Her voice is sleepy and satisfied, tinged with a roughness that makes my cock twitch with renewed interest.
“Best views in the county.” I gesture at the steamed-up windshield. “Usually.”
She snorts, and I feel it resonate through her entire body. “The couch situation is officially resolved. Just so we’re clear.”
“Thank God. That thing was killing my back.”
“And now you have a gear shift destroying your kidney instead.” She pokes the offending object. “Real upgrade.”
“Smartass.”
“You love it.”
I do. God help me, I do.
She shifts, resting her chin on my chest to meet my gaze. In the soft light filtering through the fogged windows, her eyes appear tender and vulnerable, a side of her she rarely reveals.
“Tank? What happens in fifteen days?”
Her question lands heavily, like a stone dropped in still water. Fifteen days until her gallery deadline. Twenty-five until the annulment can proceed.
“What do you want to happen?” I ask.
“I don’t know. The gallery commission... It’s everything I’ve worked for.”
“I know.” I gently brush a strand of hair from her face and tuck it behind her ear. “I’m not asking you to give it up. Go. Do your commission. Be brilliant.” I hold her gaze, hoping she understands everything I’m not saying. “But come back. To me. To this.”
“You want a long-distance marriage with a woman you barely know?”
“I wantyou.” Simple. True. “However I can get you. I know it’s fast. I know it doesn’t make sense. But I stopped making sense the moment you walked into my life, so I think we might as well embrace the chaos.”
She laughs, tears glistening in her eyes. “You’re insane.”
“About you? Absolutely.”
“I can’t decide something like this in one night.”
“I’m not asking you to decide tonight.” I cradle her face in my hands—this face I want to wake up to for the rest of my life. “I’m asking you to consider it. To pause long enough to see what we could create together.”
Silence stretches between us. Her heartbeat races against my chest.
“Okay,” she finally says.
“Okay, you’ll consider it?”
“I’ll consider it.” She presses a soft, sweet kiss to my jaw. “That’s all I can promise right now.”
It’s enough. More than enough.
I pull her closer, and we sit in the fogged-up cab of my truck, wrapped around each other, watching the last of the daylight fade through the steamed windows. Her breath steadies against my neck, and her body grows heavy and warm against mine.
Fifteen days. I have fifteen days to convince her that what we have is worth holding on to.
Challenge accepted.
Chapter 9
Tank
