I step forward and press my finger to his lips.
“You love me?” I whisper.
He nods.
“Are you going to make me sign a contract?” My lips tip up and so do his.
“I do like the thought of you being bound to me forever by ink, but I only want you with me if you want to be there. So, do you?”
My heart skips a beat. “I do.”
His hand cradles my cheek, and he steps into my personal space.
“Never push me away again.” He bends his neck to kiss me, but I pull back.
“You don't tell me what to do.”
He chuckles and without saying anything, his lips descend on mine.
“Fireworks!” someone announces.
“I’ve got my own right here,” Roarke murmurs against my lips before dipping his tongue into my mouth.
The footsteps and whispers can be heard heading outside until we’re the only ones left in the room.
Once our kiss draws to a close, Roarke steps back to lead me outside, too.
“You owe me one more favor,” he says, raising one eyebrow.
“What?” I’m almost afraid to ask.
“Will you move in with me?” His thumb rests on my lips before I can respond. “Your name will be added to the title. We’ll own it together. It won’t be mine any longer, it’ll be ours. If you’d rather me move in with you, I’m good with that, too. The decision is yours. I just can’t stand the thought of not being with you night and day.”
A big boom sounds off outside from the fireworks.
“I’m a woman who learns from her mistakes. Yes, I’ll move in with you.”
His reaction is to give me the kiss I’ve been waiting on all evening. The one where everything else fades away and the only thing left is him.
Always him.
Epilogue
“A new bed?” Roarke asks, walking down the hall to the kitchen.
“A new bed for a new start.” I clasp my earring on in front of the dresser mirror, watching him head for a drink.
It’s a habit I never realized he had until we moved in together. He always has one drink before we leave to go to a function.
“I like the memories I have of you in that bed. How I tricked you into sleeping in it while you hated me.” He turns around, winking.
My hands rest on either side of my ear, so I glare at him rather than give him the finger.
He chuckles, turning back around to head to the kitchen. “You could only be pissed if you didn’t fall in love with me,” he hollers back from the hallway.
I stare into the reflection of our bedroom from the mirror. The book I’m reading is on the nightstand, along with my charger. On the opposite side, his glasses rest on the book he’s reading. Not that there’s been a lot of reading going on these days. We’re like two horny teenagers since the movers packed up my stuff and hauled it across town. My cousin has moved into my condo now since it’s owned by the family.
My eyes water. God do I love him. So much that I’m still surprised myself.
When I’ve finished getting ready, I grab my heels from the floor and walk down the hallway hearing ice cubes clink in a glass.
“And you promised to give me anything I want, so a new bed it is.”
Since he’s busy making my drink, I grab the scotch bottle and pour him a glass.
“I don’t remember that being part of the speech.” He raises his eyebrows and I’d strip him down and have sex with him right here if we had time. Screw the charity event.
“I knew I should have recorded it.” I giggle and he kisses me then hands me my drink.
I hand him his in exchange.
“So I have to watch a bunch of bachelors get auctioned off tonight?” he asks.
I nod while sipping my drink. “Are you dodging the bed topic?”
He leans his hip against the counter. “You knew when you brought it up, it was a done deal, right? Like I’d fight you about a bed.”
I smile, not because he’s going to let me buy us a new bed, but because I knew what his reaction would be and that makes me feel like I truly know him.
“I suppose.”
He holds up his drink. “What should we drink to?”
“To all the women who will snag a bachelor tonight?” I joke.
“As long as one of them isn’t you.”
I slide up to him so we’re chest to chest. Without my heels, I only come up to his pecs, but I love the way he can wrap me in a bear hug.
“I found my bachelor.” I kiss his chin and then rise to my tiptoes to meet his mouth.
His hands glide down my back until they cup my ass and our kiss deepens.
“I have my own proposition for you,” he murmurs.
I fall down off my tiptoes, sipping from my glass. “Your tone scares me.”
He chuckles, taking a bigger gulp than usual of his scotch.
My mind runs wild thinking of what his proposition is.
“My tone? It’s the same as it always is. You get a new bed and I get…” He reaches into his pocket and my breath seizes in my chest.
“NO!” I scream.
He smiles, pulling out the box that strikes fear into my heart because it will change everything and what we have is good.
Please tell me that box holds earrings or God I’ll even take a brooch. Just not a …
“Roarke.” My voice wheezes out when he lifts the lid and I see a ring. There’s no big center diamond, but it’s still a ring—a thick band with more diamonds than my last wedding ring.
“Stop.” He holds his hand out in front of him. “I should’ve prepared you better. This is not an engagement ring.”
I finally take a full breath.
Thank God.
“Okay then, what is it?” I ask.
“Are you disappointed? It can be an engagement ring if you want it to be, but I thought we, you…”
Just like that night at the Gala, I place my finger over his lips. “I’m not disappointed.”
The tension wrapped around his body evaporates. “This isn’t a symbol to tell the world I own you either.”
“It’s not?”
He smirks and takes the ring out of the box. “Well, if it was, you couldn’t blame me, Firecracker. I don’t want anyone and everyone hitting on you.”
“So is that what this is? Like pepper spray for any creeps that come sniffing around?”
He chuckles, reaching for my hand. “Not at all. I know marriage isn’t in the cards for us. That a piece of paper isn’t what either of us wants or needs to prove our love to each other. But I still want you to look down at your hand and think of me. Think of our home at the end of a long day and the man who loves you completely and faithfully and will be waiting for you when you return to it.”
My hand shakes as I bring it to my mouth and drag in a ragged breath.
“I’d get on bended knee, but I know you don’t want that. The only thing I want is to seal my promise to you with this ring. That you are mine and I am yours. That’s it. Will you accept it?”
“Does this mean I can get you a ring?” I quirk one eyebrow up.
He chuckles. “We’ll stop on the way to the charity event if you want. I’d love nothing more than to wear a ring that represents what we mean to each other.”