“Really.” It wasn’t a question but a word filled with misery.
Here was the moment she’d planned for. But not this way. Not this choppy conversation. She was botching this and hated it. She wanted to smile but didn’t dare. She wanted to hide but didn’t want to run, either. So she walked forward and took his hands in hers. “I haven’t told them where to deliver my goods.”
“Yeah? Why not?” He gazed at the boxes like they contained snakes.
“Because I want to be with you. If you’ll have me. If you want me.”
He blinked. “Failure to copy. Repeat, please.”
“Well, you weren’t certain when you would return home and you weren’t clear about your appointment as an instructor at BUD/s in Coronado, so I didn’t—”
He swooped her up and crushed all the air out of her lungs. “Didn’t what?”
“Didn’t know where to tell them to go.”
He kissed her. “Coronado.”
“Yeah?” She could hardly believe it. Wanted to hope she’d heard him right.
His eyes narrowed to sultry invitations to do bad things with him. “Yeah.”
“Oh, Nick. That’s awesome.” She beamed at him.
He kissed her again. Hard. Fast. “You’ll give all this up.”
Not a question. “Yes.”
He kissed her a third time. Deeply. For luscious minutes. “To be with me?”
“You. Only you…”
He whooped like the big bad Navy boy he was and carried her to her sofa where he sat with her across his lap. “I’m gonna braid your hair.”
She giggled. “You are, huh?”
“Yeah.” He grabbed hands full of it, cupped her face and put his lips to hers. “And I’m gonna make pancakes for you every morning.”
“Oh, joy.” She rolled her eyes. “I’ll pack on the pounds.”
He chuckled. “What the hell. You said you love to eat. Afterward, I’ll just run your ass off on the beach.”
“Terrorist.”
He snorted. “I’ll make it worth your while.”
“Yeah?” She wiggled her brows. “How?”
“I’ll take you to bed and make love to you until you can’t breathe.”
“Great. I’ll be dead. No fun.”
He tickled her, and she writhed, squealing and shrieking. “What we do will be more than fun, sweet cakes.”
She caught hold of his shirt. “Prove it.”
“Marry me.”
She went mute, her heart pounding in expectation. She knew the answer she longed to give, but she couldn’t seem to form words that made any sense.
He patted his shirt pocket. “Got a ring. Might not fit. We’ll have it sized. No problemo, right? All I need is the woman. And you, lady, are mine. You always have belonged to me.”
She had wanted to be bold, brave. She’d planned for it, seized the thrill of loving him and the joy of it. And now she had the opportunity to be more courageous than she’d already thought possible. “What convinced you?”
“Every time you smiled at me. Each time you spoke to me. Every look, every gesture said you’d been made for me long ago before time began.”
That was the way she felt in his presence, in his arms. The miracle that he felt that way, too, was only trumped by the fact that circumstance had brought them together. And other people’s lives had marked the path.
She smoothed the lock of blond hair from his brow, recalling Antoinette and how she claimed she had loved her husband from the first minute she set her eyes on him. “I hope this is no dream.”
He gave her a seductive smile. “You feel real to me. Besides, I hate to think your grandfather will have me thrown in the brig for abducting his granddaughter. Will you marry me or do I carry you off like a caveman?”
“Oh! Do cavemen get married?” She shivered in feigned fright.
He cursed and shot to his feet, following her pointing finger toward the bedroom.
“Let’s find out. Neanderthal coming through with his bride!”
About the Author
Cerise DeLand loves to cook, hates to dust, lives to travel—and write! She's an award-winning best selling author of stories starring daring SEALs and dashing lords.
~*~
Visit Cerise at
www.CeriseDeLand.com
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To chat with Cerise Deland and other Wild Rose Press authors of erotic romance, join us at www.groups.yahoo.com/group/thewilderroses.
Also Available
Burning for Nero
SEALs Going Hot
by Cerise Deland
https://amzn.com/B00KWQAL38
On leave due to an injury, Navy SEAL Tony Nero heads home for a little R&R and some Fourth of July fun. When his buddy’s widow, Cass Phillips, picks him up at the air station, Tony figures he’s in for a sexually frustrating few days. He’s had the hots for the blonde siren for years, but his best friend won her heart first. Even though Ray’s been gone more than a year, Tony bets Cass isn’t interested in any man. Not him. And especially not another SEAL.
Cass has a bone to pick with longtime friend, Tony. After her husband died, he was the closest thing her little boy had to a father figure. His visits stopped abruptly and her son doesn't understand why. Neither does she. She's also unable to quench her growing need for the tough and tender man. She's already loved and lost one SEAL, but that doesn't stop her from burning for Nero.
Also Read
Touched by Midas
SEALs Going Hot
by Brenna Zinn
https://amzn.com/B00MQC04A6
As a Navy SEAL, Michael “Midas” Baudine trains countless hours to prepare for combat. But a man can’t train for luck, so preserving his “Midas touch” good fortune is something he takes seriously. He'll go to extreme measures to get his team on-board with his pre-mission, luck-assuring routines, even if it means accepting a challenge. Get the sexy but uptight teacher, who blocks his advances at every turn, to the rock concert a week from today, and they’ll comply.
With a crazy rock star dad and top supermodel mom, Angie Summers was once a wild child but, wanting more out of life, has done her best to live under the radar of fame. She’s even assumed a secret identity and found a job teaching at Naval Station Rota, Spain. Her attempt at a “normal” life is quickly turned on its ear when a hot-as-hell Navy SEAL sweet talks her into a date she’ll never forget and may eventually regret.
While spending time with the muscle-bound sailor unleashes Angie’s need to let the wild child out to play, which could threaten her anonymity, Midas finds himself on the precipice of breaking the first rule of luck—never fall for a woman.
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You Were Always Mine (7 Brides for 7 SEALs Book 1) Page 12