Twas The Knight Before Christmas (Something Great Series) (8 page)

Read the prologue for Knight Fashion Sexiest Man Alive

Release Date 2/22/16

Nathan

Tonight was
the
night. The night my whole life would change. It had only taken me a week to prepare, but I knew what I was doing—what I wanted. Most women planned their weddings when they were little girls. Most men delayed them as long as they could—more like avoided them like the plague, but I had planned my proposal from the second I first saw her.

The proposal would be simple but romantic. I had gotten the idea for a perfect spot when I ran into my landlord. We had started talking. I’d told her what I was planning, and she told me about the roof. No one was allowed to go up there, but she would make an exception for me. Well, more like my smile and my charm got me the roof.

As I sat on the rooftop, I listened to the love songs I had picked out for that evening. Ed Sheeran was Olivia’s favorite singer, so I made sure to include his music. Below, I could see the amazing city lights of downtown Los Angeles. All the hues of blue, red, and yellow popped out at me, and I was mesmerized by them. I couldn’t help being excited about the proposal. It made that night even more exhilarating.

I’d strung white mini lights around a couple of small trees and along the border of the brick walls that gave enough protection so we wouldn’t fall off the ledge. Thank God the entire area wasn’t that big, but big enough for what I needed to do. With the glowing battery candles everywhere I looked, it was perfect…enchanting even. She was going to love it. It was even better than I’d imagined it would turn out. Toward the back, I had placed a table and chairs for two. The food had already been arranged on the table that was covered with black linen. All I needed was Olivia.

I jumped when I felt my phone vibrate, and took it out of my back pocket to check my texts.

Olivia
: I’m coming up.

Me:
You have to knock.

Olivia: Okay.
We need to talk!

Me:
OK.

Olivia:
Why did you tell me to dress up? Why am I going to the roof?

Me:
To save me. I’m locked out.

Olivia:
Haha. Not funny.

Me:
I guess you’ll have to wait and see.

Since she had to go ten flights up in the elevator and then take the stairs to the roof, I expected it would probably take her a couple of minutes or so, but those minutes seemed like a lifetime. I had been as calm as the night’s soft breeze, but now my heart was pounding so fast I couldn’t keep up with the pace. Olivia and I had been together for almost a year, and though we were practically fresh out of college and just starting our careers, I didn’t see the point in delaying the inevitable. After all, I was only asking her to be mine forever. We didn’t have to get married right away. Some couples waited several years to tie the knot after the engagement.

Thump! Thump!

I took a long, deep breath. How long had I been staring at the old rusted metal door?

Thump!
It was another knock.

I blinked and checked my back pocket to feel the small box. Opening the door just enough for me to slip out, I bolted through and then closed it behind me. I didn’t want her to see what I had done just yet. I wanted this moment with her, before I showed her my surprise.

“Nate.” She giggled softly. “What are you doing?” Her eyes gawked up and down my body. “You look ravishing in your gray suit. You know what you do to me when you wear one.” She tugged my red necktie with her lips twisting and her eyes narrowing as if she were angry. “Locked out, are ya?”

I let out a short chuckle and held her close to me. Taking a whiff of her sweet flowery scent, my arm slid under her dress and up her soft thigh. “You smell so edible, Olie.” Olie was the nickname I had given her—a shorter version of Olivia. I pressed my body tighter to hers. “You smell like you want to be fucked.”

Another round of giggles tickled my ear. “Maybe I do.” Her sultry, flirty tone sent wicked shivers through me.

“No peeking.” I cupped a hand over her eyes, careful not to mess up her eye makeup.

“What are you doing?” She let out a laugh.

“Shhhhh! Be still.” I bit her earlobe playfully with my teeth. After opening the door, I dropped my hand to my side. “Surprise! Happy one-year anniversary.”

Olie fluttered her eyelashes. Frozen in place, all she could do was stare at the setting in front of her. “Oh, Nate, it’s beautiful. I can’t believe you went out of your way, but—” She finally broke her gaze and glanced around. It wasn’t over-the-top, but it looked romantic. Then her surprised expression was replaced by a soft smile. “Our anniversary isn’t till Wednesday.”

I twisted my fingers through hers and guided her to the table as I stared at her red silk dress that brought out her brown eyes. “I know. I wanted to surprise you.” She looked beautiful with her blonde hair down and flowing against the light wind. Though it looked darker under the night sky, she was absolutely stunning.

Olie and I had met at the restaurant where I worked as a waiter. We had many things in common, but both of us struggling with our careers was what had bonded us. She wanted to be a model and I wanted to be an actor. We understood each other. We were each other’s support. At that point in my life, she was everything to me. I never knew I could fall this fast and hard, but it had happened, and I wanted to embrace it and hold on to her forever.

“You’re too good to me, Nate, but you really didn’t need to do all this for me.”

I helped her ease into her seat, and I got into mine. I pushed “play” on the special playlist I had created on my phone of all Ed Sheeran songs, which made her smile. In front of us were plates of food covered in tinfoil. I’d had Chinese food delivered—Olie’s favorite—just before she arrived. I had thought about asking my friends to be the waiters, but I wanted tonight to be just Olie and me.

“The dishes are not pretty, but—”

“It’s perfect. It’s more than perfect,” she gushed. Her eyes were pooling with tears. They sparkled against the glow of the candles.

A wave of pleasure seeped through me. Knowing how much she appreciated what I’d done so far meant the world to me. I still had another surprise for her resting inside my back pocket. We’d discussed marriage before, but we both knew it would have to wait until later on in the future. I might have jumped a little ahead of schedule without her consent, but it was only a proposal—my declaration of my love for her. We didn’t have to rush to the altar.

Olie placed her hand over mine as her smile disappeared. “Nathan. We need to talk.”

I didn’t like the sound of my name and her tone. I figured it had something to do with her waitressing job. She had mentioned how unhappy she was and how she wanted to look for another one.

“Okay, but before we do, let me ask you a question.” I’d planned on asking her after dinner while we were dancing, but my nerves got the best of me. I had to ask her
now!

She nodded, pulling back her hair in the sudden gush of wind. Luckily, it was toward the end of summer and the weather was mild. I took out the little black box with my trembling hand and got down on my knees. After I opened the box, revealing a one-carat diamond ring, I peered up to see Olie with her hands covering her mouth and tears in her eyes. I had wanted to give her a diamond larger than one carat, but this was what I could afford at the present time. Hopefully, if my acting career kicked off, I could replace it with something bigger.

With my pulse skyrocketing and my forehead breaking out in a slight sweat, I said, “Olivia. We’ve been together for only a year, but you’re the one. I knew the day I met you. I love your smile, your humor, and your genuine heart. You’re everything I need and love. I promise to be the man you deserve, the man who will be by your side through the hardest parts of life, and I’ll take the hard times and turn them into the best times of our life. Every day, the sun rises because of you. Every day, I’ll love you more than I did the day before. Will you marry me?”

I waited for her answer with a nervous grin. Any second now, she would blurt out the answer I wanted to hear. But…I began to doubt myself when her eyes told me otherwise. They went from being completely shocked to something else I couldn’t understand. Tears streamed down her face, so maybe I was wrong. That was a good sign, right? Olie cried when she was happy, but they didn’t look like happy tears. 

She shook her head. “No,” she whispered so softly that I wasn’t sure if I’d heard her right until she spoke again. “I can’t marry you, Nate.”

I thought I’d heard her wrong—surely I had. But when she turned away and sobbed into the palms of her hands, I understood clearly. Standing up, I placed the box back into my pocket and walked around to face her.

“I don’t mean right now or tomorrow, or next week, or month. We can wait till we’re both ready.” I tried to find a reason behind her actions.
Did I say something wrong?

She pulled back and wiped her tears. Her eyes were calculating, judging me. “You did this to keep me, didn’t you?” She was angry, but her tone was calm.

I didn’t know where this was coming from. I furrowed my brows in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“You did this so that I wouldn’t take the modeling job in New York. You were afraid that I would leave you.”

“No, baby.” I took a step and stopped when she backed away from me. “You’ve got it wrong.”

How did tonight get so fucked up?
I had planned it all out beforehand in my head: She would say yes. After dinner we would dance with the downtown lights surrounding us. We would go back to my place, and I would make passionate love to her. But….

She folded her arms in front of her chest, bracing herself. Her stance told me she was in charge. “I’ve made my decision. I’m going to take the modeling job. They want me to start on Monday. I’m flying to New York tomorrow. This is what I wanted to talk to you about.”

I narrowed my eyes at her. “But we already discussed this. I thought you were going to find a job here in Los Angeles. There are plenty of opportunities for you. We just have to be patient and let fate take its course, just like we talked about.” I continued to speak when she didn’t say a word. “If you’re moving to New York, then….” I looked away. I couldn’t believe what she was saying. With a fistful of my hair wrung between my fingers, I looked up to the sky. The stars and the golden full moon that had provided such a beautiful backdrop to this romantic dinner suddenly became eyesores.

I couldn’t believe she was leaving me. Sure, we had only been together for a year, but that year meant a lot to me. She meant the world to me. I just didn’t throw my heart on the line for anyone, let alone allow it to get broken like that.

“Nate. Please understand. I’ve got nothing.” Her tone was begging me to understand. But how could I? She was fucking leaving me for good.

I turned and bored my eyes into hers. “You’ve got
me,
baby. Am I not enough?”

She dipped her head low, avoiding my eyes. “I need this job. Please try to understand. This is a great opportunity for me. This job could make me big. I could help out my mom, too.”

I felt like shit. If I’d had a better paying job I could have helped her mom financially, but with my current one I couldn’t. My temporary waiter job allowed me to be in this decent apartment, make the car payment, and save a little for rainy days, but that was about all. It sucked to be struggling to make ends meet. I understood every bit of it—every frustration and the need-to-save-a-penny part of it. But what was killing me inside was that she had just admitted that I wasn’t enough.

“Please, say something, Nate.” Her tone was softer and somber. “I can’t leave knowing you hate me. We can try the long-distance relationship. I—”

I cut her off and glared hard at her. Anger rose inside, and I couldn’t control how much it was taking over me. “That’s the problem. You don’t try a relationship. You’re either all in or not. And you know damn well a long-distance relationship won’t work,” I snapped.

I wouldn’t be able to afford the flights to New York, and she would be busy, possibly traveling too if her career took off. I should have been happy for her, happy that she had this great opportunity to work with the best agencies. But I couldn’t help the way I felt. This fuckin’ hurt too much.
How can I let her go? How can I let my first love—the one I thought would be mine forever—go?

I withered and cringed when she touched my arm. “Nate.” I heard her soft sigh. I knew this wasn’t easy for her, but I wasn’t going to make it a piece of cake for her either. Regardless of our conversation last week, she had changed her mind without talking it over with me. It was already set in her head that she was leaving me. What was the point of discussing it with her?

I gave Olie my back, refusing to look at her. “Go. Leave. I wish you the best. Have a great life.” Whether I sounded like a bastard or not, I didn’t care. My heart was broken. Most of all, I couldn’t believe she’d come to this conclusion on her own after discussing our future as a couple with me. Would I have tried to get her to go back on her decision? Yes. Would I have tried to work it out? Yes. Would I have still proposed to her? I wasn’t sure about that anymore.