis Page B

store where there were multiple women getting fitted for
dresses. Employees ran around picking dresses from racks and taking
measurements.
    “It’s been busy as all heck .”
    I giggled again.
    “Any plans for tomorrow?”
    “New Years?” Her face went white and she stopped chewing for a second before a
light bulb turned on behind her eyes and she stuffed another piece of soft
pretzel into her mouth. “The courth parthy .” Her words were muffled
from a full mouth of pretzel.
    “The court party?”
    “Yeah.” Ellie swallowed. “It’s going to be really fun. There’ll be lots of
bands and food. Why? What are you guys thinking?”
    “Well.” I hesitated. My eyes flashed up to
Ellie then back down.
    “What are you thinking?”
    I fiddled with the hem of my shirt. “I’ve been
thinking of doing something really romantic.”
    “Like what?”
    “Well.” I paused and looked at my friend, who
was staring at me like a hawk as she chewed on a piece of the soft pretzel. “I
think I might propose.”
    “ What?” She nearly choked. “To who?”
    I rolled my eyes. “Do I really have to answer
that?”
    “But why ?”
    “Because I love him and I want to marry him.”
    “But don’t you think he should do
that?” Her face was still pale.
    Her question took me off guard. I assumed
Ellie would be all for a woman proposing to a man.
    “Well,” I started. “Of course it’d be nice to
be proposed to, but I want to marry Jason. And I don’t think he’s going to
propose any time soon, so that’s why I have to do it.”
    “And why would you propose if you don’t
think he wants to marry you?”
    “No, it’s not that he doesn’t want to marry
me. Remember a while back when I found the box in Jason’s drawer and thought it
was a ring?”
    Ellie nodded.
    “Well, we had a discussion back then that we should
take things slow, and I think Jason took that as a sign that we shouldn’t get
married anytime soon. And it was true, I wasn’t ready to get married then, but
I’m ready now.”
    “There’s your problem right there, hon. It wasn’t a ring in the box. See? You don’t even know
if he wants to get married! Can’t you just tell him you’re ready and wait for
him to do it on his own time?”
    My spirits sunk. Moments ago I seriously
thought Ellie would be supportive of me. “Why should I wait? I want to marry
him. I want to ask him.”
    “I just don’t think it’s a good idea.”
    Heat began bubbling in my blood. I furrowed my
brow. “Why not?”
    “It just doesn’t seem right for you two to get
engaged so soon.”
    “How do you know what’s right for us?”
    “I don’t! I’m just saying, as a friend, I
think you should — ”
    “Should what? Hmm? You can’t just tell me what I should do. This was never your decision,” I said,
my voice raised. “I wasn’t asking for your permission to propose to my
boyfriend.” I pulled away but Ellie grabbed my arm.
    “Don’t go.”
    I was breathing hard, my eyes were wide and my
lips were tight as I stared at her.
    She had wide, pleading eyes. “Wait.”
    I breathed slower and my chest opened up.
    “Sophia, I love you, you know I do.” She
paused before continuing. “I don’t want to stop you from doing something you
want to do. I just don’t want you to do something you’ll regret — like miss a
proposal from Jason.”
    “But I love him. I love him, and I want to be
with him.”
    Finally Ellie let go of the tension she was
holding and she exhaled. A smile formed on her lips as she tilted her head to
the side. A dreamy look came over her.
    “Wow. You two really are in love, aren’t you?”
    I smiled and nodded.
    Ellie smiled at me as if she finally saw the
light. “You know what? You do whatever you think is right, honey.” She exhaled
long and slow as she stared off, starry-eyed, into
nothingness. “You two are just so… beautiful .” She bit off another
mouthful of soft pretzel. “ Prethal ?” She offered me a
piece. I smiled