Faking It With a Billionaire || MaAn

Chapter 40 | Anupama

The feeling of warm lips pressing to the inside of my wrist pull me from a deep sleep. My feet stretch underneath a soft, heavy blanket as my eyes drift open. I feel the tender caress of lips against my palm at the same moment I register Anuj's figure kneeling on the side of the bed.

I smile, feeling hot by the intense gaze in his eyes. "Hi," I mumble, still trying to fully wake up.

His eyes soften the same moment his fingers run softly over my forehead. "Hi, baby." Pet names always seemed overused and cliche until I heard the word baby fall from his mouth. Now I'd willingly never hear my own name again if it meant he'd keep calling me it. I thought it may be something he said in the throes of passion, but his use of it now says something different.

He keeps a hold on my hand, laying gentle kisses to it. The gesture does so much to my fragile heart, making it hope for something that isn't in the cards for us.

"How long have I been asleep?" I roll to face him, his grip holding true around my wrist. My eyes travel down his body, realizing he's changed into a custom suit. Apparently I'd been asleep long enough for him to get cleaned up. It was amusing to see him in the clothing from the inn but disarming to see him back in a suit that was custom made for his body.

It's only when he presses a kiss to the knuckle of my ring finger that I notice something new. Gasping, I sit up in the bed, tearing my hand from his grip and holding it in front of my face.

I focus on the enormous oval diamond ring on my finger. It's the biggest diamond I've ever seen, and it sits on my ring finger.

"Anuj," I say cautiously. "What is this?" I can't stop staring at the beauty of the simple gold band with the stunning, flawless diamond that's perched atop it.

He reaches for my hand, pulling it to his lips once again. "It's an engagement ring, Violet. One I picked out for you."

I stare at it. It's classic yet modern. Definitely gaudy, but I was the one who told him I wanted a massive ring. He'd delivered on that, even if I'd been only halfway kidding when I'd said it.

"I've never seen something more stunning," I marvel, not knowing if I should look at him or the ring.

"I have." The deepness in the tone of his voice and the intense look in his eyes has my stomach dropping. No one has even been able to make me melt into a puddle just by one look except him. He's able to say so much without ever uttering a word, yet still leave my mind racing with what lies behind his fervent indigo gaze.

My thumb runs over the metal, the feeling of something on the finger foreign. "Is this a proposal?"

He lifts my chin, making me look away from the ring and look at him. "I will get down on one knee right here and do the proposal thing if that's what you want, Anupama. I have plenty of elaborate and extravagant ideas of ways I could ask you to marry me. I've thought of how I'd ask you countless times as I'd carried this ring in my pocket, always wondering when the time would be right to ask you. But none of it would be as special as you deserve. Truth be told, I fucking hate saying this, but I don't want to take the special feeling away from you when someone gets down on their knee and asks you for real. You've agreed to be my fiancée for a year, but only for a year. If I were to propose to you the way you deserve, the way I want to, I'd make fucking sure no other man could ever compete with it. So I've waited on the whole typical proposal thing, only to be fair to the next guy."