Page 229 of Filthy Beautiful
“So there may be a scary-deep learning curve on this.”
“Maybe.”
“Don’t be scared,” I told him, squeezing him. “I’ve got you.”
He looked deep in my eyes and said, “I know you do. And I already told you, I’m not letting you go. I don’t care how scary it is or how often you cry at diaper commercials, Courteney Clarke. I’m keeping you.”
In his arms, I couldn’t imagine a better feeling than being kept by him.
“I love you, Xander Rush.”
“Good,” he said, softly. Then his expression grew serious, and he looked into my eyes for a long moment. “Because at this rate… one day, I’m probably gonna bring you somewhere just like this… somewhere beautiful… and I’m probably gonna do something crazy like ask you to marry me.”
“You are?” I actually hopped a little in his arms, excited. Maybe it should’ve scared me, but it didn’t. At all. “Wait.Crazy?”
He smiled a little. “Crazy good, I mean.”
“Really?”
He kinda rolled his eyes and started walking again, pulling me with him by the hand. “Well, there’s no way I’m letting anyone else marry you, so. Might as well.”
I grinned. “When?”
“When what?”
“When are we coming back here so you can propose?”
He raised an eyebrow at me.
“This Christmas?” I offered. “It would be magical… Just think of all the colored lights.”
“Don’t push it.”
“It might be snowing…. We could bring hot chocolate…”
He rubbed his beard.
“No? Summer proposal?”
He sighed.
“Yeah. We should wait a bit. One year from now.Thatwould be romantic.”
“Would it?” he said dryly. Like I was milking all the romance out of it by going on about it.
Maybe I was.
“Or we could do it right now…” I suggested.
He frowned at me. “I don’t even have a ring…”
“How about a countdown?”
“Not the countdown again…”
“Come on. Five, four—”
He kissed me, hard, stopping me in my tracks.
