AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Sorry.” She looked anything but sorry.
“Let me be perfectly clear,” I started and paused until she nodded, showing she was listening. “I want you more than anything I’ve ever wanted in my entire life, Avery. I crave your sexy body, your sense of humor, your wit and intelligence, your sweet, loving nature. All of you.”
“Then why—”
I gave her a hard look and she closed her mouth. “I’m not interested in a one-night stand or a fling and staying away from you is unacceptable.” My eyes dropped to the hollow of her neck where I could see the rapid pulse of her heart. “Do you want me, baby?”
Avery was quiet for a few moments, then she whispered, “Yes.”
“Good.” I held her chin with my index finger and thumb so she was staring directly up into my face. “The only way you’re going to get me is forever.”
Her brows furrowed and she blinked a few times. “I don’t understand.”
“If we do this, Avery… if we give in to this attraction that’s been building between us for months now and we sleep together, neither one of us gets to just walk away tomorrow morning like nothing happened. If we do this, it’s forever, for both of us. All or nothing, baby.”
“All?” Her expression was cautious, but hope glinted in her pretty green eyes.
I released her chin and lifted her by the waist, setting her on her feet before standing. I stalked across the room to my suitcase where I retrieved what I needed before returning to my seat on the recliner and pulling her into my lap again.
“Since my words didn’t make my point abundantly clear, perhaps this will.” I opened the small box I’d been clutching in my hand and plucked a sparkling diamond ring from the velvet bed before snapping it closed again. Then I held up the ring and waited for her to work things out in her mind.
“Just to be clear, when you say forever, do you mean—” She swallowed hard, then jumped out of my lap and began pacing.
I chuckled before answering because she was just so damn adorable. “That I want to marry you? Yes. When I said forever, I meant exactly that.” I rose to my feet and grabbed her hand to stop her movements.
“You’re proposing.” Her voice squeaked at the end, but she gravitated toward me just an inch or so, her eyes bright and her hand trembling in mine.
“Now she gets it,” I teased.
“But…we’ve only known each other—”
She broke off when I shook my head, grabbed her hand, and slipped the ring onto her third left finger. “I’ve known you were mine since the moment I laid eyes on you in that coffee shop. I fell for you the first time you opened your mouth. You are everything I could ever want. More than I ever dreamed of finding.”
“Fell for me?”
“Head over heels, baby. I love you with every beat of my heart. You own me completely.”
Avery sucked in a breath before she launched herself at me and cried, “I love you, too!”
Relief flooded my body, but I still needed to hear one more thing. “You’re going to marry me, right?”
Avery’s smile was blinding, despite the tears clouding her beautiful green eyes. “Absolutely.”
