“I won’t stop you, Eva. But I’ll make sure you’re safe. And I have a condition.”
She shook her head. “Of course you do. But I’ll hear you out.”
As if she had a choice.
“You stay here with me,” I said, trailing slow kisses down her neck. “In my bed. In my house.”
Eva’s fingers curled into my hair. “For how long?”
For how long?
Forever.
Forever.
I rolled that word around in my thoughts. The implication of what it meant. The weight and sincerity behind it and all it carried.
My chest was swollen. Overflowing with emotions for her that I didn’t understand. Feelings that were foreign to me, lost in the void of a time I was too young to remember. I knew my mother loved me. And that I had reciprocated those feelings. But even that seemed… inadequate.
“Derek,” she whispered, her soft hand on my cheek, bringing me back to the present. I looked down into her brown eyes, and my chest constricted.
“I have something for you.”
“Yeah? But clearly not an answer to my question.”
“Don’t be a brat, angel.” I pressed a kiss to the hollow of her throat. “Or I’ll have to punish you.”
“Mmm,” she moaned. “Sounds like a good time.”
My dick roared to life, and I thrust against the apex of her thighs. “Just give me five minutes,” I said, raging against the need to sink inside her.
I peeled myself from her body and reached into the side table drawer, pulling out a black velvet box. Eva watched me curiously as she straightened into a sitting position.
“What is it?”
“The way this works is I give this to you; you open it and find out what’s inside.”
She leaned forward with a small laugh, outstretching her hand. “Well, then, give me my damn present already.”
“Double the punishment. Don’t make me change your nickname.”
Eva took the squared box and brushed her lips over mine. “Don’t ever stop calling me angel.”
I held her face and kissed her. “Never.”
“Never sounds like a pretty long time.”
“Open your gift.”
Our eyes were locked for several beats, unspoken words drifting between us before she popped open the small box. Her face lit up as she reached inside and pulled out a diamond-embedded bracelet.
“Derek, it’s gorgeous.”
She held up the white gold medical bracelet, the diamonds on the small plate catching the light and reflecting in the pools of her eyes.
“Do you like it?”
“Of course I do,” she said, running her finger over the jewel-encrusted cross.
