“This is something else that I love. You touch me like you can’t stop yourself, like you need it like air, and no one has ever been like that with me. You have so much blind trust in me, you would give your whole body to me, which is so fucking generous, I don’t even have the words. And you express your love vocally daily, sometimes hourly, which, for someone who’s barely ever been shown love in his life, is so damn precious.”
I’m not sure if it’s the alcohol, his words, or the nearness, but I’m suddenly overtaken by a surge of adoration and pure, unaltered love for this man. I want to crawl into his skin, to claim him forever, to be one with him until the end of time. He’s so. Fucking. Perfect. And he’s mine, but not fully yet.
Lifting my head, I run my lips over the warm and thin skin of his throat, enjoying the tickling of his stubble on that tender part of me. With a hand cupping the side of his face, I bring him closer so my mouth is right by his ear.
“Will you marry me, Alexander?” I whisper into it.
My body reacts to the question before my mind has even processed it, tightening my hold on her and shivering from head to toe. She’s drunk and feeling particularly in love tonight, but it doesn’t matter to my frenzied mind.
Despite the tequila loosening her tongue, I know she means it. Wholeheartedly.
While I try to get a hold of my emotions, she busies herself by dropping tiny kisses on every inch of skin she can access. When Ihaven’t answered in several seconds, she whispers, “It has been so long, baby. I want to marry you now.”
The warmth of her breath on me drives me as insane as her weight on me and her perfect little body in my embrace. “We haven’t known each other for a full year yet.”
“But almost. And I feel like I’ve known you my entire life. Every cell in me longs to be yours, and I want you to be mine,” she insists, kissing my Adam’s apple just as I swallow hard.
“I’m yours, Andrea. Irrevocably, entirely, and until death claims me.”
She looks up at me through her lashes, her brown eyes hazy. “Then say yes, Lex.”
I reach up to cup her cheek with tenderness and pass the pad of my thumb across her plump bottom lip. “Ask me again tomorrow morning when you’re sober,” I negotiate.
A pout purses her lips, and a scowl wrinkles her brows. “This is the second time you’ve refused a proposal from me. And I think this one hurts even more.” She tries to get off my lap, but I prevent it, keeping her right there.
“That time in prison didn’t count. As for right now, I didn’t refuse. I postponed it. You’ll get my answer tomorrow, sober and clear-minded.”
“This is ridiculous. I want to marry you even when I’m—”
I muffle her retort, the only way I know will work—by plastering my lips on hers. She lets out a small yelp of surprise, but her indignation quickly fades under the intensity of my amorous assault. Her hands fly to my head to hold me close as she responds to my savage intensity with matching vigor.
Looking for comfort and better access, I rearrange us so she’s sitting on my desk while I stand between her parted knees. The loose silk covering her is smooth under my hands, but not as flawless as her skin. That’s why, as I caress her perfect shape, I slip my hands underneath her pink pajamas to feel her all over. When my palms wander a little too high, I don’t resist the urge to fondle her breasts, finding her nipples to pinch them softly.
“You should go back to your friends,” I mumble into our kiss.
“And you shouldn’t start something if you’re not ready to finish it.”
“I’d finish it if you were capable of not making a sound.”
A scandalized laugh bubbles in her chest. “It’s not my fault if you’re too good at this. But maybe we could stick to hand stuff.”
I pinch both nipples at once, twisting them just the way she likes. “Aah, fuck,” she moans.
“Who are you trying to fool, Andrea? We both know you can’t even staysilent for ‘hand stuff.’”
“Maybe we should make sure,” she breathes out.
My needy little dork…
One of my hands goes to her neck, wrapping around it and barely applying any pressure. But that’s enough to make her pupils expand as she swallows hard under my palm. “I wasn’t done telling you all the reasons I love you,” I say, my voice low.
“Tell me.”
“I love your impulsiveness and how unpredictable you are. You give meaning toeverything. Because of you, I look forward to starting each day, just to see in what way you’ll surprise me, how you’ll find yet another opportunity to turn my world upside down. And this time, you surprised me by asking me to marry you. How fucking amazing is that?”
“Not enough, since you refused,” she replies with a scowl.
My hand around her neck tightens, forcing her to look up at me. “There are no words to express how much I want to become your husband, Andrea. I have never wanted anything more in my life than this. But we’re not starting our marriage in the middle of all this mess. When we take that leap, when we start the rest of our lives together, I want our focus to be on each other. I want that bliss to be free of complications.”
