No Gentle Giant (A Small Town Romance)

Gah, the way he smiles.

I’d do anything to see that grin for the rest of my life.

I’d fight a thousand vicious mafia brats, smuggle billions in gold. Move mountains. Give anything.

Including my heart.

Especially my heart.

But he’s already had that for months, whole and fragile and true, even if I’ve been a total baby about revealing it with the dreaded L-word. Only, now that it’s out there, that word doesn’t seem like instant doom.

And I don’t resist when he draws me closer, speaking in a hushed whisper that cries reverence, wonder, and awe...all for me.

“Here I thought telling you I love you would scare you away,” he says. “Damn, Fliss. You’re in me. Burning away like this inferno in my chest I can’t extinguish—I don’t want to—and I can’t imagine life without you. I closed myself off after Katelyn, and nothing made me want to open up again till I found you.” He releases one of my hands, curling his fingers against my cheek with the roughness of his touch grazing my skin. “I need you in my life. Eli needs you in his. You make everything we are, everything we’ll ever be, complete.”

I swallow roughly.

This is almost too much, but God I want it.

I want the sweet agony of making my heart vulnerable, trusting him to handle it tenderly and never cruelly.

Because he loves me—eek, loves me—that much.

Because this gorgeous wild man loves me the same way I love him.

Because we’ve already saved each other.

And that makes me brave enough to face anything.

“What are you asking me, Paxton?”

He smiles slowly. “Considering I brought you here, woman, I think you’ve got a good guess. But I’d better do it nice and proper, huh?”

Oh. My. God.

Yes, I know it’s coming, and it still doesn’t take the edge off.

I ignite like a firework factory when Alaska lets go of my hands, takes a step back, and suddenly, unbelievably drops down.

He falls to one knee.

I cover my mouth with both hands, breathing in sharply as he slips a hand into his pocket and withdraws a tiny black velvet box.

His smile sears me, hopeful and bright, as his thumb flicks it open.

There’s a slender golden band with a diamond setting inside. It has a single fractional dot of gold embedded in the center of the gemstone like the heart of a strange flower, a single burning star against the white.

“So, Felicity Randall,” Alaska whispers, so much emotion in that rolling thunder, rich and inviting and enveloping me in his protection even as he short-circuits me with joy. “I can’t imagine a better life than one with you, and I’m an impatient man. I want that life to start now and last forever—if you’ll have me. If I haven’t just made things ten times worse when I doubt you ever want to see anything gold again...but I’m a sucker for traditions.” His grin widens, a teasing spark in his eyes. “Will you do me the honor of being my wife?”

Inwardly, I’m screaming.

Every last part of me.

I can’t help myself.

I spring off my knees and hurl myself at him.

He’s so tall even kneeling that I don’t have to bend to wrap my arms around his shoulders, burying my face in his neck, in his beard, in his everything, struggling not to burst out crying like a crazy woman.

“You giant, giant dork,” I rasp out, my throat tight, my lips aching with my smile. “Just...just...put it on me! Alaska, you have to slide it on. That’s the way it’s done. You have to do it.”

“And you’ve got to say the magic word,” he rumbles.

Damn him.

How could I forget?

But a simple “sir, yes, sir” wouldn’t be me.

I feel his laughter rising like an earthquake between us before erupting out of his mouth as he wraps his arms around me.

I can feel the ring, pressing against the small of my back.

I can feel his mouth go rigid and hot under mine. Then I hit him with a volley of kisses, quick and unrelenting, overflowing with sweetness before I manage to snap my face away.

“Is that a yes, Fliss?”

“Yes!” I shriek, and it’s back to pressing kiss after blinding kiss over his jaw, his cheek, working my way to his mouth—where I seize his lips breathlessly. Like I can imprint that yes on him and let him taste, feel, know how happy he’s made me when we’re tangled up so close it’s like we’re one person. “Yes, yes, yes, God yes.”

Groaning, Paxton buries his fingers in my hair and pulls me in for a deeper kiss.

I taste every beat of my heart. Every sigh of my breath. Every fluttering butterfly taking flight in my stomach.

All captured in one awesome melding of the senses and the gentle graze of teeth.

He kisses me like I’m a butterfly myself, and he’d rather die than crush the dust from my wings.