*
She was lyingon top of a warm, hard body.A hand was stroking her back, up and down, up and down.For the first time in three weeks, she felt at peace.Darryn was with her.Hannah opened her eyes and turned her head.
They had to talk, she knew that.She’d accepted a marriage proposal and hadn’t even been asked!
That was taking being brazen and bold to a whole new level.A blush crept up her neck, and she buried her face in Darryn’s body.
Beneath her, his body started shaking, and it took her a few seconds to realize the rumbling beneath her ear was his laughter.
She looked up and scowled.“Why are you laughing?”
“You’re blushing,” he teased and combed his fingers through her hair.“And that after last night and just now!”
There was no way she could stop the smile.“We made love.I could never be embarrassed about that, although I never thought I’d be so…”
“Innovative?Creative?Sexy?Amazing?”he said pulling her up so their eyes were on the same level.
“So were you,” she breathed and kissed him.
“So, what are you embarrassed about?”he said, still with that lazy smile.
“I…” She buried her face in his neck.“I said…no, make that Iyelledthat I’ll marry you, and you hadn’t even asked.So, please, can we just forget about my outburst?You don’t have to ask me to…”
He stilled and warily she lifted her face.“What did you just say?”he asked.
She rolled away from him, but before she could get off the bed, she was pulled backward and was lying on her back, pinned down by his leg.
“What did you say?”he asked again, his voice cool.
Sighing, she rubbed her face.“Just forget about what I said.I was at the end of a long argument with myself.Can we please move on and forget—”
He put a finger on her lips so she had to stop speaking.
“I don’t talk much,” he said.“But I try to show you how I feel.Why do you think I caught a twenty-one hour commercial flight to New York?Merely for the sex?”
All the oxygen left her body in one swoosh.She stared at him, trying to read his face, trying to make sense of his words.“What do you mean?”
“Hell, I can’t screw this up again.Why is it so damn hard?”he muttered.
With a string of swear words, he scooted off the bed.She sat up, staring at Darryn’s back.Buck naked and mouth-wateringly sexy, he looked around, picked up his pants, patted the pockets, and took something out before he turned back to her.
She kept her eyes on his face.She needed to breathe, but she didn’t want to move.With two long strides, he reached the bed again.With his gorgeous naked body right in front of her, it took all of her willpower to keep her eyes above his neck, but she wanted to make sure she saw every emotion, every expression.
Something was about to happen, something she had thought was impossible.
“I have this long list of dos and don’ts I got from the mothers, and I was going to take you out to dinner, go down on my knee, and the whole damn thing, but now you…and I…” He motioned with his hand toward her.
At this point, her eyes simply refused to stay on his face.She still wasn’t quite sure what he was trying to say, but there were other parts of his body that had no trouble communicating.A giggle threatened to escape, but she swallowed it forcefully.This was so not the time to become hysterical.
With a tremendous effort, she forced her eyes upward again.The expression on his face was priceless.
“I’m trying to ask you to marry me, damnit, and you’re not paying attention!”he said, and he dropped his hand holding the little box.
For a few seconds more, she was so busy trying to keep her eyes on his face, she didn’t grasp the meaning of his words.But then…there it was, the flicker of vulnerability.And finally, she understood.
She tried to breathe.Inhaling was supposed to be instinctive, not something one had a problem with, but there was a huge lump in her throat that refused to let any air into her body.
Light-headed, overjoyed, and crying, she jumped up on the bed and threw herself into Darryn’s arms.He staggered backward, his arms folding around her.
