Defending Morgan (Mountain Mercenaries #3)(84)

“You’d be surprised at how unforgiving people can be,” Black said, then he was gone.

“Come here,” Arrow said, tugging on her hand.

“I am here,” Morgan replied.

“Here,” Arrow insisted.

Morgan stood and sat on the edge of the bed, her hip touching Arrow’s.

“You love me?” he asked, once she was settled.

Morgan knew she was blushing, but she didn’t look away from him. “You heard that, huh?”

“Yeah. And it bears repeating. You know I love you. It almost killed me to not be able to protect you when your mom was going off. I’ve never felt so much pain as I did doubled over on my couch. But what really killed me was when your mom attacked you . . . and all I could do was sit there.”

“But you did protect me,” Morgan protested. “When it counted, you were there. I was frozen in fear . . . and confusion. I mean, it was my mom who was behind everything. I couldn’t wrap my head around it, much less do anything about it when she grabbed me and was going to shove that needle in my neck.”

“I love you, Morgan Byrd. I will spend the rest of my days doing whatever I can to protect you.”

“I’m hoping that the days of me needing protecting are over,” Morgan said dryly.

“I love you,” Arrow repeated, and raised his eyebrows expectantly.

Morgan grinned. “I know.”

“And? Do you have something to say to me in return?”

“Um . . . thanks?”

“Beautiful . . . ,” Arrow said in the most threatening tone he could muster—which wasn’t very scary, considering he was lying in a hospital bed with an IV in him and hooked up to various machines.

Morgan leaned over and took his face in her hands. “I love you, Archer Kane. More than I ever thought it was possible to love anyone. I don’t want to see you like you were on your floor ever again. You scared the shit out of me.”

“You won’t,” he vowed.

“You can’t promise that,” Morgan protested.

One hand moved and settled on her neck. The other he put on the small of her back. They were huddled together, their foreheads almost touching, when he whispered, “I promise you the world, beautiful. Happiness, laughter, friendship, and babies. Lots and lots of babies.”

Morgan’s breath hitched, and she stared at him.

“Will you marry me? I promise to love and cherish you for the rest of my life. I promise to be your friend as well as your lover. I’ll do my best to make you laugh and never make you cry, unless they’re happy tears. I’ll live wherever you want to live, and we’ll buy a big house with some land so you can have as many bees as you want. I’ll go on vacations with you . . . except maybe not to the Caribbean. I love my job, but if it makes you feel safer, I’ll quit today and concentrate on my electrician gig. I’ll do whatever it takes for you to say yes.”

“I . . . I want to marry you . . . but I’m scared that I’ll never be able to be the woman you need in the bedroom,” she admitted. “I want children, but I’m afraid I’ll never be able to relax enough to make them with you.”

“I told you once, and I’ll say it as many times as you need to hear it to believe it. I love you, Morgan. Even if we never make love in the conventional way, even if all we ever do is cuddle and masturbate together, I want you exactly the way you are.”

“Arrow,” Morgan choked out.

“But I have to say, I believe that once you deal with everything, you’re going to be able to do whatever you want to do . . . including making love to, and fucking, your husband. I’ll never pressure you, you’ll have all the control you want in the bedroom. I’ll be on the bottom for the rest of my life if that’s what you need.”

Morgan had tears in her eyes, but she chuckled anyway. “You’ll be my sex slave?”

“Hell yes. And if you think that’s a negative, I’ll just let you go on thinking that. Having you above me, riding me, getting off while I get to watch every single expression on your face and have your tits right there in front of me as you take me? Yeah . . . reeeeeal tough, beautiful.”

This time, the laugh that escaped was genuine and heartfelt. “Then yes. Yes, I’ll marry you.”

Arrow lifted his head a fraction of an inch and covered her lips with his own. They were dry and cracked, but she’d never felt anything better in her entire life.





Epilogue

Four weeks later, Arrow was sitting on their new couch in their new apartment, watching a movie. He was as proud of Morgan as he could be. Finding out the truth behind her kidnapping had been cathartic. She had visited with her therapist every day for a week after he’d gotten out of the hospital and had been slowly tapering off the visits.

She was sleeping through the night, and they’d even had some pretty intense make-out sessions since then too.

Arrow hadn’t pressured her for anything more than she was ready to give. It was fun getting to know who she was without fear hanging over her head.

He’d found a perfect piece of land in Black Forest, near Ro and Chloe, that he was planning on building a house on. It was going to be the ideal place to not only raise a family, but for Morgan to put up a beehive or two. She’d decided not to go full scale again, but just harvest enough honey for them and their friends instead.