There was a long, pregnant pause as both of them absorbed that statement. “Not the best way to show that to me,” he finally replied dryly.
She nodded, ashamed of her fears but trying to face them. For him. “Yeah. That was pretty bad of me.”
“Explain to me why you did it.”
Naya looked down at the floor. “Because I can’t marry you.” There was silence so she continued. “For the past couple of weeks, I’ve had these dreams of beautiful children with dark hair and green eyes. I’ve wanted that dream to be a reality so desperately. But I told myself that you weren’t the kind of man who would settle down with one woman. I told myself that I was safe because of that.”
He still didn’t understand. It sounded like both of them were looking to the future with the same dream. Of course, he wanted little girls with red curls and beautiful brown eyes. And freckles. Yeah, he loved Naya’s freckles, even though he knew she hated them. “And yet, I do want to be with one woman. You!”
She smiled at that. “I was actually going to stop this, stop seeing you, because I didn’t think marriage would be in our future. And it hurt too much. I figured out in Savannah that I loved you too much, continuing to be with you.” She shrugged as she looked up into his green eyes. “Well, it would hurt too much when it finally ended.”
He sighed. “And now that you know that I don’t want it to end?”
She laughed, shaking her head, ignoring the tears that were blurring her vision. “I can’t marry you,” she whispered.
Luke looked down into her beautiful features, not sure what she was saying. “Let me get this straight. You were going to dump me because you didn’t think that marriage was a possibility. And now that I’ve proposed, now that I’ve asked you to spend the rest of your life with me, you’re ending our relationship. Does that sum things up accurately?”
She cringed. “When you say it like that, it makes me sound a bit nuts.”
He shook his head and moved closer to her, trapping her against the countertop when she tried to skitter away from him again. “Naya, you are nuts. But you’re my kind of nuts. And we’re getting married. You told me that you love me so we’re not backing away from this.”
Naya loved hearing those words and she laid her forehead on his shoulder. Immediately, his hands dove into her hair and she smiled. “I can’t.”
He didn’t care what she said now. His ring was on her finger and she was in his arms. She could say whatever the hell she wanted to say as long as he could hold her like this. It wasn’t changing his plans. She would be his wife and he would prove that they could make it. Every day, he would prove that they could work things out. “What are you afraid of, Naya?”
She breathed in his male scent, knowing that she would have to live without it for so long! “I can’t get married. We’ll fight. We’ll argue about everything and…”
“We’re not your parents, Naya,” he argued firmly. “We spend most of our time together already and we don’t fight.”
“We argue.”
“We debate issues.” He pulled her hair, forcing her to look up at him. “And we have a good time doing it.”
She thought about that for a long moment, remembering the last time they’d fought. And how they’d finally agreed. And then how they’d made up. The memory caused a smile to form on her pale features. For the first time since she’d decided to break up with him, she felt a small kernel of hope form inside of her. “We do, don’t we?”
“Yes. And I know we’ll argue about things in the future. You’re a crazy woman and you’re going to have ridiculous ideas.”
She should take offense at that description, but she didn’t think he really believed it. “And you’re an arrogant man who tries to boss me around.”
He bent lower and kissed her. “Only when you’re trying to be shy in bed,” he corrected.
She realized that he was right and couldn’t stop the burst of laughter or the blush. “You’re a horrible man,” she told him.