“Because as it turns out, I don’t like you very much,” I said while grinding my ass on him. “You’re not who I thought you were.”
Ocean’s dark chuckle as he clutched my hips and matched my rhythm. “Ditto,” he returned as we dry humped one another. “At least, one of us can say they’re not disappointed.”
He moved to kiss me again, so I gripped his jaw firmly to stop him. “The proposal?”
“Five years,” he blurted with his gaze stuck on my lips. “Give me five years.”
My smile fell as my brows pinched curiously. “Of what?”
I already knew he wanted to marry me, but it felt like he was asking for more.
“Us,” he said, confirming my suspicions. “Marriage. You.” He slid his hands up my thighs until they circled my waist. I liked his hands on me more than I should. “Be my wife for five years and never want for anything ever again. I’ll even pay whatever the fuck you want for every year we’re together. When the five years are up, you can divorce my ass.” Another one of those infuriating smirks appeared. “If you want to.”
Never before had I ever thought I’d agree to a relationship with a guaranteed expiration date. I was an incurable romantic, always dreaming of forever. Then again, I’d never met a man like Ocean Kilpatrick and knew that I never would again.
It was that gut feeling and the sharp pang of regret already settling there that made me say, “If I marry you, I have conditions of my own.”
“I’d be disappointed if you didn’t.” He held me tighter and kissed my shoulder. “What are your conditions?”
“Hunter.” Ocean merely raised a brow as if he wasn’t shocked that she was a condition, just surprised that she was my first. “I want to see her. I can only imagine what she’s thinking and how scared she is. I won’t do that to her. I need her to know that I’m okay.”
Ocean considered me for a very long time before he finally said, “You may see her.” My heart leapt at the thought of being with my best friend again. “After the wedding.” It plunged again.
I didn’t even try to hide my panic. I let it pour from me in crushing waves. “I can’t get married without her, Ocean. If you say I have to, then my answer is no. And I don’t just want her at the wedding. I want her to be my maid of honor. You’re askingfor a lot. I can’t do it without her.” Squaring my shoulders, I stared down the heir of the Fola while attempting to bend him to my will. “Hunter is non-negotiable.”
Ocean stared at me for a long, long while, and just when I thought he’d refuse or threaten me, something like pride entered his eyes, and he shrugged. “If you want Hunter at the wedding, you’ll have her. I’ll make sure she has a front-row seat. Anything else?”
“My brother lives.”
Ocean’s answer came even quicker than my agreement to marry him. “Absolutely the fuck not.”
“Then my answer is no.”
“Coby—”
“No!”
“Who the fuck you shouting at?” he barked back.
Goosebumps rippled over my skin, but I refused to back down. I owed Roshaun that much. “I can’t be with the man who took my brother from this world. I don’t know what made you decide marrying me was worth three million dollars, but I do know it doesn’t matter. Nothing good that lives inside of me will survive if you kill him. It’s him or me, Ocean. It’s that simple.”
“Then I choose you,” he decided so easily and quickly that it made me blink.
“Just like that?” I peered up at him in disbelief. “You really won’t kill him?”
“As long as he does nothing to threaten your safety again, he can keep breathing, andthatis non-negotiable.”
“Oh,” I said while feeling a flush spread over my chest. “I don’t know. I thought—” Lowering my head, I shook it, unable to finish the thought.
Ocean tipped my chin up a moment later. “Never underestimate how much I want you, Coby. I’d agree to almost anything to have you. Name your price. I’ll gladly pay it.”
My nipples hardened as I gulped—two warring reactions to the understanding that Ocean was leaving me no room or reason to deny him. I felt trapped, and I craved the feeling as much as I loathed it. Hunter would say I was crazy, but she wasn’t here to talk me out of it. “Okay.”
“Perfect,” he purred. This man was too damn smooth. “Now that we’re on the same page, what would you like to do, my sexy and darling bride?” Lowering his head, he gently kissed each of my knuckles, and I shivered in response. I was beginning to love the little ways he doted on me almost as much as I craved his overbearing dominance. “I could give you that tour I promised, or we could fall back in bed and fuck all day. I’ve got my preference, but the choice is yours. We have some time.”
Ignoring the way my pussy throbbed at that second suggestion, I asked, “Time until what?”
He stared at me for an uncomfortable amount of time before he answered reluctantly, “Until I introduce you to the family.”
