Page 59 of Cajuns. Love. Curves.

I whimper as he pulls his finger out and gives my clit a final rub, hard enough to make me shudder, too brief to make me come.

“That is not the plan for tonight.” He brings his finger to his mouth and slowly licks them clean, releasing a low rumble of pleasure as he does.

“But—”

“Shush. I’m not done talking yet.” He gives my ass a playful swat that stings just a bit.

I gasp in response, because that is not something I ever expected to feel so good. Part of me feels like I should protest, but instead, I bite down on my lip to keep from moaning and nod. “You were saying?”

His lips twitch, clearly both amused and pleased by my response. “I didn’t plan on you begging me to fuck you. On you needing me so badly.” He tips my face up, holding me still, meeting my gaze with that calm confidence of his that I find so completely spell-binding. “But you do need me, don’t you?”

I can only nod. I don’t dare speak, because I’m afraid I’ll beg.

“So here’s what we’re going to do. Here’s the new plan. I’m all in emotionally. I know I love you. I know there’s no one else for me. I want to put a ring on your finger and a baby in your belly. I want the whole nine yards. But I understand that you’re not certain yet. So I’m willing to wait. I can be patient.”

And just like that, he steps away from me.

For one long minute, he just stands there, breathing deeply. Then he bends down to scoop up the flashlight I dropped.

He holds out his hand to me and grins. “Okay, are you ready to walk back to our cabin?”

“What?”

He takes my hand in his, brings it to his lip and brushes a kiss across my knuckles as he flicks on the flashlight and starts walking back to the other side of the island.

I follow for a few steps, too confused by this turn of events to do more than stumble along mindlessly. But then I dig in my heels and pull my hand away.

“Wait. No.”

He turns to look at me, squinting at me in the darkness. “What is it?”

“That’s it?” I give a broad, vague gesture, trying to encompass everything that just happened. Which is harder than you’d think, given that my panties are still dripping, my clit is still begging for an orgasm. “After all that, we’re supposed to just walk back to our cabin?”

“Yep.”

“And…”

“And what?”

“What happens when we get there?”

He smiles again. It’s that same smug, arrogant smile that I’m pretty sure I fell in love with the first time I saw it.

“That depends on you. I told you that. I’m prepared to be patient. I’d marry you tonight if I thought you were ready for it. Hell, I was going to fly home this afternoon and ask your father for permission to marry you.”

“Why didn’t you?”

Not that I’m not glad he didn’t. I’d much rather have him here. But I am curious.

“Because I figured out you might not be ready for that either. I’ve said this already. I’m all in. The only way I can convince you of that is by being here. By showing up as often as I can, for as long as it takes me to prove it to you.” He gives me a hard, searching look. “Do you believe me?”

After a long moment, I nod, realizing slowly that I do believe him. He knows himself better than anyone I’ve ever met. If he says he’s in, then he is.

The thought makes my heart pound, because the weight of that—the weight of his love—feels heavy, but also precious.

“Okay then,” he says succinctly, taking my hand in his and starting to walk on the path again. “Then we’re just waiting on you. When you know what you want, we’ll move on to the next stage of the plan.”

My hand in his, I walk beside him, back through the jungle toward the palapa.

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