An outlandish idea shimmered and coalesced, detonating like an ill-timed bomb, and she gasped.
"What's wrong?"
She glanced at his left hand. "Are you married?"
"No."
"Involved with anyone?"
His frown eased, that sexy grin back. "If this is your way of asking me out—"
"I'm not asking you out."
She placed her palms against his chest, slid them across to his lapels, and tugged him closer.
"I'm asking you to marry me."
Chapter 9
When Denver had been arrested, Jax had been subjected to some unconventional proposals from the media desperate to get the inside scoop.
None as outrageous as Ruby Seaborn asking him to marry her.
"You know you don't have to go to those lengths for me to put out. I'm good for it."
She laughed, a genuine belly laugh that made something inside him twist with longing.
"This isn't what you think." She darted a glance over her shoulder, probably checking for eavesdroppers. As if anyone would approach them as long as she hung out with him. "It's a business proposal."
She beckoned with a crook of her finger. He didn't need to be asked twice to get up close and personal with her. When he'd whispered in her ear he'd smelled summer berries. Strawberry? Raspberry? Blueberry? A delicious compote that had him yearning to taste…
He pointed to her empty wine glass. "How many of those have you had?"
"Not enough," she muttered, her wry grin adding to her intrigue.
He'd had women proposition him many times, but none had been crazy enough to propose marriage.
"Just hear me out, okay?"
She laid a hand on his forearm and he stilled, her touch innocuous, his libido's reaction anything but.
"I'm all ears."
She slid her hand down to grab his and tug him to the quietest corner in the room, tucked behind a towering potted palm near the caterer's entrance.
"Shouldn't you get down on bended knee, do this right?"
"Shut up." She made a zipping motion across her lips.
"Is that any way to talk to your prospective fiancé?"
"Jeez, you're a pain in the—"
"You're not sugar-coating how much you want to be my wife, I like that."
Amusement lit her eyes. "Okay, I guess I deserve whatever you dish out considering how I blurted that proposal. But once you hear what I have to say, I'm sure you'll agree marriage makes sense."
He folded his arms. "You think? Because from where I'm standing, marrying a stranger holds little appeal. Not that I'm anti-marriage, mind you, but I always thought if I was crazy enough to shackle myself to a woman in matrimony, we'd have a serious relationship first."
