Page 51 of Tangled in His Embrace

Jax ran his hand up the side of her arm and back down again. She knew it was meant to be comforting, but all it did was stoke the fire that was already stirring in her belly. “I don’t want you to hurt for me. I’ve caused you enough pain already.”

Placing a hand on his chest, she held his gaze. “If we’re going to move past this, then we’re going to have to forgive each other. And you’re going to have to forgive yourself. Otherwise, this isn’t going to work.”

He covered her hand with his and gave it a gentle squeeze. “When did you become so wise?”

“Hmm.” Gabby looked up at the ceiling as though she were contemplating something profound. “I don’t know.” She looked him in the eye again, the heaviness of the previous moment’s mood gone. “It just sort of happened.”

Then he was tickling her. She gasped for air as she tried to get out of his reach.

He pinned her against the wall with his body and captured her mouth with his own. A sigh escaped her throat as any thought about trying to get away fled from her mind. She sank into the kiss, letting her tongue mingle with his as he cupped her ass and lifted both her legs to encircle his waist.

The next thing she knew, they were moving. Seconds later, she fell onto the mattress.

They were both breathing hard as he peered down at her, his eyes less troubled than she’d seen them since he’d been back. “I love you.”

Her chest clenched. She would never get tired of hearing him say that. Especially since she thought she’d never hear it again.

Gabby reached for him, pulling him down until his lips were a breath away from hers. She looked at his mouth and then in his eyes. “We have to make this work.”

His elbows were braced on either side of her head as he held his position with their lips so close yet not quite touching. “We will. We’ll make sure of it.”

There was no doubt he believed every word he was saying, and for maybe the first time, she believed it, too. The future wasn’t so scary. Not if they were in it together.

“I think we should get married.”

He froze above her.

It took a full thirty breaths for him to respond. She knew because she’d counted. Counted and waited with growing anxiety to see how he’d react. He’d said he wanted to marry her in the future, but maybe he’d meant far into the future. Maybe—

“I thought you said you wanted to wait a while... have us try living together again first.”

She lifted one shoulder, or at least tried to given their position. It was kind of hard to shrug when they were pressed together from chest to hip. “I changed my mind.”

Jax was quiet, his brow furrowed. She knew he was thinking. What if he said no?

“When?”

“What?” She’d been so focused on what was going on inside her own head that his question threw her off.

He didn’t seem the least bit fazed by her question. “When do you want to get married?”

“Um. I don’t know. I hadn’t really thought about it.” She didn’t want anything fancy. Something small with their friends and family would be perfect in her opinion. “What about Christmas Eve?”

“As in next week Christmas Eve?” he asked.

“Yeah.” She paused. “Unless you think it’s too soon.”

A slow smile spread across Jax’s face. “Not at all. I’d marry you tomorrow. Today, even. I just always thought you’d want a big wedding. The dress. The cake.”

Gabby shook her head. “I don’t want any of that. All I want is you, our daughter, our family and a few friends.”

His fingers played with the hair near her temples. “I think that sounds perfect.”

“So I guess that means we’re engaged.” She went to pull him closer to seal their engagement with a kiss, but he began to move away. “Where—”

“Hold on. I need to get something.” He went over to the backpack he had sitting in the corner—the one he’d been ferrying his clothes back and forth in for the last two days—and began rummaging through it.

She propped herself up on her elbows so she could see what he was doing.

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