Chapter 14 #3
“When are you going to marry me?” The words were out of his mouth before his brain had time to catch up.
But when his brain joined the party, he discovered he had absolutely no regrets about blurting out a somewhat major question without having given it his usual deliberation.
Who was he kidding? He’d been deliberating on how to make her a permanent part of his life for as long as he’d known her.
“Your mouth is hanging open. Not that I mind that, because it gives me all kinds of ideas, but I was sort of hoping you might say something at this juncture.”
“What am I supposed to say when you throw that out there like a live grenade?”
“How about yes?”
“You didn’t ask me a yes-or-no question.”
“Pardon the error.” He fell gracelessly to his knees before her, grimacing at the flash of pain that radiated through ribs that refused to fucking heal.
“Kara Ballard, center of my universe, love of my life, future mother of my children, will you do me the humongous and probably undeserved honor of being my wife?”
Once again she stared at him with the flabbergasted look on her face that only made him love her more, if that was possible. “That was a yes-or-no question, in case you didn’t notice.”
“I noticed.”
“And? Are you planning to make me suffer?”
Apparently she wasn’t, because she dropped to her knees in front of him, wrapped her arms around him and held him. “Yes. But—”
He had no interest in any buts, so he kissed the words right off her sweet lips.
Kara, being Kara, turned away from the kiss, determined to be heard despite his intense desire to avoid anything that sounded like a qualification of her acceptance. “Tell me you’re not asking me because of Kelly and Matt showing up here.”
“That’s not why I’m asking you.”
“The timing is a bit curious.”
“Perhaps, but that’s not why.”
“Then why?”
“Um, other than the fact that I love you to the point of madness, and the thought of you leaving me gives me nightmares?”
“Other than that.”
Damn, she was a worthy adversary for a man who prided himself on out-arguing just about anyone. “My mom laid into me about when I planned to marry you.”
“I knew it!”
“There’s only one other woman who scares me more than my mom does.”
“Who is she?”
“You, stupid,” he said, kissing her nose and then her lips. “It scares the hell out of me when I consider all the many ways I’m capable of messing up the best thing to ever happen to me. It’s in my best interests to get a ring on your finger before you wise up and figure me out.”
“I’ve got you figured out, Torrington, and you’re not getting rid of me that easily.”
“I’ll get you a ring, as soon as we can get to the mainland. You can pick any ring you want. Sky’s the limit.”
“I don’t need the sky when I’ve already got the sun and the moon.”
Didn’t she know exactly how to stop his heart? “You know what the best day of my life was?” he asked.
“The day you met me?”
“That was second best. You know what the first one was?”
“The day I let you sleep with me?”
“That’s tied for second.”
“Second?”
“Stay with me here, and remember my propensity for messing things up. The very best day of my entire life was the day I caught my fiancée in bed with my best man.”
Kara’s brows furrowed with confusion. “That was the best day of your life?”
“It certainly was. If that hadn’t happened, I might’ve married the wrong woman, and that would’ve ruined my life, because I never would’ve met you on the second-best day of my life.”
“Your logic needs some work, Counselor, but your point is well taken. I guess the best day of my life was the day I found out that Kelly and Matt had been fooling around behind my back, because it sent me out here, where I found you—or where you found me and drove me crazy until I had mercy on you and went out with you.”
“Is that the story our grandchildren are going to hear?”
“Is there any other version of that story?”
“I guess there isn’t. Luckily, my persistence is as legendary as my argumentativeness.”
“How lucky for me.”
“So if your sister and her husband did you a favor by stabbing you in the back, maybe we should return to the dock so you can introduce them to your extremely handsome and very, very successful—as well as famous, did I mention I’m famous?—fiancé, and you can have the last laugh.”
Kara’s silent laughter filled him with unreasonable joy. “You are so freaking full of yourself.”
“Is anything I said a lie? Am I handsome?”
“You’re not ugly.”
“Am I successful?”
“You’re not a total loser.”
“Am I famous?”
“In your own mind, for sure.”
He cupped her bottom and pulled her in tight against him. “Let’s go face them and show them they’ve got no power over you anymore.”
“Yes, let’s do that, but not until she’s had a few hours to broil in the hot sun.”
“What about the baby?”
“She’ll keep him in the shade with Matt while she paces the dock waiting for me to return after someone tells her we’re out on the boat. If I know Kelly, she won’t be satisfied until she gets her moment of drama.”
“What do you propose we do in the meantime?”
She gave him a gentle nudge toward the pads he’d put on the floor of the boat. “Lie down.”
Intrigued by the sexy glimmer in her eye, he did as he was told. Never let it be said that he couldn’t be trained.
Still kneeling, Kara took her shirt off and then her shorts before she stretched out next to him, wearing only her bra and panties. “We’re going to celebrate our engagement.”
He turned on his side to face her and put his arm around her. “That’s the best idea you’ve ever had.”