Page 112 of Badd Love
God, I loved her.
It filled me with a soul-deep peace and with an intense, wild, primal possessiveness; the two were a dichotomy within me, but I didn't question it.
I normally couldn't fall back asleep once my eyes opened, but with Lindsey sprawled out on me, her hair tickling my nose and her hand teasingly close to my dick and her breasts against my ribs and her breathing soughing on my skin, I found myself drifting back into a light sleep.
I woke again to a pink-yellow light from the sunrise bathing the room.
"Hi." Lindsey's voice was a delicate whisper.
I looked down at her, smiling. "Hiya, Gorgeous."
She blushed. "Thank you for last night, Dane. It was…" her eyes misted, blurred. "It was the best night of my life."
I brought her up for a kiss, intending it to be a quick soft closed-mouth good morning peck, but she had other ideas. The moment our mouths met, she moaned and opened her mouth to mine, and while I knew we both had to have morning breath, I didn't care, didn't notice. All I knew was the glory of her mouth, the heat of her kiss, the wildness of her need, the depth of her love.
She pulled away first, looking a little dizzy—which did wonders for my ego, knowing I could make her dizzy with a kiss.
"Best night of my life, too," I whispered.
She searched me. "Dane, I…" she buried her face in my chest, blushing.
"What, baby? You know you can tell me anything, ask me anything."
She nodded slightly, sighing. “Yeah, I know. I just…" another sigh, and then she lifted her head to look at me again. "I don't ever want to be apart from you again. I know this is maybe, like, zero to sixty, but I just…I woke up with you just now, and I slept so good, and I'm so happy, and I love you so fucking much itkinda scares me, but I…I just can't bear the idea of not falling asleep with you." She cupped my cheek. "I don't care what our life together looks like, Dane. I'll live in a shack or a van down by the river or a mansion on a hill. I don't fucking care, as long as your face is the last thing I see at night and the first thing I see in the morning."
My heart flipped, burned. "My god, Linz." My eyes stung unexpectedly, and my throat felt tight. "I couldn't ask for anything more."
She leaned on an elbow. "Dane, are you…crying?"
I cleared my throat gruffly. "Yes. Dunno why." I sniffed a laugh. "That's a lie—I do know. I've loved you since we first met. That night, while we were fucking, I knew. I just knewthat you were it for me. I knew then that I'd never want anyone else. I'd never be with anyone else."
She shivered. "For real?"
I nodded. "Absolutely for real, honey. I knew I was in love with you then. I may not have been willing or able to admit it to myself or put it into words, but I knew, deep down, what I was feeling. I've seen it enough to know what it looks like."
She settled back down onto me. "Can I tell you something kinda weird about me?"
I chuckled. "Please do."
"I think diamonds are stupid."
“Okay." I wasn't sure what to do with that information or where it was coming from.
"And I reject outright the gender norms regarding marriage proposals."
My heart clattered in my chest as I began to grasp a glimmer of where she was going with this. "Linz?”
Her hand covered my mouth, and she wriggled upright enough to lean on my chest, gazing into my eyes. "Hush, Dane. Let me talk."
I nodded.
She removed her hand, resting it on my chest while gazing at me with such open and blinding love that I almost wondered who this woman was—she was utterly transformed from the person I'd known just yesterday. She was bright and free, light and wild, joyful. Her eyes sparkled like sunlight glittering through icicles hanging from the eaves of a roof.
"Be mine forever, Dane." She swallowed hard, emotional but unafraid. "Please? I don't want or need a ring. I don't care if we ever get married. I just want you. I want to wake up like this every single fucking day until I die in your arms."
"What if I said I wanted to marry you?" I asked. "What if I said I wanted you to be my wife, to become Lindsey Badd? What if I wanted to buy you a ring? It doesn't have to be a diamond."
"I'll marry you tomorrow," she said. "I'll wear any ring you give me. I'll take your name. I'm just saying it can look…however. I don't care. Just please, Dane, promise me that I'm yours forever, starting right now.”
