Chapter 67
Chapter Sixty-Seven
Griffon Kane looks down at the gun, then back at my face.
Hollow cheeks, overgrown scruff, shadowy eyes with a few new ghosts. He looks like I feel. Any other time I might tell him to take a damned nap. A dirt nap.
“Where is she?”
“Resting.”
“I need to see her.”
Fuck you. “Later.”
“No, I need to talk to her now.”
I consider my options. Shooting him isn’t the best choice. I slam the door in his face instead.
Aria shrieks and rustles around on the bed. “Wait! What did you just do?”
I stalk to her and drop to a knee next to the king size frame. She blinks rapidly at me, her pretty brown eyes full of concern. “Memphis…”
Warmth shoots up my arm as I gather her hand in mine and kiss across her knuckles. As I do this, she searches my eyes.
I lay it all out there. Man up like a motherfucker.
“I want you to marry me.”
“Holy… what?” She hinges up off the bed, her wet hair sending droplets flying.
Hope fills my chest as her cheeks start to take on that nice shade of pink she gets when she’s excited. I also know a few other shades of pink she gets too. But that’s not this.
“Now?” That one syllable has a shake to it. The vibration matches the nerves in my stomach.
“The wedding can wait a little while, but I want us to start forever now.”
She closes her eyes, a small smile playing at the corner of her lips.
Warmth fights against anxious energy in every cell, in every muscle in my body.
“What do you say, beautiful, will you make this beast whole?”
A loud bang against the door makes her eyes fly open. As she stares nervously across the room, she presses her free hand over her heart. “Oh my! He’s really going to be furious.”
“Don’t worry about him.”
“Sounds like he’s got a battering ram.”
“He’ll get his turn in a few minutes. Right now, you’re mine and mine alone.”
Smile gone, she meets my gaze as she traces a finger along my jaw, teasing the days-old growth of my beard. That simple touch unravels so many of my broken circuits and wires them back together again.
Solemn, she asks, “Will you two be able to get along if you and Griffon are brothers-in-law?”
I lean up and kiss her, tugging gently on her bottom lip, then tasting forever with a decidedly possessive swipe of my tongue.
I don’t know how long this goes on but there’s another ridiculously loud thud on the other side of the door.
When we break, I press my mouth to her temple for one more feel of her silky skin. “Anything for you. Now, tell me yes, so I can go deal with him.”
There’s a happiness in her gaze that feels fresh as a spring morning. “Yes, I’ll proudly be Mrs. Memphis Silas.”
The sudden ache inside my chest makes me wonder if I’m dying of happiness.
I cup her face in my hands wishing I could climb onto the bed and show her just how special she is to me. One slow stroke at a time.
If only…
But that’s not happening with her brother doing a wrecking ball impression out in the hallway.
There’s gravel in my throat as I make a promise to my fiancée. “I will do my best?—”
She shakes her head, stopping me with her own words. “You already have.”
An all new level of possessiveness sears through me. “I’m serious about tracking you.”
She plants a kiss on my cheek. “While that would sound a little stalkeresque to most women, I’ll happily appear as a little blue dot in your tracking software because I know that would make you happy. But I get to have one for you.”
“Like I said. Anything for you. ”
I lean in, pressing her hand to my chest beneath my palm. “We’ll go ring shopping?—”
A big ass grin splits my face, stopping my own words when Griffon Kane crashes through the door. He’s going to go ballistic when he hears the news.