Chapter 197 Loving on you Epilogue - Simon POV
Gregory gets up from his seat, looking as gracious as always.
"You look well." His attention is on Madison, who is now one month post partum after giving birth to my gorgeus god son Thiago.
"Thank you, Gregory." She smiles and sits on the chair I pulled out for her. "It's good to see you."
"While you were busy cooking babies, I was cooking up a wole new company." Gregory winks at the server with his hand. "A bottle of champagne please."
"Are we celebrating?" I ask.
"Yes." Gregory smiles. "We're celebrating my principal dancers."
Madison and I exchange glances, wondering if he's saying what we think he's saying.
"I know Madison is a free agent right now. Is the baby going to be a problem for me, Madison?" He raises an eyebrow sardonically. "It would be a pity if you quit dancing now. You can't afford to take any more of a break either."
"My baby is not a problem, Gregory, not for you or my career."
He nods, seemingly satisfied with that answer, before turning his attention to me. "A little birdie told me you're not all that happy with the director at the company. I can buy your contract out, if you're interested of course."
I have wanted to dance for Gregory since I was at the academy, and he knows he's one of the most sought after choreographers in the world. I can't say no.
"So what is in this for us?" Madison asks the smart question. "Your company is new and unknown, how are you getting funding?"
Gregory smiles like the cat that ate the canary. "You should know my company is unknown, but I am most certainly not. I am offering a competitive salary and shows choreographed around the two of you. No auditions, no bullshit."
He knows it's something we can't say no to, especially not Madison.
"When do we start?" She smiles, and excitement already brews in my stomach.
We finish the bottle of champagne, Madison only having half a glass. As usual, T.J. is waiting for us outside. I keep on telling the man not to wait for me to drive me aound. I've been navigating the city on my own for years, and I've never gotten so much as mugged. He insists it's for his own peace of mind. I thought I would feel like it's a little bit overbearing, but I do think it's hotter as sin.
"Kiss Thiago for me!" I tell Madison when we drop her off at home.
Poor T.J. just smiles as I go on about Gregory, how I need to put in my resignation at the company, and how they will definitely miss me when I'm gone.
I shut my big trap when we stop in front of a house in the Upper East Side, not far from Madison's.
"Who stays here?" I ask T.J. who is already getting out of the car, and I have no choice but to follow him.
He unlocks the big, oak door, and disengages an alarm system on the inside.
"Security needs upgrading." T.J. says as he waits for me to walk inside. "I thought you'd like the floors."
Hardwood. Old, but beautiful. Perfect for a ballet dancer.
The house is smaller than Madison's, and there hasn't been any renovating done to make it more modern. It looks like old class and reeks of old money.
It is extraordinary.
I turn around in the foyer, looking up to the beautiful intricate design of the ceiling.
"Whose house is this T.J.?" I turn to where he was just standing at the front door, and gasp when I find him on one knee, with a black box in his hand.
"You want to know what I did at your parents' house?" He starts, his grey eyes that I swear shines silver sometimes glistening. "I asked your father for your hand in marriage, because I knew since the first time I kissed you, that you were it for me."
I clutch my chest, shocked. I wonder what my father must have thought when he showed up there unannounced, wanting to marry me. My mother is going to have a field day with this information.
"I know you're scared, and that I will leave you and decide I'm interested in women again, but I assure you I'm not." He shakes his head with a smile. "I don't know what the future will hold, but I know for certain my future is with you and you only."
He opens the box, revealing a diamond studded ring, the kind I've only ever dreamt of.
Could this be true? Is the man I love really asking me to marry him?
"You bought this house." He bought it for the floors, for me.
"I always want to watch you dance."
Somewhere along the line, the tides have turned for me. This man is not playing a joke on me, or manipulating me.
He's asking to marry me because he wants me.
"Simon, it would be an honor if you become my husband, and make this house a home."
How could I ever say no that. This relationship has been a whirlwind romance, one I never saw coming. But T.J. shows me every day how much he loves me.
"I'd love to be your husband."
He's on his feet in an instant, grabbing me by the back of the head and smacking his lips against mine.
He grabs my shirt, most likely to rip my poor buttons off, but this shirt is Vuitton, and we can't have that.
"You have to put the ring on my finger first, T.J." I break away from him, smiling.
I don't even have time to admire the ring after he quickly slides it on my finger before he walks me back into the wall.
The little black box lands somewhere on the exquisite floor, and he turns me around, my hands steadying my body on the lavish wallpaper.
"Now, husband, are you ready to get fucked?" He whispers darkly in my ear, and I don't have the heart to tell him we first have to say "I do" before he can call me that.
I'm so fucking glad I took that leap of faith.