Jade stepped backwards to let him in. He was looking at her with desperate eyes, as if he thought she would disappear.
The silence was broken by the thud of the door closing. Jade asked the question that had been on her mind all day.
“Why did you leave?”
“I went to get the collar.” A flicker of anger crossed Will’s face. “I told Matt to let you know and keep you in the room till I got back, but the jackass fell asleep. He’s lucky he still has a job.”
Jade looked down at the collar, which was still in her hands. He went to get me this. He didn’t leave me.
When she looked back up, Will had moved closer, his eyes still fixed on her face.
“So what do you say?”
“I—What does this mean?”
Will raised his hand and cupped her cheek, holding her gaze.
“It means I’m asking you to be my submissive. Permanently. No others—I don’t share, and I don’t expect you to. I’m asking you to be mine.”
“With a contract?”
“I’ll get one drawn up that we both agree on.” Will bit his lip, and Jade felt something flutter inside at this sudden vulnerability. “So—what do you think?”
There was one word that still stood out for her.
“Permanently?”
Will took a deep breath.
“I’m also asking you to marry me.”
Chapter Five
“Oh God. I swear I’m going to faint.”
“Oh, relax.” Jade swatted Leonie’s shoulder. “You’re going to be fine.”
“It’s all right for you,” Leonie muttered, leaning towards the mirror to check her makeup for the fifth time. “You wait till next month. You’ll be shitting yourself.”
Jade shook her head indulgently, inwardly admitting Leonie was probably right. Next month she would be terrified.
Because next month, on a Friday to be exact, was her own wedding to Will Vandenmeer.
She crossed the room to where Piper was posing in front of another mirror, watching how her ivory column dress swished as she turned. Piper raised an eyebrow at her, one corner of her mouth quirking in a smile, and Jade grinned back, suddenly overwhelmed with how events had snowballed.
This was just going to be amazing.
“It’s nice to see you so happy.”
Jade was about to protest that it was Piper’s day, not hers, but stopped. “Thanks. I still can’t believe how quickly it’s all happened.”
“Neither can I, but you know what you want, so you may as well grab it.”
Jade flashed her a wicked grin. “I did.”
“Thanks. I didn’t need to know that.” Piper made a mock-fingers-down-the-throat gesture.
“I’m so jealous,” Shaundra called from across the room, where she was adjusting her tiara. “Your wedding is just going to be huge .”
“I’m just glad I don’t need to organise it all.” Jade shuddered at the thought of trying to plan a wedding in a month. The Las Vegas trip had been complicated enough. Fortunately, Will apparently had contacts in every company on the West Coast, since he had managed to pull strings to organise everything at the last minute.
He had offered his help right from the beginning.
“Seriously. Just tell me what you had in mind, and I can fix it.”
“Had in mind? I’ve never planned my own wedding. I’ve no idea.”
Will had rolled his eyes. “Typical. I’ve picked the one woman on the planet who hasn’t been designing her wedding since birth.”
Remembering the detailed lists Leonie, Piper and Shaundra had had, Jade had found herself laughing. All this had just been too much. In the end, Will had made some calls, and a few hours later had presented Jade with an itinerary.
“What’s this?”
“Appointments with a dress designer, a florist, a wedding cake company and a jewellery designer. Oh, and a couple of potential venues. We can take the rest from there.”
And so they had. After a whirlwind day of silks, roses, glitter icing and hotel ballrooms, Jade had collapsed in Will’s room, exhausted but secure in the knowledge that the ball was rolling on just about every