Page 111 of Bidding War

His lips press to the sensitive edge of my ear, and he whispers, “Come for me, baby.”

I shatter on his words, and my body goes wild. I can’t hold still. I can’t hold back. There is nothing but the pleasure between my thighs and the man who makes it possible. I kiss him ravenously, unable to contain myself as ecstasy courses through my veins.

Slowly, I go limp again. No more air in my lungs. No more thoughts in my head. I am utterly spent and quivering. He pulls the sheets up to cover us. I gasp, “I love you.”

“Was that for the orgasm or because you were cold and I covered you?”

I giggle. “Both.”

He grins and kisses me. “Valid.”

I lay my head on his shoulder, happy to be in his arms again. “Anderson?”

“Yes?”

“I don’t want you to joke about proposing again, okay?”

“Not a problem.” He rolls over and stuffs his arm deep under the pillow.

“What are you doing?”

When he returns, he has a small black box in his hand, which sends my heart racing.

I sit up. “Seriously, what are you doing?”

“June Devlin,” he says as he opens the box. Inside is the biggest damn diamond I have ever seen. “I was not joking earlier. I hope this proves that. You are the woman of my dreams. Not a day goes by that I don’t want to spend with you. If you’ll have me, I want to spend the rest of my days with you. Marry me.”

I can’t even say the word. I’m speechless. So, I kiss him instead. It’s a reckless, messy kiss, and I end up on top of him again. Too many things are trying to come to life in my head, but his fingers wiped out the computational skills in my brain, and I have lost the capacity for rational thought.

He laughs and pulls back. “Is that a yes? You’re leaving me hanging here?—“

“Yes!”

Anderson wraps me in his arms, and we continue to kiss until I feel him harden up again. Just as I wriggle back to meet him, he grunts one of his pain grunts, and it shakes me out of my stupor.

“Oh my god, are you okay?”

“I’m good. Just ended up on the box.”

“Give me that!” I swipe it from him and pull out the ring. The damn thing nearly blinds me. “It’s too much, Anderson.”

“I can get you something smaller?—"

“Don’t you dare!”

He laughs again. “I promise not to.” Then he slides the ring on my finger, and my breath catches in my throat. “God, I love you.”

“I love you, too, baby,” I say with a sigh. There is no other man in the world for me. I’ve known that for a long time. Right now, I mean to show him.

58

ANDERSON

Some insecure part of me thought for sure she would say no. Maybe I worried about my karma. Or the fact that my luck had gone to shit in the past six months. Whatever it was, I didn't know if she would say yes. But I'm so glad she did.

Everything is going right. For the first time since I've gotten with June, everything has started to go right. Dad has me back in the office. I am evidently in his good graces now. June has agreed to be my wife. Something I never truly let myself believe would ever happen. Nothing could diminish this high.

As she kisses me again, I get lost in her mouth. This time, I want to be lost in her body, too.

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