Jared (48 page)

“Sort of.”

“What do you mean, sort of?” She looked between the
three men.

“He means Jared had me tweak that bomb that was in
your head,” Slade explained.

She looked back at the hollowed-out area where three
of the Sanctuary men had been standing and then back at Jared.

“All that was in my head?”

“Yes.”

If the Sanctuary had detonated it, the device would
not only have blown her up but everyone around her—Allie, Jared, Caleb, and God
knows who else. “And you left it for them?”

“I thought they deserved a present.”

The men headed back down the mountain. She stared at
the destruction over Jared’s shoulders, all the what-might-have-beens playing
in a grotesque video in her mind. That could have been her, would have been
her, if fate hadn’t thrown her in Caleb’s path. And then Jared’s. Maybe Allie
was right. Maybe things did happen for a reason.

“Jared?”

“What?”

“Ask me now.”

He frowned. “Now?”

She couldn’t see the top of the hill anymore. She
rested her cheek against his chest and listened to the steady beat of his
heart. “Yes.”

“Why?”

She smiled and pressed her fingertip to the pulse she
could see in the hollow of his throat. Carrying her hadn’t even elevated it.
She did enjoy his strength. “Because it’s later.”

“What if I’m not ready now?”

“You are.”

“What makes you so sure?”

“Because I love you.”

The slight break in his stride was gratifying. She
replaced her fingertips with her lips.

“See, I told you it was later,” she whispered against
his throat.

His pulse did take off then, a rapid tattoo of desire
and need. “We’re not alone.”

She made the small shift that brought his face into
her line of sight. Everything else faded out of focus. She gave him her
witchiest smile as she drew her finger down his chest. “That’s why you’re still
clothed.”

His energy embraced her. His laugh jostled her. With
an abruptness that had her grabbing tight, he stopped running. Her body grazed
his in a tantalizing slide as he let her feet drop until they found purchase on
a boulder. Standing on the rock, she was almost his height. Up ahead, she saw
the others stop, saw them glance back, saw them turn their backs, granting them
privacy.

“So all it takes to make you bold is a marriage
proposal?” Jared asked, his fingers tangling in her hair.

“Absolutely not.” She settled herself more comfortably
in his arms, looping her hands around his neck. “It takes much more than that.
It takes a promise of later. A lot of laters.” She kissed his neck, his chin,
his cheek. “Laters in which you promise to love me and I promise to love you.
Forever.”

She brought her mouth to his, breathing the last into
her kiss as his energy wrapped around her in the same heated embrace as his
love. “Laters in which we build dreams, hopes, and a future.”

The back of his hand cupped her head, tilting the
angle of her head to compliment the slant of his. His mouth melded with hers.
“Hell yes.”

She parted her lips, welcoming the thrust of his
tongue, glorying in the possession, the claiming. Jared didn’t do anything by
half measures and that included loving her. Thank God.

She rose up on her toes, deepening the kiss that
fraction of an inch that signaled her commitment, to him, to them, because she
didn’t do anything by half measures, either. “I love you.”

He groaned and pulled his mouth from hers, just enough
so they could both breathe, their breaths intermingling, their hearts racing in
synch. “I love you, too.”

She stroked his cheek. “Thank you.”

His soft laugh warmed the last little corner of her
soul. “You don’t thank a man for loving you, sunbeam.”

“No?” She cuddled his erection between her thighs and
tipped her head back. “Then what do I do?”

There was nothing hotter or steadier than the emotion
putting those flames in his eyes. “You just love me from here to eternity.”

“I can do that.” It would be so easy to do that. “What
do I get in return?”

“Me loving you with everything I have.”

“That’s a whole lot.”

“Yes.” Jared rested his forehead against hers, holding
her close, her spirit closer. “Will you marry me, Raisa Slovenski? Will you let
me love you and pleasure you all the days of your life?”

She threaded her fingers through his hair, knocking
his hat off. It tumbled to the ground with a soft plop. She smiled into his
eyes, giving him her heart, her trust, her soul. Knowing in the deepest part of
her that every decision she’d ever made, every step she’d ever taken in her
life had been designed to bring her to this moment, in this time, with this
man. She stroked her energy along his. “Hell yes.”

The END