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I knew that I would eventually have to return to the Castillo compound, but it was still surprising that Angel had issued me an invitation…or an order, rather. “Are you nervous?”
Omar was quiet for a long stretch. He busied himself with kissing my neck and shoulders. “I am nervous,” he said finally. “If it were just me, I don’t think I would be.”
I curled my fingers through his hair. “If it were just you, you’d probably never be in this situation to begin with.”
He pulled back so that I could see his eyes. “You know that I wouldn’t change any of this, right? I would stay here on this island with you for the rest of our lives if I had to.”
I shushed him softly. “I know,” I said, drawing him down for a kiss. “It wasn’t the most…conventional way to get here, but I’m glad too.”
The water was going to start getting cold soon. Omar reached for the shampoo and rubbed some into my hair: whenever we ended up in the shower together, this was one of his favorite things to do. He told me once that it helped to relax him, but it also reminded him that he had the ability to be gentle and soft when he wanted to be.
“Marry me,” he said as he finished rinsing out the shampoo. He was grabbing the conditioner, barely looking at me, but I couldn’t have been more floored. Sure, we’d talked about marriage…but he’d never actually asked the question.
“What?”
He started massaging the conditioner into my hair. “When we return to the mainland,” he said, “let’s go to the courthouse and get married.”
“Okay,” I agreed. “Let’s do it. Let’s get married.”
The rest of the afternoon was spent packing. Helena was absolutely beside herself that we were actually leaving, but Omar said that she was welcome at the compound any time. She could work there full-time if she wanted, or simply come to visit. We didn’t have to wait until we came back to the island to see one another.
Helena wrapped me in a hug as the men loaded the boat with our luggage. “Let me know when your first ultrasound is,” she said. “I want to know everything.”
“Of course,” I said.
One crushing hug later, Omar and I were skipping over the waves. It still wasn’t a pleasant experience for me, but at the very least, I was getting used to it. Plus, now I had a custom-fitted life jacket that was strapped around me. “Are you all right,conejita?” Omar called to me over the waves.
“I’m okay. Just get us there in one piece.”
He laughed, but it was carried away by the whipping of the wind. The ride was, by far, the most pleasant we’d had so far, and it was almost surprising when we neared the marina. Omar navigated the speedboat into its boat slip.
He disembarked first, and then held out his hand to help me step onto the dock. He kept his hand on the small of my back the entire way from the slip to the parking lot where a car was waiting for us. “Are you going to hover like this for my whole pregnancy?”
“Probably,” he said. “Is that going to bother you?” He wasn’t looking at me. Instead, his eyes swept the area around us, like he was expecting someone to jump out at us. It probably wasn’t far from the truth: Omar wasn’t needlessly paranoid. He’d been jumped enough in the last year to last a lifetime.
“I think I’ll survive,” I said, leaning into him. If it made him feel better to hover a little, who was I to tell him he couldn’t?
His shoulders relaxed. “Gracias,conejita.”
Omar opened my car door and waited until I was seated and buckled before closing it and going around to his own side. Once he was behind the wheel, he held out his hand, and I slid mine into it, clasping our fingers together. “Ready to be my wife?” he asked.
The wordwifesent a tingle through me. “I would like nothing more than for you to be my husband.”
Omar looked like he’d been sucker-punched, and then he looked predatory. He cupped the back of my neck, nearly hauling me over the center console so that our faces were only a breath apart. “Call me that again,” he demanded.
“Husband.” His eyes watched my mouth shape the word. “You’re going to be my husband.”
His eyes were dark with want. “If we didn’t have to go to the compound right after we finish at the courthouse, you would be in so much trouble.”
I felt my mouth draw up in a smirk. “Is it still trouble if I’m asking for it?”
His lips were against mine, demanding and greedy, and I gasped against him. I wanted to climb into his lap. Ever since we’d settled into our exiled life, it was like we couldn’t go more than a few hours without each other. I’d been waiting for that burning want to fade, but if anything, it was only getting worse. The honeymoon period was sure to end, right? “Behave,conejita,” Omar warned, drawing away from me, as if I had been the one to attack his mouth first. “We have to get through this afternoon before I can have you all to myself again.”
I sat back in my seat. “I’ll behave if you will.”
He let out a groan.“Can’t you just say, ‘yes,’ and we could move on with our day? Why do you have an attitude and make me want to find a place where I could adjust it for you?”
“Is that what we're calling it?” I sniped at him. “Attitude adjustments?”
