Page 98 of The Refusal

And oh! She’s in real trouble now. I grab her waist, flip her over and collapse on top of her pinning her to the sheet with my weight and digging my fingers into her side. A loud shriek almost deafens me.

“Take that outrageous statement back.”

“Janus.” She gasps, my cock hardening as she squirms under me. This is the best kind of foreplay.

“Oh no you don’t, take it back. I was serious, Jo. I want to marry you.”

“This is definitely the weirdest marriage proposal anyone has ever received,” she wheezes.

And now, messing around aside, I don’t feel good about this. I pull back on my knees before flopping onto the bed beside her, arm over my eyes, all thoughts of sex disappearing into the ether.

She turns her head toward me, then shifts, curling into me.

“What is it? What did I say?”

“It was a shit way to propose.”

“Don’t, Janus. I don’t want to ruin this moment.” She grabs my hand and squeezes it. “This was your proposal, and I don’t want—”

“I don’t want to be remembering a messed-up proposal for the rest of my life.”

She strokes her hand down my chest and abs to my hardening length.

“It wasn’t messed up, I loved it,” she whispers, and I groan. “It wasyou, Janus. Crazy, unexpected, impetuous: That’s why I loved it.”

This girl. She likes the things about me that drive everyone else crazy. Her hand wraps around me, fingers playing, and with her thumb on the tip of my cock I can hardly concentrate on what she’s saying. I move to stop her, but she grips me tighter, shifting over me.

“I want to do this,” she says, jaw set. “I want to rememberthis.”

And then her mouth is on me again, and I let her take over as my mind goes blank.

52

Jo

I’m grinding beans and calling Fabian when Janus pads out of the bedroom, jeans slung low on his hips, hair a wild mess, naked chest. How could anyone resist this man? He’s the sexiest thing alive. The map of muscle is …

“Hey, Jo,” Fabian says, and I set the phone down on the countertop, pressing the button to put him on speaker. “You guys sort things out?”

I’m laughing because this is his first question, the thing he is most concerned about, but Janus leans over and says, “Be careful what you say here. You’re talking to the future Mrs. Phillips.”

Fabian emits a loud shout from the other end of the line, followed by some muffled noises, a thump, a far-flunggoddammit, and a lot of cracking and rustling. Janus makes a funny face at me. Then Fabian’s voice slides closer.

“I dropped my phone.Fuck.” His voice goes distant again before he comes booming back, “Christ almighty, you guys—for real?”

We’re both grinning at each other like idiots, and Janus leans in to kiss me, smooching my neck as he does.

“Yeah,” he says softly.

“I’m the luckiest woman alive.” My smile is so big.

“Uh-huh,” Fabian says, “I’m sorry to say, Jo, that honor is for the woman who marries me.”

“Fabian, if only I’d known you’d consider it, I’d have ditched this guy as soon as …” I tail off as Janus growls at me, but Fabian’s loud hoot gusts over the line.

“I had to tie her down, Fab,” Janus says into the speaker.

“Too right,” says Fabian. “Did he have a ring and everything, Jo? Do it up right?”

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