“Then you’ll have to stop glaring at every man who looks my way.”
“Impossible,” he mumbled.
“Well, then I don’t know what to say, except—”
“Marry me, Ari.”
chapter 3
My stomach flipped. My heart launched into my throat.
I wiggled out of Dane’s firm embrace and flopped onto my side to face him.
“What did you just say?” I demanded, breathless and wide-eyed.
He smirked. “You heard me.” Brushing curls off my shoulder and cheek, he added, “Be my wife.”
I gaped. It took a few seconds to recover. “Didn’t you just tell me we shouldn’t be romantically involved?”
“That’s not at all what I said. Yes, I feel you’re safer if fewer people know of our romantic connection, but that by no means implies I don’t want us to be together.”
My eyes squeezed shut for a moment. He never did make things easy. Gazing at him again, I said, “So … somehow marriage is okay in your mind?”
“You don’t seem to get it. I’m one-hundred percent committed to this. To you. I’m deeply, madly, passionately—insanely—in love with you.” He grinned. The lazy one that made my insides ignite. “No escaping it. So I want you to officially be mine.”
“I am yours. With or without the I dos.”
“I want the I dos,” he said emphatically.
“Jesus. Dane.” My heart beat much too fast, my chest rising and falling quickly against his. “You really like keeping me from getting my feet underneath me.”
“Ari.” His fingers grazed my temple, stroking languidly. “I’ve been blessed with the gift of having a clear vision of the things I want. I don’t let them slip through my fingers. Ever.”
“But … marriage? Dane, that’s … um … wow.”
I couldn’t deny the prospect thrilled me. Amazingly so.
Mrs. Dane Bax.
Officially, formally Dane’s. Yeah, the thought pretty much rocked my world.
Yet …
My eyes narrowed and my mouth dipped.
“What?” he asked, instantly alarmed.
“Nothing.”
His brow furrowed. “Don’t try to hide anything from me, Ari. I can see from your expression that—”
“No,” I insisted, “you’re reading me all wrong.”
“You’re frowning,” he pointed out.
With a soft laugh, I said, “Not for the reason you think. I was waiting for the whole ‘I’d love to be his wife; however…’ to hit me.” I stared deep into his eyes. “But it didn’t.”
He studied me carefully.