Triple Dare (Sterling Shore 7)

He takes a deep breath and he folds open my fingers before putting the piercing into my palm and closing my hand back over it.

“That’s your idea of a proposal?” I joke, smiling when he looks at me like he’s taken aback. Another tear slips free from my grasp, and his eyes slowly widen.

I’m not sure how it happens, but suddenly his lips are on mine, and I melt against him. I think he’s trying to shut me up to keep me from joking, and it’s really working. He groans into my mouth, gripping me roughly as he jerks me flush against his body.

His tongue teases and toys with mine as he devours me, and I fall deeper under his spell, forgetting all the problems that exist between us. Nothing matters as much as this.

“Actually,” he says, forcing himself back enough to talk, but still holding onto me, “I brought something new to propose to you with.”

I almost swallow my tongue when he walks away, and my heart thunders in my chest. Is he really proposing? I was just kidding.

Everything on me is so rigid that a genuine fear of breaking grows as he returns. He’s holding a matte black bag with a silver C on the side. Obviously he’s been shopping at Colton, but why?

“Here,” he says, handing it to me and smiling when I take it.

“Wha…” My word trails off because I can’t even form a full word—forget making a complete sentence.

He looks so damn nervous as I pull out a black leather jacket. It’s rock-chick gorgeous, but I have no idea why he bought me a leather jacket in a town that’s hardly ever cold, or why he’s choosing this moment to give it to me.

“I’ll explain the sentiment later, but I want you to keep this… Never ever get rid of it.”

Still confused, I look up at him. “Okay…”

Slowly, he kneels down on one knee, and my own knees almost buckle.

“You can’t be serious,” I hiss.

The look in his eyes is devastatingly vulnerable, and he shrugs. “That’s not exactly what I was hoping you’d say.”

He slowly stands back up, and I inwardly curse myself for saying it like that.

“This has officially become the most awkward proposal ever,” he says around a nervous laugh.

“Corbin—”

“I don’t know what else to say, Ruby. Words aren’t good enough. I want to show you how I feel. I want to do everything right this time. Honestly, I’m fucking crazy without you.” He gives me that adorable boyish grin he keeps in his arsenal for emergencies. “I got my damn dick pierced for you just because you mentioned that shit, and I didn’t even know if you’d ever take me back. If that’s not love, I don’t know what is,” he adds, jokingly.

I’m so fucking stupid. We both are.

I pull him to me, fisting both of my hands in his shirt to give me leverage, and he meets me in the middle, picking me up and tossing me down to the couch. When he comes down on top of me, his mouth finds mine again, and he kisses me like he’s been dying to touch me for days.

“Say yes,” he whispers, panting for air just like me. “Otherwise, I’ll keep delivering awkward proposals until I get it right.”

My eyes get blurry when more tears fill them, and I wrap my legs around his waist.

“That was me saying yes.”

His eye spark with a myriad of emotions, and he lifts me up as I giggle like an idiot.

“Thank fuck,” he whispers before his lips crash back down on mine.

CHAPTER 45

CORBIN

It feels like everything I’ve felt is flowing into her mouth, and every time she moves against me, I clutch her tighter. I’m worried I’m either going to leave bruises or wake up from a dream.

She arches against me as I peel off her tiny pajama shorts, barely able to stop myself from attempting to rip them off. Her hands are just as frantic as mine as we both try to strip each other out of our clothes.

I finally stand up, tearing my own shirt over my head as she continues to get naked. Her gaze drops straight to the part of my body that is straining for her, but I get distracted. My eyes fall on the newest blue flower, and I take a breath as she looks up at me with hungry blue eyes.

“You can get a new red rose to balance out the latest tat,” I say, motioning to the blue flower.

She smiles as I come down on top of her, and her hands clasp behind my neck.

“It sounds like I’m going to be getting several red roses inked on me.”

I shudder against her, and her legs widen, giving me more room between the cradle of her thighs.

I kiss her finger, envisioning a band of vines and red roses wrapped around it very soon.