Page 103 of Ruthless Salvation

“What would you be willing to do in return?” I asked in a gruff, deviant murmur.

I slid my hands down the soft pink silk of her pajama-clad thighs, enjoying the feel but wishing she was naked instead.

“Oh, I don’t know.” She rocked her hips again, arching her chest toward me. “A lot of things come to mind.”

“There’s only one thing I want.”

“What’s that?”

I hooked my finger to draw her closer. Stormy leaned down until our noses almost touched. I inhaled her delicious scent, relishing this moment. I wanted to remember it forever.

“Say you’ll be my wife,” I breathed, the words dancing like fireflies in the air around us.

“What?” she said on an exhale, her eyes widening. She hadn’t been expecting it, which was the best part.

“Marry me, Stormy. I’m asking you to marry me.”

“Are you serious?” She knew I wouldn’t joke about a thing like that, but the shock had shaken her.

I reached over to my nightstand and took out a small blue box with the word Tiffany’s on the top. Inside was another box of the same color, this one hinged and made of leather. I flipped open the lid to reveal the engagement ring I’d picked out. A round yellow diamond encircled by a ring of tiny clear diamonds.

“Does this look serious?” I lifted the ring from its cushion and took her left hand in mine. “Stormy Lawson, you are the best damn thing to ever happen to me. I don’t want to go another day without knowing you’re mine in every way possible. Please, end my torment and say you’ll marry me.” I slid the ring on her finger while she watched with glassy eyes and a quivering chin.

Finally, she nodded. “Yes, I … of course, I’ll marry you … I don’t even know…”

“Stormy?”

She reluctantly tore her gaze from the ring. “Yeah?”

“Just kiss me, baby.”

“Okay.”

Her body melted into mine. I’d never tasted anything more intoxicating than the kiss of my future bride—sweet, sultry, and feminine—like a euphoric dream.

I never wanted to wake up.

And I didn’t have to, now that she’d agreed to be mine.

As the kiss waned, Stormy pulled away and looked back down at her hand.

“You picked this out for me?”

I guided her to lay at my side, her head on my chest. “It reminded me of you. You may have been your father’s stormy girl, but you’re pure sunshine to me.” It sounded so damn corny, but it was true. Storm was everything bright and uplifting about this world. She warmed a person from the inside out, and I wanted her to know it.

“You can’t say stuff like that, not when I’m already a bundle of hormones.” Emotion choked back her words. “This has been so much to process for one day. I can barely believe it.”

“That was sort of the idea. I needed to reunite you two and meet her before we could get married.”

“Well, having her here wasn’t exactly a prerequisite to getting engaged.”

“I didn’t say get engaged. I said get married.”

She lowered her hand and propped herself up to look down at me. “When exactly are you expecting this wedding to happen.”

“Saturday.”

She stared at me deadpan for so long, I started to worry I’d broken her.

---