Page 64 of Defending Casey

She heard the hopeful tone in his voice and met his dark eyes with her own.

“I’m not going to want to miss a minute of it, Case. If you wear something to bed, I’m just going to have to strip you bare.”

“If you’ll come to bed naked, then I guess it’s only fair.” She blushed at her own words. Until that moment she’d made a habit of wearing t-shirts and shorts or pants to bed, but things were changing in her life.

“You’re right, Case. It’s only fair.” His lips touched her skin just above the edge of her panties and she shivered when she felt the scratch of his beard.

When she stopped moving, she saw his satisfied smile.

“I want my mouth on you, Casey. Can I?”

The instant he said the words, she felt it between her legs. Imagining his mouth on her, letting him taste her, sliding his tongue-

“Oh…” Casey arched under him as her body reacted to his words. She shook her head. “I don’t think I could handle that, not tonight. Well,” her breath escaped her in a rush, “not right now.”

He didn’t look at all upset at her answer. Instead, he looked almost pleased. Hooking his fingers into the elastic band, he gave her a wink. “Lift up, Case.”

Her panties were gone a moment later and he met her eyes with his own as he reached for the nightstand.

She caught his hand, weaving their fingers together. “You don’t need to…”

His smile made her ache all over. “I think you’re going to want what I have in there, Casey.”

Before she could work her mind around his words, he lifted his hand away from hers and pulled open the drawer beside the bed.

The tiny box he set down beside her shoulder looked like it came out of another era entirely. The cover was leather burnished to a beautiful luster. When he lifted the top the tiny hinges sighed and she saw what was inside.

“Hale?”

He lifted the ring and held it between them, the light of the moon made it glow. “It’s my grandmother’s. My mother made sure I had it before… before she passed. She knew that I’d want it someday. This should have been yours years ago, Casey. You are the only one I could ever love like this.”

She gave him her hand and watched as he slipped the antique ring along her finger until it rested in just the right place.

“Marry me, Casey. Be my lover, my wife,” he kissed the back of her hand where the ring sat sparkling against her skin, “and the mother-”

“Yes.”

“-of all of our children.”

There was nothing left to say.

He kissed her like he was starving, and she gave him her breathy sighs and throaty moans.

Their hands explored and caressed each other as they moved toward the center of the bed, and he slid into her waiting body.

Hale filled her over and over again and she welcomed each thrust with the joy of a woman and the wonder of her youth. When she flew over the edge into ecstasy, he followed her with a shout. Then, when they were spent and exhausted, he wrapped himself around her.

“I have to go back,” she whispered as he nuzzled against the side of her neck.

“Sleep for a little bit, Case. Then we’ll both go to your house. I can’t let you leave me tonight.”

Tears gathered and then disappeared from her lashes. “I don’t want you to, either.”

“Good.” He pressed a little kiss against her jaw. “Then close your eyes for a little while, Casey. I want to hold you.”

How could she say no?

---