I just gazed at him, stupid-struck.
“I really love you, Dane,” I whispered.
He looked at me. “I know.” Then he put his phone aside and put his arm around me. I cuddled into him. “It feels good,” he murmured in my ear.
I looked up into his green eyes. “Better than when I hated you?”
“Much better.” He drifted his lips over mine. “You can pretend you still do, sometimes. You know, when we fuck. For old times’ sake.”
“That can be arranged.” I kissed him softly. “But… hope you don’t mind if I also crush on you while we fuck. I mean… I was kinda crushing on you then, too. Even when I was hating on you.”
He drew back a bit to look into my eyes. “Devi Davenport. Are you telling me that all this time you were just waiting for me to sweep you away to my hot tub like a hero?”
“No. But maybe villains aren’t so bad after all.”
He brushed some damp hair off my cheek with his knuckles. “You still insisting that I’m the devil in this story?”
I slid into his lap, sliding my arms around his neck. “You’ll always be my devil, Dane. That’s what I like most about you.”
“That’s interesting,” he said. “Because I’d have to say… you’re my hero.”
“Oh, now you’re just trying to get up my skirt.”
“Is it working?” He slipped his hand between my legs. Conveniently, I wasn’t even wearing a skirt. Or anything at all.
“Well, I’m not wearing one, so…” His fingers started moving slowly between my legs as he kissed my neck. “When are people coming over…?”
“As soon as Lex can round them up. Hope you don’t mind a house full of bikers…”
I sighed. “Probably better they come over now. Break the place in before we get all the furniture.”
“Good point,” he murmured against my skin. Then he drew back. His hand drifted away. He looked up at me with a soft, admiring look. “You should change the song.”
“What?”
He nodded toward my phone. “Change the song.”
“Why?” M.I.A. was on now. Who changed M.I.A.?
“Check your phone or something,” he said firmly.
“Huh?”
He sighed. “Just go look at the towel, Devi.”
“Uh… okay?” I drifted over to my towel and took a look. And there, sitting by my phone, was a delicate gold chain. How did I miss that before?
He’d obviously put it there for me.
I picked it up. There was a beautiful heart-shaped diamond pendant on it. My jaw dropped.
When I turned back to Dane, he was in the middle of the hot tub, just his head and shoulders showing. He was gazing up at me and his eyes looked all dreamy.
“When I was on that beach in Australia,” he told me, his voice rough with emotion, “I asked myself that question, so many times.What would you do right now, if you knew you were going to die tomorrow?”
I swallowed. “And… what was your answer?”
“This,” he said. He took the necklace from my hands and unclasped it. Then he looked into my eyes.
