I chuckled. “That’s Sir Ronan Fitzpatrick to you. Come here—I’ll give them a rub.”

She stuck her tongue out at me and grabbed a small bottle of liquor from the drinks cabinet to examine the label. I gave her a reprimanding look before she finally crawled across the seats and into my lap. I took a deep breath and wrapped my arms around her tight. There was a thoughtful expression on her face before she said quietly, “I like being here with you. You seem, I don’t know, more yourself in this country than you did back in the States.”

“It’s got nothing to do with geography, Annie. It’s just you. Being with you makes me calmer than I’ve ever felt. Being inside you feels like home,” I said, whispering the last part huskily.

I saw her shiver at my words before she brought her nose to mine and nuzzled. The affectionate gesture made my heart squeeze. God, how I loved her.

Taking both her wrists into my hands, I started to massage them, noticing that I had been a little bit rough with her last night. I’d have to learn more control. Normally, I was the definition of controlled in the bedroom, but with Annie I tended to lose it a little. It was like I’d been waiting my whole life for the ideal partner, and now that I’d found her, it was impossible to hold back.

By the time we arrived at the hotel, Annie was resting her head on my shoulder, her body limp and relaxed as I soothed her with my fingers. I’d be content to stay like that for hours, and I felt the urge to tell the driver to do another loop of the city; but we both needed sleep. And yeah, sleepy sex with Annie before we both finally drifted off also sounded appealing.

Thankfully, there were only a handful of photographers hanging about when we left the limo. I led her to the lift, and we stood facing each other as other people got on and off. I couldn’t stop smiling at her, telling her with my eyes all the things I planned to do with her when we got to our room. There was only one more floor until ours, and finally we were alone in the elevator. She gave me that look I love, the one where she glances up at me from beneath her lashes, and in the moment I felt too full of emotion. I was so in love with her I was drowning, and the overflow of water came out in my words. I barely even had to think about it. I just said it. I knew it was what I wanted. She was all that I wanted.

“Marry me.”

She stared at me, eyes growing larger by the second as my words hung in the air.

“What?” she whispered, and before I could hesitate, I slammed my hand on the button to stop the lift and got down on one knee. Taking her hand in mine, I said it again, eyes blazing, heart hammering. “I love you, Annie, and I want you to marry me.”

“You’re…you’re…get up, Ronan.”

“Not until you answer me,” I said firmly, seeing a thousand “yeses” written all over her face, but not a single one of them left her lips.

Her entire body began to shake, and I stood, taking her face in my hands and kissing her cheeks, her nose, her chin, her eyelids, every part of her that I adored.

“I think I need to sit down,” she said just as the lift creaked into movement again. Someone had obviously overridden my command to stop it. I took her hand in mine and led her off, eyeing her the whole time and trying to read what she was thinking. I’d just put my entire self out there for her, and her hesitation was killing me with every second that passed.

When we got to the suite, everything looked normal at first. I opened the door with my keycard, and Annie stepped in, slipping off her shoes and coat. I noticed a couple of cushions had been strewn on the floor, and the drawer to one of the desks had been pulled wide open.

“Oh, shit!” I heard her shout as she entered the bedroom. I was heavy on her heels and found her standing with her hands to her mouth in panic. The place was trashed, our suitcases open and clothes tossed everywhere. Every single drawer and the closet were wide open, too, and it looked like someone had tried to break into the safe but had been unsuccessful. There was a massive dent in the metal, but it remained shut tight. That was a relief because that’s where I’d stored Brona’s sex pictures.

Once Annie had taken a moment to collect herself, she dove forward, frantically searching through her things and muttering panicked expletives to herself. I picked up the phone and immediately made a call down to reception to inform them of the break-in. O’Hare sounded absolutely appalled by the news, and I got the feeling this sort of thing didn’t happen here often. It was a five-star hotel, and I knew the security was top-notch.

It could have been thugs looking for valuables, but why would they only break into one room? No, this felt like someone searching for information, and what with all the paparazzi following our every move, I wouldn’t put it past one of them to try something like this for an exclusive.

When I looked back to Annie, I saw that there were tears streaming down her face as she wrung her hands. “Ronan, my laptop is gone. Somebody’s taken it.”

I strode toward her and took her hands in mine, rubbing the inside of her wrists with my thumbs in an effort to calm her.

“The police are on their way. And don’t worry about the laptop. I’ll buy you a new one. Do you have everything backed up?”

She started shaking her head furiously. “No, you don’t understand. It’s not about replacing it. It’s about the information that’s on it. Shit, Ronan, I can’t….” Words failed her as she began to sob, and I pulled her tight to my chest, surrounding her with my arms.