Burn (Breathless #3)(107)

He opened the box and Josie gasped as she stared down at a gorgeous diamond ring. It sparkled and caught the sunlight streaming through her window, dazzling her with its brilliance.

He lowered himself to one knee beside her bed and gently took her left hand in his.

“Will you marry me, Josie? Have my babies and put up with me for the rest of your life? No one will ever love you more than me and I’m going to spend every day for the rest of my life making sure you know that.”

The ring wobbled and went blurry in her vision as he slid it onto her finger.

“Yes. Oh yes, Ash! I’ll marry you. I love you so much. And I want those babies. Lots of babies.”

He smiled and pushed himself back up so he could lean over, gathering her carefully in his arms. He kissed her tenderly, her heart melting.

“I love you too, Josie. Never want you to doubt that. I have a lot to make up for and I’m working on that right now. But it’ll wait until you’re out of the hospital and home where I can fuss over you and spoil you rotten.”

She reached up with her left hand to cup his cheek, her ring sparkling on her finger.

“I’m looking forward to that, my love.”

Chapter thirty-seven

“I can’t believe you did this for me,” Josie said in awe as she stared at the very full ballroom of the Bentley Hotel.

Ash wrapped his arm around her and squeezed her tightly against him. “I didn’t do anything, baby. It’s all you. They love your work. You’re going to sell out in the first half hour. A bidding war has begun over your erotic series of paintings.”

Josie took in the glittering array of people who were admiring her work while drinking very expensive champagne. Everyone was here. The mayor, oh my God. And there were celebrities everywhere! She was agog at the names of some of the people in attendance. And they were here for her paintings!

She glanced back up at Ash and leaned further into him. “Do you hate that they’re seeing those paintings of me? I know you didn’t like showing them and wanted to be the only one to see them.”

He smiled and dropped a kiss on her upturned lips. “I have the real thing. What do I need the paintings for? They only get to imagine what they can’t see in those paintings, but I get to see it and touch it every night. That’s only for me. No one else will ever have that.”

She smiled back, delighted at his response.

“Now, if you ever venture into something more revealing, then yeah, I’m going to buy those. I don’t care what you say. Nobody but me gets to see you completely naked.”

She grinned and elbowed him in the ribs. “Don’t worry. That’s the extent of the bravery I have concerning me in the buff.”

“Thank f**k,” he muttered. “Don’t want to have to beat the asses of any men who drool over you in a painting.”

“Oh look, there’re the girls!” Josie exclaimed, breaking away from Ash to go and greet them.

“Josie!” Brittany cried, engulfing Josie in a huge hug. “You’re famous! Have you seen all the people here going bananas over your paintings?”

Josie hugged her back and smiled up at Kai who stood indulgently to the side while Brittany attacked Josie.

Mia and Bethany shoved past Gabe and Jace the minute Brittany let Josie go and hugged her fiercely.

“Oh my gosh, you guys look gorgeous!” Josie said, surveying the cocktail dresses worn by each. “And your shoes!” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “I know what you guys will be doing later!”

They all laughed and then Mia said, “Hey, where’s the champagne! We need to get our drink on!”

The men groaned but there wasn’t a single one who didn’t have a smug gleam in his eyes. Yeah, they knew what they were getting later. Josie hoped to have her own after-party romp between the sheets with Ash.

He’d been exceedingly gentle and patient during her recovery. She’d eventually had to jump him because he’d refused to so much as touch her, much less have sex with her, until he was absolutely certain she was healed. And he still hadn’t done more than make sweet, exquisite love to her, not that she was complaining. But she was eager to resume a normal sexual relationship with her dominant man.

She could see in his eyes the desire not to remind her of what had happened. He’d been extremely careful, worried that he would somehow be correlated with the assault on her. But she loved that edge, that fine line between too far and not enough. She wanted it back. Wanted him to lose his tightly held control and to unleash his dark hungers on the both of them.

She shivered just thinking about it. Tonight. Definitely tonight she’d give him no option. She wanted everything he could give her. Wanted to feel the snap of leather against her ass. Wanted him to tie her up and have his wicked way with her. She wanted Ash back!

“I’m going to steal Josie and take her around the room. I want to introduce her to a few people. Drink up and we’ll be back in a few minutes,” Ash said.

The girls waved and then turned back to their own men who were more than happy to get them back. Ash led her through the crowd, stopping and introducing her to people she could barely stammer hello to.

She was tongue-tied and had no idea what to say to the people who gushed about her work. She’d never dreamed that anyone would be that excited over her paintings. And she had Ash to thank.