Page 95 of Offside Angel

The timeline shuffles. Pieces click into place. A picture is forming in my mind and my throat is tight.

Zane must be able to read my face, because he sets the ring box on the bed and grabs my hands. “I was going to wait until after things with your brother were figured out, but I don’t want to wait anymore.”

“Because of the accident.”

“The accident woke me up to what it would feel like to lose you,” he agrees. “Yeah.”

I’m already shaking my head. “I don’t want you to marry me because you got scared. I’m not going anywhere.”

He pulls me to the edge of the bed. “I know you aren’t.”

“Then we don’t have to do this, Zane. We can wait for a better time. When we’re both thinking clearly.”

“I’m thinking clearly.”

That makes one of us. It’s hard to think at all when that spiced wintergreen smell I love so much is wafting off of his skin. When he’s holding my hands and looking at me with those piercing blue eyes.

“You were in the hospital, Mira, and that was—” He closes his eyes, wincing against the memory. “—fucking awful. But the worst thing was that I couldn’t get to you. I was running around that hospital, desperate to find you, and no one would tell me where you were. Loving you wasn’t a good enough reason, apparently.”

My chin wobbles. I lean my forehead against his shoulder. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry. Don’t apologize.” He lifts me off of his shoulder and holds my face. “Just marry me.”

I open my mouth to respond, but Zane is there. His lips catch mine. Our tongues tangle together like he’s trying to find the words I’m afraid to speak. Like he’s trying to coax the answer out of me.

I fall against him with a moan. If he wants to convince me like this, I think I might just let him.

Finally, he breaks away with a growl, his hands dragging possessively down my arms. “Tell me you can’t live without me.”

“You know I can’t live without you.” I kiss his jaw. His throat. I free one hand and tug trembling fingers through his damp hair. “I don’t want to live without you, Zane. Ever.”

It’s easy to say because it’s the truth. There isn’t a single part of me that doesn’t love him.

Zane pauses for a second. Then his leash on his control snaps. He crawls over me again, pushing me back on the mattress. His mouth blazes across my body, kissing and licking and stroking until I’m squirming under him. Until my hips are moving at a rhythm all their own, trying to close the distance between us.

“I told you I had our future all mapped out.” He looks up the length of my body, catching my eyes. His are dark. He wraps his hands around my inner thighs, parting my legs to make room for him. “I told you I’d lick you until you come.”

I swallow. “I remember.”

“So you’d better give me a good reason why we shouldn’t get married before you come… or I’m going to put that ring on your finger and make you my wife when you’re too worn out to fight back.”

“I’m not going to be able to think. I can’t—” Just his breath against my center steals mine away. I try to squirm, but he holds me steady. Zane stares up at me like a man starved, and I’m already quivering. “I won’t be able to come up with anything.”

He smiles. “That’s the plan.”

Zane sets to work all at once. There is no build up, no slow easing in. He sets his lips to me and feasts.

I cry out, my body shifting up the bed for some space, but Zane follows me. He pins his arm over my hips to hold me down and works his tongue over every nerve ending I have.

“I-I can’t,” I gasp, curling my fingers in his hair. “Zane, I need?—”

“You better start talking.” He slides a finger into me, twisting and curling. “You’re already so wet.”

The hunger in his eyes and the filthy words coming from his lips don’t help. He flicks his tongue over my clit, and I have to lie back and toss my arm over my eyes to even attempt to clear my thoughts.

“It’s not safe,” I pant. “I p-put you and Aiden in danger just by being here.”

He gives me a slow kiss and pulses a second finger into me. “I tried to live without you once. It was hell, Mira. For me and for Aiden. I refuse to do it again.”

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