Page 223 of Dangerous Encore

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His fingertips onmyskin

His body pressedagainstmine.

"Hey." He steps off the bottom stair. "Do me a favor and get thatlight."

Okay… There's a brightness in his voice. I want to take it as a good sign, but I'm not ready to get myhopesup.

Still, I reach for the kitchenlight.

A yellow glow falls overtheroom.

My eyesgowide.

My jawdrops.

Holyshit.

Is he really… Is thisreally…

"Okay. Explain."There…

There's a palm tree in our living room. Five actually. Only they're not real palm trees. They're cardboardcutouts.

And there's another cardboard cutout in front of them. Analtar.

The coffee table is flush with flowers. Real ones. Soft pink roses. Myfavorite.

AndKit…

He's wearing a black suit and a lei aroundhisneck.

Afreshone.

Fuck, he looks good inthatsuit.

Butthelei…

It doesn'tsuithim.

Atall.

He takes my hands and drops to one knee. "Piper Strong, will you marry menextweek."

"Next week? Insevendays?"

He nodded. "I have it booked. Technically, it's tentative right now. We have twenty-four hours toconfirm."

"This… You." I'm speechless. I'm never speechless. "You want to do this inHawaii?"

My chest islight.

My entire body islight.

He really wants todothis.

It's inhiseyes.

Those dark,soulfuleyes.

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