Page 46 of Flame
My gut sours as the few times that Bianca has mentioned marriage as a non-option for herself sneaks through my mind. I’m not certain why she feels that way, and I certainly wouldn’t want her to do anything she doesn’t want to do. I wouldn’t want her to resent me.
But as I watch the wheels turn in her head and how defiant she is about not letting this go through—and the shimmer of fear hiding in her beautiful green eyes …
There’s a serious chance she does something big, something like marriage, to stop her father. And the thought of her marrying some other asshole with bad intentions makes me want to fight.
Here goes nothing.
“Okay, I have the solution,” I say.
Their attention turns to me. The weight of their gazes, their curiosity, is hefty.
This is ridiculous. It’s downright asinine. And after our argument last night, I won’t be surprised if Bianca laughs in my face and tells Jason to send a plane for her immediately.
And I won’t be surprised if Jason never looks at me the same again, either.
I have no idea what marriage to Bianca, fake or not, would look like, and I don’t know how I’ll manage without driving myself mad. But the fear in her eyes puts my needs in the back seat. Even if she blows me off and Jason pulls me aside to ask me what the hell is going on—I must do this for her.
I must try.
She grins softly. “I wish you did.”
My heart swells in my chest.
“Unless you can come up with some brilliant plan to solve this impossible puzzle, I can’t do this.”
“What are you thinking, Foxx?” Jason asks.
I square my shoulders to the computer monitor and brace myself.
“You can’t kill Bobby or Charlie,” Bianca says. “Love how you think, but it’s a hard no.”
“That’s not what I was thinking.”
The tension is thick between the five of us—a thousand miles be damned. Everyone’s eyes are on me. I just hope their swords aren’t ready to be drawn.
“Let’s hear it,” Gannon says. “How do we fix this?”
I look at Landry. He crosses his arms over his chest and grins.
I look at Jason. He’s holding his breath.
I look at Gannon.Is he smirking?
Finally, I turn to Bianca. She licks her lips, her foot tapping against the floor.
This woman.
I smile as confidently as I can. “Marry me.”
CHAPTER10
Bianca
“Marry you?”
I blink once. Then twice.
My lungs burn from the breath I’m holding. He’s kidding—he has to be. But the words, sounding so unbelievably serious, nail me in the heart.
