Exhaling a deep breath, he slid his hands down her arms until he was holding her hands. “But from the very beginning, you were different, and you were the first girl I ever shared anything with. You knew my past. You knew my secrets. No matter what I did, and I certainly wasn’t a choirboy as a teenager or as an adult, you never judged me. You never left me, even though there were times that I knew I did some stupid shit that should have had you questioning why you were friends with me. You were always there.”
She swallowed the knot of uncertainty in her throat and forced a smile. “That’s what best friends are for, right?”
“You will always be my best friend, Kitty-Kat,” he said with a gentle smile she couldn’t completely read. “And I’ve always loved you, which is why it was so easy to fall in love with you over these past few weeks together. And this weekend, when you started to pull away and withdraw, it scared the shit out of me. The thought of losing you, in any way, changed everything for me and put things into perspective, too.”
Her mind was still stuck on the it was so easy to fall in love with you part of his statement, but soon caught up with the rest. “How so?” she asked, her voice a whisper of hope as her heart fluttered in her chest.
“I want you in my life forever,” he said, without an ounce of doubt in his deep, masculine voice. “Every morning and every night. As my best friend. As my perfect lover. As my beautiful wife.”
Certain she’d misheard that last part, her eyes grew round with disbelief. “Your . . . your wife?”
“I’m so in love with you, Katrina, and if I marry you, that makes you mine forever.” Then, a boyish smile curved the corner of his mouth, and his eyes glimmered playfully. “Umm, that is, if you want to be mine forever. I guess I shouldn’t assume anything.”
She bit her lip as tears of happiness filled her eyes. “Yes, I want to be yours forever. I love you, Mason Kincaid. I’ve loved you since the day you rescued me from those bullies. I was just waiting and hoping that someday you’d feel the same way.”
“I’m such an idiot. It took me long enough,” he said, and finally kissed her, slow, hot, and deep.
The hunger and desire didn’t take long to become a raging need that neither one of them could deny. He skimmed his hands down her back and over her bottom, then gripped her thighs and guided her legs around his waist. Once she had her ankles locked tight at the base of his spine, he walked to her bedroom, and didn’t break the kiss until they were next to her bed and her heels were steady on the floor again.
When he finally lifted his mouth from hers, he grinned down at her. “Best thing I ever did was carry you out of Coyote Ugly that night and get into your pants. You were so fucking sexy and hot that my dick decided right then and there that you were the only woman he would ever get hard for, which is more than fine by me.”
She laughed happily as she pushed up his T-shirt and pulled it over his head and off. “I’ll keep him very happy, I promise.”
When she reached for the button on his jeans, he caught her wrists and stopped her, his intense gaze going serious once again. “So, back to that forever thing we just talked about?”
She tipped her head to the side. “Yes?”
“That’s where I was this morning,” he said, and now he looked adorably nervous. “I met up with Samantha so she could help me take care of the forever
part of our relationship.”
Katrina couldn’t be more confused. “I’m not sure what that means.”
Releasing her hands, he pushed his fingers into the front pocket of his jeans. He pulled out a condom and grinned sheepishly at her. “Umm, wrong pocket, but yeah, I was hopeful that I’d get lucky today.” He tossed the foil packet onto the bed, then reached into the other side and this time withdrew a small black velvet box.
Everything inside of Katrina went still, and she could barely breathe as he opened the lid and revealed a stunning ring that was set with a continuous line of round, brilliant diamonds. She was shocked and speechless.
He removed the sparkling band, picked up her left hand, and put it on her ring finger. “I needed Samantha’s help to pick out the perfect ring for you. It’s called an eternity band, and that’s how long I’m going to love you. For an eternity.”
So much emotion tightened her throat, and her heart filled with joy as she looked from the ring circling her finger back to Mason. “That’s a really long time.”
“I know. I’m in it for the long haul.” Smiling warmly at her, he gently brushed his fingers along her cheek, then walked behind her to unzip her dress. “One more thing before I lay you back on that bed and make you mine. Do you know why I brought you here to your apartment instead of my house?”
She shook her head, remembering her earlier thoughts when they’d arrived here. “No. Why?”
Done opening her dress, he pushed the sleeves down her arms, and the outfit slid down her body and fell to the floor at her feet. He placed a warm, damp kiss on her bare shoulder as he unfastened her strapless bra and let that drop to the ground, too. Cool air touched her breasts and her nipples tightened into hard, aching points.
“Because after I get my fill of you, which might take a long while, we are packing up all your stuff and taking it to my place,” he said as he hooked his fingers into the waistband of her panties and eased them down her thighs until they joined the rest of her clothing. “You’re not staying in this apartment ever again. After today, you will be in my bed every single night. Do you understand?”
The slightest bit of authority in his voice made her shift anxiously on her heels, and she moaned when he followed up that statement with a light, playful smack to her ass. “Yes, I understand,” she said, wanting the same thing.
“Good. Now take off your shoes and get up on the bed,” he ordered, knowing how much it turned her on when he got bossy. “I want to fuck you wearing nothing but that ring on your finger.”
She did as he asked, and by the time she was settled, he’d stripped off the rest of his clothes and was as naked as she was. He was so gorgeous, from his masculine features to those tattoos she loved, to his toned chest, lean abs, and that thick, hard cock between his legs. And he was all hers, she thought giddily.
He sheathed his erect shaft and climbed up on the bed between her spread legs, and starting at her knee, he slowly, lazily kissed his way up her thighs, until they quivered with anticipation and she was panting with need. His wicked mouth and tongue lingered at her core, licking and sliding through her sensitive folds of flesh. Over. And over. And over.
When she was beyond wet and aroused, he moved on, detouring to the scars on her hip. He kissed each one lovingly, replacing the reasons they were there with the pleasure of his touch. He teased her nipples next, sliding his tongue over them, nipping at them with his teeth, then sucking those engorged tips deep into his mouth until she was desperate for the orgasm he’d so reverently built to a peak but withheld just out of her reach. When she couldn’t stand the sensual torment any longer, she finally reached down, twisted her fingers in his hair, and brought his lips up to hers.