Taken (One to Hold 7.50)

“You’d rather go to a state school than live with me here.”

She starts to struggle again, and this time I do release her.

“I have a job in Bayville. Kenny, my best friend is there. Remember her?” She sits up, wrapping the sheet over her beautiful body. I resist the urge to pull it away. “I won’t drop my life to move here and live with you and let you pay for everything like I’m some… some…”

Her chin drops, but I catch it and lift her face. “You’re here almost every day as it is. How would it be different?”

“You know how it would be different.” Fire is in those beautiful eyes. I love it. “I’m here because it’s an easy drive back and forth, and I like spending my free time with my boyfriend.”

“Is that so?” A smile pulls at the corner of my mouth, but I hold on. We’re leading up to a question I’ve been ready to ask since December.

“Besides, it sets a bad precedent if I let you win every argument by sleeping with me.”

“Aren’t we supposed to fight it out in bed?”

A little nose twitch, a teasing glance, and I can’t take it anymore. Snatching the sheet away, I catch her around the waist and pull her body flush with mine. She squeals with laughter, and I cover her mouth, kissing her deeply until her struggling relaxes and her arms slide around my neck slow and easy.

Pulling back, I hold her body and her gaze a moment. Then I say it. “I want you to marry me, Mariska. I want you to transfer to Princeton and live here with me as my wife. Fuck this boyfriend-girlfriend shit.”

Her eyes blink fast, and her brows pull together. For a second, my chest tightens. Sick hits the pit of my stomach when her tears spill over, down her temples and into her hair.

“Baby, what’s wrong?”

Her body jerks with a sniff, and she cries more. She pulls herself up to me in a hug, burying her face in my neck, and I’m going crazy until she finally speaks.

“Stuart,” it’s cut off by another sniff. “Oh, Stuart, I want that so much.”

Relief blasts through me, anxiety gone. I wrap her in my arms, holding her close. Her face is still at my neck, and I feel her tears on

my skin. I feel all of her against my skin, shoulders to stomach to thigh to knee, and I think about that old idea of becoming one. She’s the part of me that’s been missing for so long. Inhaling deeply, luscious jasmine fills my senses.

After a few moments, I slide my hands over her bare back, from her soft shoulders to her soft ass. “So is that a yes?” My voice is low and gentle.

She nods against me, squeezing me in her arms.

“Mariska?” I’m smiling now, holding my wife in my arms. Everything has changed. “Look at me.”

She takes a moment before pulling back, those beautiful eyes shining with her tears. “Will you please call about transferring to Princeton tomorrow?”

A laugh explodes from her lips, and she pulls up, hugging our faces together. “I guess if you put it that way.”

Kissing her jaw, her cheek, I roll her onto her back and prop myself on my elbows. “Thank you for agreeing to be my wife.”

Her eyes roll and she shakes her head. “As if you ever had any doubt.”

“You are a very strong, independent lady, Mariska Renee.” I pause to scoop her lips in another brief kiss. “I wasn’t sure you’d say yes so easily. I worried you might think it was too soon.”

“With as well as I know you?” Her cat eyes slant.

“I thought you might have some old-fashioned notion about finishing school or us needing to date for a year or something ridiculous.”

“Don’t give me any ideas.”

My brow lowers. “Is that something you want to do?”

“Is that something I should want to do?” How she manages to go from sassy to shy in the blink of an eye slays me. I can’t believe how vulnerable she is. Like I didn’t just ask her to fucking marry me.

“No.” I don’t even let that idea hang around five seconds. “I don’t want you away from me anymore. I’m getting your ring as soon as I get back from Baltimore. Give your landlord notice and start packing. You’ll start Princeton this fall. Summer if you want to start earlier.”