Page 126 of Lace 'em Up

“My beautiful non-prickly princess.” A kiss to my forehead. “Can I put it on you?”

I nod, holding my breath as he wraps the bracelet around my wrist and fastens it. Because this feels bigger than the ring somehow, bigger than anything that’s come before.

Be brave and kind.

And when he presses his lips to my wrist, just above the bracelet, the words…just come out?—

No planning. Just blurting.

Just some small part of me hoping that the universe won’t take this away.

Because this moment, this man…

I need to say it.

“I love you,” I whisper, watching the shock flash across his face, tangle with renewed worry. “I know it’s scary. I know it’s too soon and that it complicates everything and?—”

He sweeps me up against him, drops his head so that his mouth is a millimeter away from mine. “You are fucking perfect.”

And then he’s kissing me.

And then he’s giving me something that I know I’ll never, ever forget.

“I love you so fucking much.”

Thirty-Five

King

My heart is pounding like a locomotive as I lower my head, take her mouth in a kiss that encapsulates everything that I’m feeling.

Love.

I fucking love this woman.

And I want to keep her.

And I thought it, said it out loud, and…

Nothing bad happened.

She sighs, lips parting, and I sweep my tongue inside her mouth, tasting her, taking from her, giving back.

I tug her onto my lap.

“King!” she gasps, hands going to my shoulders, legs straddling my waist.

I drop my forehead to hers, loving the dazed look in her eyes, the way her nails knead at my shoulders when I drag my hand up her side, how her pelvis shifts, rocking against my dick.

Which is hard.

Because…it’s Rory.

She leans in and this time she kisses me, all eagerness and heat and need, those hips rocking against me and?—

Christ, I’m going to come in my pants like a teenager.

“Princess,” I murmur, cupping her hip, drawing her to a halt.

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