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“Like you’re disappointed I’m not going to strip you, bend you over this fine laminate table and make you scream.”
“Oh.”
He reached for her hand and she let him thread their fingers together. “It was a hell of a lot easier not to think about doing exactly that when I thought you were going to punch me.”
“Oh.” She was so turned on, it was hard to breathe.
His other hand came up to her hip. “Do you know what that little word and the way it comes out of your mouth does to me?” He pulled her so she rested against his body. The hand on her hip smoothed around to the small of her back, settling her hip to hip with him, pressing, fixing.
“Oh.”
He growled like a summer storm building. “Does looking at me like that mean you’ve forgiven me?”
“I... I could be persuaded.” She was so thirsty for him, a whole drought inside her only he could water.
He brought his lips to her ear, spoke soft, hot into the shell of it. “How would I do that?”
She put her hand to his hair and turned her head to catch his mouth, “Forget about the glass.”
He laughed from deep in his chest. “Come with me to Shanghai.” He nuzzled her neck. “Tonight.”
Everything she needed was in this man with his arms around her. “Yes. I’m suddenly available. I have nothing to stay for.”
“Your family?”
“I’m a perennial disappointment.”
She felt his teeth graze her collarbone. “Fucking idiots.” Now he was kissing her throat. “I want you to stay with me. Bo will pack up your apartment.”
He twisted his fingers in her hair and she arched into him, dropping her head back to give him full access to her neck, pressing her hips harder to his. “I want to share my life with you, Darcy. All of it, the money, the homes, my work, the business.”
She groaned, it was hard to think clearly, but it couldn’t be that way. “I love you, but I can’t be your mistress.”
He broke away abruptly, leaving her reeling. “If I let you go, you’ll ruin me.” He wiped his hand over his face, turning away.
Did he mean he could only love her one way, tied to his co
nditions and commands? How had she misinterpreted him so badly? The room was too small, closing in on her, closing her in with this budding nightmare of wrong expectations.
Will turned back to face her. “I used to be at my fighting weight when I was alone.” He had one hand shoved in his coat pocket, the other fisted at his side, keeping them still while he stirred the air with his words. “That’s how I did best, when I was accountable to no one but myself and Pete. It was a very good life. But you screwed with that.” He stepped towards her, and it took all her energy to hold her ground.
“You got in my head, and you made me dream about different things, not ore and steel and making money, but acceptance and laughter and love. And you. Always you, when I didn’t even understand what I was dreaming.”
She sighed as understanding blossomed. “And if that’s not ruin enough, you’ve wrecked my desire to play maverick. I’m going to do this right and the setting is, well for us, it’s perfect.” He went down on one knee.
“Will!”
“You were correct about needing a new name.” He pulled a satin pouch out of his pocket and palmed it and she felt a moment of pure, clean panic.
“Darcy, will you let me keep you always in my head, and in my heart, and in my hands?”
“Oh.”
“Do you think you could let me love you forever, Darcy Campbell?”
“Oh, God.”
“I’m not normally one for asking. Taking is more my thing, but will you please marry me? And fuck it, I don’t care if you take my comic book name or call yourself Catwoman. I’ll do pretty much anything to keep you in my life.”
