Page 11 of Conquering the Skies

She huffed out a sigh, pretending to be irritated. “Fine, then. But when you’re done?”

Ash paused the show. “I know earlier, we talked about my mom coming for a visit, though I don’t know how much of it was a serious plan and how much was you sparring with your mother. Sometime soon, though, I do want to fly back home to Dorann for a while and spend some time with her and my brothers.” He stroked her arm. “And, if you think your office can spare you for a week or several, I’d love for you to come with me.”

She tilted her head back to meet his gaze. “Of course I’ll go with you. After all this time, I want to get to know them better.”

“Great.”

She returned to her prior position, but the screen remained frozen. “Now I guess it’s my turn to ask the probing questions,” he said after a long pause. “Since it also came up earlier, you and I have never really discussed the topic of marriage before.”

Geneva tensed in his grasp, contemplating his words. “I don’t know,” she mumbled into his chest. “I used to think I’d never want to get married, but then I realized I just didn’t want a giant, elaborate wedding where my parents would invite everyone they’d ever crossed paths with over the course of their entire lives.”

He snickered. “I can see why you’d be concerned.”

“Before that, I was so focused on climbing the ranks in the military, I never gave it much consideration.” She pulled herself into a sitting position in the space between Ash’s legs and the back of the sofa, hugging her knees. “A lot of things changed when I met you.”

“All for the better, I hope.”

She stuck her tongue out at him but then laced her fingers through his. “If it’s what we decide we want to do, we could always elope or something.”

“Geneva, your mother would kill you.” Eyes wide, Ash shook his head. “I’m not even exaggerating. She would literally kill you and then come after me next for daring to agree with you.”

She squeezed his hand and tried to prevent the corners of her mouth from turning up. “She’d have to find us first.”

“Which she would, before we knew what hit us.” Some of the tension eased out of his face and he caressed the tops of her knuckles with his thumb. “There’s got to be some sort of middle ground. Maybe a smaller, low-key ceremony, with just the people closest to us.”

“I could get behind this idea,” she said, nodding.

“I know you didn’t get to see much of the planet while you were there last,” he continued, “but near where my family lives, there’s lots of pretty spots which might be nice. Open fields, sparkling rivers…you know, all that scenic crap some people pay a lot of money to see.”

“It’s sounding better and better.” She laughed, and then the sound dissipated into a lengthy stretch of silence. “Are we really planning this?” she finally said. “Like, now?”

His shoulders rose and fell in a melodramatic shrug. “It kind of sounds like we are.”

Her pulse raced. She shifted to face him but kept her chin tucked into her chest, anxious about what she would see if she made eye contact with him. “You mean…”

“If you want the grand, romantic gesture, I can roll off the sofa and get down on one knee. Though I swear I didn’t have any of this planned for tonight.” Raising his free hand, he traced the contour of her cheek with his fingertips, the feathery sensation eliciting a flush of heat simmering beneath her skin. “Anywhere you go in the universe, I’ll be right there with you for as long as you’ll have me. Say the word and we can make this team of ours official.”

Geneva swallowed, her throat tight. When she stared into his sapphire eyes, the overwhelming amount of love she felt for him was reflected back toward her. “Yes,” she choked out, her voice little more than a whisper. “Let’s…let’s get married.”

A wide grin spread across Ash’s face. “I thought you’d never ask,” he teased.

Groaning, she gave his shoulder a playful shove. He caught her wrist and yanked her down on top of him. She took a moment to return his smile before pressing her mouth to his. As he folded his arms around her waist, her tongue slipped past his lips. No matter how many kisses they’d shared, the taste of him never failed to incite a thrill deep inside her.

Without abandoning any points of contact, he sat up, letting her straddle his lap. His hands slid beneath her shirt, leaving a fiery imprint as they skimmed over her bare skin. Her knees tightened around him, but she broke away when he neared the clasps of her bra. “Hold on,” she said. “Not here.”

One side of his mouth curled up as he raised an eyebrow. “What’s the matter? Is there suddenly something wrong with your sofa?”

“First of all, it’soursofa now.” She cupped the sides of his face in her hands and delivered one more flirty kiss before hopping off of him. “I just think if we’re celebrating, we should do this right.”

He jumped up after her. “There isn’t a wrong way to do anything with you, as far as I’m concerned, but if you insist.”

Geneva led him to the darkened bedroom. From outside the window, lights from the surrounding city cast the small space in a muted glow, allowing her to navigate through the shadows with ease. Standing beside the bed, she turned around and put her hand up. “Wait. Stay there.”

He paused in the doorway. “Why?”

She tugged at the hem of her blouse but didn’t make any effort to remove it. “Because half the time when you undress me, I wind up having to buy new lingerie.”

Ash laughed, yet his mirth soon faded. “I thought it was kind of a running thing between us by this point, but if it bothers you, I can stop.”

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