“I’ve known you for many years.” He closes his notepad and sets it aside, bending forward. “I’ve always admired your inner strength. You’re wildly independent and tenacious and—I hope you don’t mind me saying—you are incredibly beautiful. You deserve someone who knows how to take care of a woman, how to touch you softly and fiercely at the same time, how to both claim you and set you free, and how to stand in the brilliant emerald glow of your soul without snuffing out your light.”

