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He gently slid me off his lap, stood, and rummaged in the pocket of his jeans.
When he found what he was looking for, he knelt beside the couch. “I love you, Skye. Probably more than I can ever express in words. I need you in my life forever. Just marry me and put me out of my misery, for God’s sake,” he rasped.
He popped open the box he was holding and held it out to me.
It was the most beautiful diamond solitaire I’d ever seen.
I was searching for words. “You don’t have to do this to try to make up for saying some things you shouldn’t have. I was hurt, but I understand why it happened,” I said breathlessly.
“I’ve had this ring in my pocket since we came back from Vegas. That’s how bad I wanted you to be mine. And I still do. Maybe worse than I did when I bought it.”
“I’m already yours.”
“Then maybe I need reassurance,” he said huskily. “You don’t have to start planning the wedding, but wear my ring. When you’re ready someday, then we’ll get married. I know you’ve been through hell. And I don’t blame you for not wanting another husband. But I swear I’ll try to be everything he wasn’t.”
Maybe he didn’t know it, but Aiden was already everything my first husband wasn’t.
I opened my mouth, but I didn’t know how to tell him that there never had been and never would be any comparison.
Aiden was the only man for me and always had been.
“I love you,” I said because I couldn’t express how I felt in words.
“I love you, too, sweetheart, but could you just say yes already?”
I laughed. “Yes. I’ll marry you.”
I wasn’t afraid of marriage anymore. Not with him. Never with Aiden.
“Thank God,” he said in a heavy sigh of relief.
He took the ring and tossed the box aside.
It fit perfectly when he slid it onto my finger, and I felt the slightly eerie sense that something had just happened that should have occurred a long time ago.
Like the world had suddenly been righted, and everything was the way the universe had always intended it to be.
CHAPTER 29
SKYE
“You have no damn idea how good it is to see that ring on your finger,” he said in a hoarse tone as he sat back down on the couch and pulled me into his lap.
I shivered as I saw the band of white gold and the shimmering diamond on my hand. “I think I do,” I argued. “I’m ready to marry you, Aiden. Once we get the test results—”
“They don’t matter,” he interrupted. “I already know how they’ll turn out. I know you weren’t lying to me, Skye. And if you had, then you would have told me the truth, and had a damn good reason for doing it. I don’t know what happened to me. I guess the thought of you betraying me like that sent me into some kind of temporary twilight zone. I’m pretty rational about everything but you.”
“I’m over it,” I said truthfully.
Aiden and I were going to make our mistakes, and he’d had reason to have reservations about our relationship. Honestly, I was pretty unreasonable about him at times, too.
We had a crazy kind of love. Strong emotions sometimes meant being irrational. But he’d pulled himself together and thought it through, even though he hadn’t at first.
“You shouldn’t be over it,” he rumbled.
“So you want to be tortured?” I teased.
“It might make me feel better about losing my shit,” he replied. “I said some things that can’t be unsaid. You didn’t deserve that.”
“Love isn’t always going to be perfect, Aiden. We’re going to have disagreements. We love each other too much not to argue occasionally. We aren’t kids anymore. You’re stubborn. I’m independent. Those two traits are bound to collide once in a while. But all the things you’ve done right far outweigh one day of wrong.”
“Tell me what I can do to make it up to you,” he demanded.
“Kiss me,” I insisted.
“Baby, that’s not torture,” he answered as he pulled my head down.
Wet heat flooded my core the moment I felt his soft, warm, silken lips touch mine.
I was lost, and I didn’t really care.
The man who was always meant to be mine was now my fiancé after almost a decade of waiting.
I didn’t want to waste another damn minute.
I finally lifted my head, even though the separation from him was painful. “Fuck me, Aiden. Show me all of this is real, because I’m not sure I believe it’s really happening.”
Truth was, it was hard to fathom that he loved me as much as I loved him.
I was flat on my back on the couch before I could take another breath, with Aiden’s muscular body on top of me.
I welcomed him by wrapping my legs around his waist.
“Believe it, baby,” he said in a rough voice that was full of emotion. “You and I should have been like this years ago. And I’m never giving your beautiful ass up again. I’d walk through fucking fire to find you if you tried to run away.”
I tangled my hands in his hair, and then reveled in the feeling of being so close to him. “I’m not going anywhere,” I told him with tears in my eyes.
“Don’t cry, sweetheart,” he demanded. “I never want to see you cry again.”
His mouth came down on mine again, and my chest ached as he explored my mouth so thoroughly that I knew everything was real.
His kiss was raw, and it stripped me of any defenses I might have had left inside me.
I needed us both naked, our heated skin fused together like we’d never come apart again.
When he finally lifted his head, I moaned in protest.
“I need you naked,” he growled.
Every female hormone I had responded.
He stood, and I scrambled up after him.
I reached for the T-shirt he was wearing, in a frenzy of need.
He helped me shuck it, and then pulled my shirt over my head and added it to the place where he’d tossed his on the floor.
“Wait,” I said softly. “Please.”
He gave me a curious look.
“Let me touch you,” I insisted.
Aiden always made it his mission to make me come as many times as possible. He was an alpha male, and I liked that. But it meant that I rarely got the chance to really touch and pleasure him in return.
He always took the lead.
“For once, let me just touch you,” I said in a loud whisper, my voice weak as I stared at all that soft skin over well-developed muscles.
The hot look in his eyes singed me, but he stood still like he was waiting for me to make my move.
I reached for the buttons on his jeans and popped them open, my eyes locked with his as I moved my palms over his chest and his six-pack abs.
Aiden was beautifully made, from his mouthwatering body to his strong, masculine facial features and beautiful blue eyes.
“I love the way you feel,” I told him as I traced the sexy trail of hair that disappeared into his open jeans. “You’ve always been the hottest guy I’ve ever seen.”
I ran my hand over the incredibly hard bulge under the denim he was wearing, and I heard him take in a sharp breath.
That was all the encouragement I needed to drop to my knees and yank the jeans and his boxer briefs down to his feet.
