And he’d messed up. Said the wrong thing. Try for charm. “No.” Dylan jerked his head quickly. “What I meant... Rachel, you’re the best thing that has ever happened to me. The only woman I want. The woman that I love so much—” He heaved out a breath. “I love you so much I can’t even think of being in this world without you.”
Rachel was silent.
“I can’t promise that things will be easy.” They’d never had easy. “I can promise that I will always be there for you. I will love you every day of my life, and I will...” He tried to smile. “I will savor you every night.”
“Dylan...”
“Please, Rachel, marry me?”
Her hand lifted. Stroked the side of his cheek. Her soft palm rasped over the faint stubble that had grown there. “I love you.”
He found that now he couldn’t speak.
“You were the first light I saw...after I was kidnapped. You promised to take care of me, and you did. On missions, at home... I’ve never felt alone since I met you.”
She would never be alone again. “Tell me that’s a yes,” he managed to say. Beg? With Rachel, he damn well wasn’t too proud to plead.
She smiled and took away his breath. “It’s definitely a yes.”
He was on his feet in the next instant. His arms were wrapped tightly around her. His mouth crushed down on hers. Dylan lifted her up against him.
“No!” She’d torn her mouth from his. “I told you—your stitches—”
“Let them come out. Nothing is stopping me now.”
Because he had the one thing that he’d wanted most. He wasn’t letting her go.
Dylan carried her back inside. He kissed her, caressed her. Their clothes were tossed a
cross the room, and then he had her spread out on the big bed.
Their fingers twined together. Their mouths met. She was the sweetest thing he’d ever tasted. The one woman he could not live without.
He kissed his way down her body. Had her moaning and twisting beneath him. He loved her breasts—so perfect and full. He licked her. He kissed.
He explored every inch of her body.
Her nails raked over him.
Good. She wasn’t worrying about his stitches any longer.
Dylan positioned his body between her legs. He looked up and met her gaze.
He saw his future when he looked into Rachel’s gleaming eyes. A future he’d only dreamed of before that moment.
He thrust into her.
She wrapped her legs around him and met him, thrust for thrust.
When the pleasure hit, it swept them both away. So intense that the world seemed to go dark.
He looked only at her—because to Dylan, she was all that mattered.
He kissed her once more.
He wouldn’t live for the next mission any longer. From now on, Dylan knew he’d only be living...
For her.