“It’s fine. I don’t worry about him.”
She snaps her gaze up. “If he knew you were here, he’d find a reason to arrest you.”
“He doesn’t know.”
“How long are you in town for?”
“That depends.”
“On what?”
“On you.”
She bites her lip. Her cheeks are rosy and perfect, her nose is straight, not too small, not too large. Her mouth is lush and glossed with a yummy fruit mix I can taste. From my pocket, I get a small blue box, open it, and put it on my palm. I extend my hand to her.
She stares at the two-carat princess-cut diamond ring with double white gold bands, her face going pale, then at me, then at the ring again. I drop to one knee. “Marry me.”
Her hands fly to her mouth, and she bolts down the library stack.
I close the box, listening to her boots as they click over the floor. That’s fine. I’ll have to try again tomorrow. Boots sound again, and Isla rounds the corner. Long legs make long strides. I stand, and we face each other, and then I wait.
When she says nothing, I say, “You should know I won’t take no for an answer until I’m certain that’s what you want. Right now, the way you greeted me tells me you want me. I’m yours.”Fuck, I’m good at this. Gonna read romance for the rest of my life.
“My dad will disown me. All this,” she spreads her arms out, “will be cut off. Gone. This is my last semester.”
It’s October now. “Is that it? You’re afraid he’ll cut you off and you won’t have a place to stay and he won’t pay for the semester?”
“Yeah, the tuition is late this year, but Dad got promoted to sheriff, so he’ll come up with it. I mean, I work in the summers, but it’s not enough to cover all this.”
I smile. “Is that all?”
“Don’t dismiss me like that. This is important to me, and we aren’t well off enough to own cabins in the woods.”
Ouch.“I’m not dismissing you or your arguments.” I take her hand, flip open my box again, and take out the ring. I wait to slip it on. I keep waiting because Isla is definitely a thinker, and if I don’t give her think time and rush her, she could resent me later.
Minutes pass. She stares at the ring. By now, I could’ve slipped on a condom fifty times and annihilated half the population of this state.
Isla tilts her head. “Are you nervous?” she asks.
Is she fucking with me? “Yes, I’m fucking nervous, and I’ll have you know I’m about to shift from a dandelion into a dragon.”
She laughs. “It’s nice to see you nervous.”
Sheismessing with me.
Seconds tick by. I hear my heart drumming in my ears. She’s gonna refuse, and in an effort to reduce the blow, I step back and brace myself.
Isla smiles, and her eyes light up. “You had me at breakfast.”
Yaaaas! As quickly as possible, I slip the rock on her finger, grab the back of her neck, and plow her mouth with my tongue.Isla groans, her body goes limp, and I hold her up, eyeballing the space around us, trying to find a place to fuck her.
Desk, floor, shelves of books? Bookshelves it is. I move us into the tight space between the stacks, spin her around, and bend her over. While I unbutton my jeans, she lifts up her skirt and wiggles as if to drop her panties. I don’t have time for that. I move her panties to the side and enter, throwing back my head, closing my eyes. There’s heaven inside Isla’s warm pussy, and I’m gonna put a baby up in there someday, though not today or even next month.
I want her to graduate, do her thing, maybe get a job, maybe not—whatever makes her happy, I will do, be the man who will support her from now until death does us part. Goals. I have them.
EPILOGUE
Isla
