showed back up offering creme brulee, which was enough to make Win moan.
“Honestly, I can’t.”
“Sure you can.” He motioned to the waiter to bring two servings.
“You don’t understand. I have a weakness for certain desserts. I can’t give into it or I’ll be fat as a tub.”
He heard her protests, but when the dessert arrived, all he heard was “Oh, my,” followed by more “Oh, my, my, mys.”
He said, “I’m not positive, but I’m almost sure that they generally discourage customers from having orgasms in front of the other restaurant clientele.”
“Tough. That’s their problem.” Now that she’d quit being nervous, Win was back to being herself. Full of devilment and fearless-at least fearlessly diving into his dish of creme brulee. She’d finished her own. “You
“No. But I did happen to bring something else.” He pushed a hand in his right pocket, and geezle beezle, realized his dad-blasted fingers were shaking again.
“Justin…” Maybe Win sensed that something momentous was coming, because she suddenly launched into a nonstop talking fest. “Let’s talk about some problems, okay? I don’t know what might be bothering you, but it occurred to me that one thing could be the house. You know what I mean. Which house we’re going to live in? And it doesn’t really matter to me, but my place is so small that your house seems to be obviously the best choice.”
“Well, your house is too small for the three of us, but that doesn’t have to limit us, Win. If you don’t like my place, we could either go house shopping or build from scratch.”
“Do you really want to do that?”
“I want to do whatever works for you. And the baby.”
“Well…I love your house. So unless you actually want to move, I think it’s ideal. Although…”
It wasn’t going to work. Trying to talk about anything normal. Not while the box in his pocket was burning a hole in his mind. So when she lifted another spoonful of creme brulee, he slipped the small black box on the table. When she lowered the spoon, she saw it.
Even though she hadn’t leveled all of his dessert yet-and was obviously still hungry for it-she dropped the spoon. She dropped her hands, too. Her eyes met his, softer than lake water and more vulnerable than a spring night.
“Can I…open it?” she asked softly.
“You’re going to give me a heart attack if you don’t. Not that you have to like it, Win. I wanted to give you a surprise, but in the long run, I want you to have something that you really love and want to look at every day. The best jeweler I know is in Austin. We could fly up there, and he could either make you something specific to-”
Since she was paying no attention to his monologue, he quit talking. By then she’d opened the box. It was just a ring. Not a diamond, because once he’d become part of the Texas Cattleman’s Club, he’d become exposed to the value and meaning of certain gems. The sapphire not only matched her eyes, but a sapphire was supposed to be a stone for a woman who valued her individuality, a one-of-a-kind, as she was. And because he couldn’t choose a huge gem, because Win was mightily against ostentation, he’d opted for a priceless one. The hue was unusual for a sapphire, not the dark blue of midnight, but the clear, deep blue of her eyes, the limitless blue of…love.
He’d prepared a speech to communicate all that, partly because he wanted to tell her…but also because he was desperate to have something to say so that she couldn’t change her mind. But as it happened, he never had a chance to worry about any of that.
She hurled herself at him. Arms raised. Head tilted. She knocked over a spoon, then a saucer, making enough of a clatter to have heads swiveling from all over the restaurant to witness her throwing herself in his arms. He saw her eyes glistening and almost died to realize she was crying.
And then she kissed him.
Or he kissed her. By then, who could tell? The only thing that mattered was meeting her exuberant kiss halfway…and then more than halfway. Lips touched, and all that rough, fast hurling around was suddenly over. The kiss turned soft and silent and secret. Reverent.
The whisper of her taste was a promise. The texture of her lips a vow. God, she won his heart all over again. Every time she came to him, he felt this horrible melting from the inside. A changing. An instinctive understanding that his life could be bigger with her, his heart could be stronger, the whole universe richer-if she just loved him.
And man, he did love her. From the inside, from the outside, to hell with where they were or who was watching. Nothing mattered but telling her how he felt, what he wanted for her, for them. Love shimmered between them like liquid gold that coated both of them in its warmth and power. And yeah, sexual desire loomed between them, too. Hot and wicked and needy. Craving her was good, too. He couldn’t wait to get her out of here, get her naked, wearing nothing but the blasted ring…but it was funny. Just kissing her that instant was all he ever wanted, too.
Finally she eased away, both of them out of breath, their gazes still locked tight on each other.
“I’ll be damned. I’m getting the craziest feeling you like the ring,” he murmured.
“Don’t you try to tease me now, Doc. I couldn’t handle it.”
He dropped the smile instantly. “I love you, Win. No teasing. No nothing. That’s always been what this is about. Not the baby, not anything else in our lives. Just love.”
“And I love you. Set a date. Any date you want, Justin.”
In the middle of the warmest, most important moment of his entire life, Justin suddenly froze.
Two nights later, as Justin drove to the Cattleman’s Club, the roads were empty of traffic-and for good reason. Everybody that could be was tucked inside their houses. Sleet poured down in silver sheets; the asphalt was icy- slick and a fierce wind buffeted and blustered around every corner.
Still, when Justin parked and climbed out of the Porsche, he trudged toward the Club’s front door as if he didn’t give a damn if the sleet soaked him or not. And the truth was, he didn’t.
Win was wearing the sapphire engagement ring. And they’d gone home that night to make love until the wee hours. But he’d also jerked awake around four in the morning from a nightmare, and nothing had been the same since. Something was wrong. Bad wrong. With him.
The crazy thing was, everything was
Guys all over the planet were petrified of commitment-but that wasn’t him. Commitment to Win, forever, was exactly what Justin wanted, so this panicked reaction to setting a wedding date made no sense at all. Until he figured it out, though, he was too ashamed and confused to admit to Win that he was having this idiotic problem. Maybe he could hire someone to punch him out? Beat some sense into him? Shake the screw loose from his mind?
“Justin! Good to see you!” Matthew must have been waiting at the door, because he was right there to push it open. But his gregarious welcome changed focus when he saw Justin’s face. “Hell, man. What happened to you?”
“Nothing, just running a little late.” At a glance, he could see that the others were all inside, except for Aaron. Drinks had been served. Typically, Ben had his hands wrapped around a coffee mug while the others had aimed straight for the more serious blood warmers. The familiar scent of whiskey was in the air, as were the smells of leather, wool and a brisk, wood-burning fire. Walking into the Club had always invoked a comfortable male-bonding sort of feeling. It was created to be a place where a man could let down his hair.
But not tonight. Not for him.
Dakota stepped forward with a grin. “Hey, man, sure looks like someone rode you hard and put you up wet.” But like Matthew, when Dakota got a good look at his face, his smile disappeared. “I didn’t mean to joke-you all right? You’re not sick, are you?”
“No. I’m fine, really. Sorry to be so late. Afraid I just had a few days in a row with some grueling long work hours.” That’s what he’d told Winona. He was afraid she hadn’t bought it. And it didn’t appear his friends were buying it, either.
