He didn’t break the kiss as he lifted her and carried her to the sprawling bed. He’d showered after they’d gotten back, and was wearing only a T-shirt and jeans on loan from Flint. Getting rid of them took no time at all.
When it was Taylor’s turn, she helped him pull her nightgown over her head.
Enough moonlight came in the window to give him a visual he wouldn’t soon forget. He dipped to kiss her as he covered her breast with a hand.
“Christopher?” he asked when they broke apart, remembering all of a sudden. He was treading new territory here.
“Sleeps like a log. Takes after Flint,” she said.
And he grinned at that, remembering their frat days. He’d shared a room with Flint back in the day. She was right. A stampede wouldn’t wake that man.
He got up and closed the door, locked it before he took off his underwear and walked to the bed, then stopped. “If he wakes up…”
“He never does.” But she pointed to the baby monitor on the nightstand that she had brought over without him noticing it.
He’d been that lost in her eyes.
Worrying about a child was a strange feeling, but not strange bad. Christopher was a great little kid. Akeem looked forward to having him in his life. Fatherhood was no doubt going to bring some challenges, but he was looking forward to them. Looking forward to providing Christopher with some little brothers and sisters in time, too.
But not just yet. He should probably propose first. Except that Taylor was slipping out of her yellow lace underwear, and speech escaped him for the moment, his logical brain failing him on every level. He was lucky to be together enough to reach to the floor and pull a silver foil pack from his back pocket.
He touched her, tasted her and filled her. And experienced pure perfection for the first time in his life. Making love to Taylor McKade was sweet. And hot. Right. Crazy. The tight heat of her body seemed to have been made just for his.
He claimed her mouth, then her breasts, then her mouth again. And she gave as good as she got, making him wild with the small movements of her hips, the way she arched her back for him, the small sounds that escaped her throat when he reached deeper yet.
Their bodies soared together on the passion they wrought, twined together long after the last muscle spasm was spent.
Once his heart rate returned to within shouting distance of normal, he opened his eyes and touched her face, kissed her eyelids. Their bodies were still touching everywhere. “This is not just a quick thing.” He kissed her lips. “I need to tell you how serious I am about us.”
“Flint got to you, didn’t he?” she asked with a dreamy smile as she pulled back to look into his face. “He can be a pest. It’s the older-brother curse. I’ve tried to fight it. It’s futile. What did he threaten you with?”
“Shotgun wedding at dawn,” he said gravely.
Her eyes flew wide. “Wha—”
He grinned and kissed her again, covered her face with kisses. He took care not to leave out anything, not her eyelids, not her cheekbones, not the line of her chin. “Okay, maybe not at dawn. We could probably talk him into giving you time to at least pick a wedding dress.”
“What a terrible thing to say! I’m going to need a lot more time than that. Why, the caterer alone…” She went silent. “Is this a—”
“Yes.”
He slid off the bed and picked up his jeans, reached into the other back pocket. She rolled to her side to watch him, coming up on her elbows.
And her cornflower-blue eyes went wider yet when he went down on one knee, naked as a jaybird, with a diamond ring held on his outstretched palm.
“I’m hardly the always-professional businessman you might think I am. That’s a media image the company’s PR people work on. I lose my cool all the time. I lost my patience that day when I gave Gary a ride home. I’ve done things—You’ve seen some of the things I’ve done. I swear I’m not the kind of man you would ever have to be scared of.”
“I know,” she interjected.
“You do?”
“I’m grateful that you protected me in Hell’s Porch. Whatever you did to Gary before that, let’s just say I’m not that upset over it. I feel safe with you. I feel my son is safe with you. You saved both of our lives. I love the warrior inside you just as much as I love your gentle heart that worries about being forced into violence.”
Her full acceptance of him humbled him.
“Taylor McKade, will you marry me? I would like a chance to earn your trust.” He waited, leaving his heart and hopes in her hands.
The air conditioner stopped temporarily, and they could hear the bugs in the trees outside, serenading them, frogs croaking the chorus. The moon bathed the room in soft light.
Taylor lay naked on the bed, still flushed with the heat of their lovemaking; eyes wide and glistening, the most beautiful sight there had ever been on this earth, he was sure. “You already have,” she said.
She stayed as she was, frozen in time for a second, then lunged at him, knocking him over and sending them sprawling on the floor. “Yes!”
Then they were kissing and making love all over again. He could never get enough of her. He couldn’t imagine that ever changing as long as there was life in his limbs. Some time passed before he could go about finding the ring among their clothes and slipping it on her slim finger. Then felt reluctant to let go of her hand.
But she wanted to get a close-up look. “This is huge. Way too much,” she protested, but she was grinning from ear to ear.
Seeing her happy and carefree in this moment was incredibly nice. He
