In His Keeping

She patted the space beside her on the bed. “Come here.”

He leaned farther toward her and then, as her mom had done that first visit, he carefully slid his ass onto the edge of the bed, ensuring he didn’t jostle her in any way. And then his eyes narrowed, but not before she saw stark vulnerability reflected in them.

“Do you have something you’d like to say to me?” he asked pointedly.

She nearly laughed, but he looked too close to being sick for her to tease him. She could swear he was sweating.

She crooked her finger at him, making him lean farther and farther until their faces were mere inches apart. Then she slid her arms loosely around his neck and pulled him into her kiss.

“I love you too,” she whispered

He immediately sagged, closing his eyes. He rested his forehead against hers, his breaths coming in ragged bursts over her chin. He lifted his hand to caress one side of her face, sliding his fingers around and then thrusting upward into the thick mass of her hair.

“Thank God,” he whispered back. “Thank God. I thought I was flying solo on this one and it wasn’t a pleasant thought at all.”

He gave her a light smooch, peppering tiny kisses along the entire arch of her mouth.

“Will you marry me?”

“Hmm, that depends,” she said, waiting for his reaction. He was going to kill her because he was sweating bullets and she was teasing him mercilessly.

“On what?” He sounded outraged.

She waggled her free hand at him. “The ring, of course.”

He chuckled, shaking his head. “I think I can manage a ring. Now, if I promise to deliver the perfect ring, will you marry me? Please?”

“I’m a sucker for please,” she grumbled.

“Wish I’d have known that sooner,” he said dryly.

“Yes, I’ll marry you, Beau,” she said, suddenly growing more serious. “I can’t imagine not being with you now. I don’t want to imagine it or live it. I dearly love my parents, but I had already moved out on my own, even if I was more dependent on them than I liked.”

“I’ll build the most fucking amazing house you’ve ever seen,” he vowed.

“How many kids, er-um, bedrooms will we need?”

His eyes narrowed for a moment, almost as if he were trying to ascertain whether she was yanking his chain again.

“How many do you want?” he asked, turning it around on her.

“At least four,” she said, a contented smile on her face as she imagined a house full of children. Her parents visiting their grandchildren. Watching her children wrestle with their father on the floor.

He lifted his eyebrows. “Four, huh. Sounds like I have a lot of work to do.”

Her mouth dropped open. “A lot of work you have to do? What the heck does a guy do except get a really good orgasm? The woman carries the baby around for nine months and . . .”

She broke off and then glared at him when she realized he was merely dishing it back at her and yanking her chain. “Just for that, you draw diaper duty for the first nine months to offset the nine months I carry them around inside me.”

She sent him a smug look that dared him to top that.

His features softened, and a warm smile lit his face. “When will you marry me? Or maybe I should ask how soon will you marry me?”

She could feel herself softening just as he’d done. Her heart contracting under his bone-melting smile.

“As soon as my cast comes off,” she said, looking down in disgust at her plaster-covered hip and thigh. “I want a wedding, honeymoon, the entire shebang, and I can hardly enjoy any of that with my clunky cast on.”

Joy flooded her heart, bursting like fireworks as the implications of their oh-so-casual conversation really hit her.

“You love me,” she said in wonder. “And you want to marry me.”

She stared at him in utter bewilderment. And then she promptly burst into tears.

Beau was horrified, frantically scrambling for tissue and then tilting her chin up so he could wipe the tears from her face.

“Ari, what’s wrong?” he demanded.

“I’m happy,” she said with a sob.

He scowled. “You have a damn funny way of showing it. You just scared about a decade off my life. Okay, we have to establish some ground rules for this relationship right now. Starting with you never being able to cry, because the sight of you crying, even happy tears, scares the ever-loving hell out of me. And manipulating me with them now that you know what they do to me.”

She laughed and wiped at her tears, trying to keep more from falling. Then she gave up, facing him, her hands extended outward for his. He clasped them firmly in his warm, strong grasp and gently squeezed.

“I love you,” she said, tears still glistening on her eyelashes.

He gazed at her, returning love glowing like a beacon in his eyes. “Promise me you’ll never leave me,” he said hoarsely. “Promise me you’ll love me forever. Stay with me forever.”

“ ’Til death do us part,” she murmured. “I’ve at least got that much down.”

He smiled. “Yeah, believe it or not, I paid attention at Caleb and Ramie’s wedding. Or at least to the good parts. ’Til death do us part’ is right up there with ‘to love and cherish.’ Because, Ari, I will cherish you. All the days of my life. You’ll be the most pampered, spoiled and adored woman in existence.”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Ari said thoughtfully. “My dad may have the market cornered on pampering, cherishing, et cetera. It’s kind of embarrassing to see my badass father make a complete wuss of himself over my mother.”