Entwined with You(96)

Shoving back from the table with a loud screech of the chair legs across the tile, I hurried away from the patio.


“Eva! Wait.”


My feet hit the warm sand and I ran toward the ocean, pulling my dress off and colliding with water that felt as hot as a bath. It was shallow for several feet, then dropped off suddenly, plunging me in below my head. I bent my knees and sank, grateful to be submerged and hidden as I cried.


The weightlessness soothed my heavy heart. My hair billowed around me and I felt the soft brush of fish as they darted past the invader in their silent, peaceful world.


Being yanked back into reality had me sputtering and flailing.


“Angel.” Gideon growled and took my mouth, kissing me hard and furious as he stalked out of the water and up the beach. He took me to the cabana and dropped me onto the chaise, covering me with his body before I fully caught my breath.


I was still dizzy when he groaned and said, “Marry me.”


But that wasn’t why I said, “Yes.”


GIDEON had gone into the water after me with his pants on. The soaked linen clung to my bare legs as he sprawled over me and kissed me as if he were dying of a thirst only I could quench. His hands were in my hair, holding me still. His mouth was frantic, his lips swollen like mine, his tongue greedy and possessive.


I lay beneath him unmoving. Shocked. My startled brain quickly caught up.


He’d been agonizing over popping the question, not because he was leaving me.


“Tomorrow,” he bit out, rubbing his cheek against mine. The first tingle of stubble roughened his jaw, the sensation jolting me into a deeper awareness of where we were and what he wanted.


“I—” My mind stuttered to a halt again.


“The word is yes, Eva.” He pushed up and stared down at me fiercely. “Real simple—yes.”


I swallowed hard. “We can’t get married tomorrow.”


“We can,” he said emphatically, “and we will. I need it, Eva. I need the vows, the legality … I’m going crazy without them.”


I felt the world spinning, like I was on one of those fun-house barrel rides that revolve so fast you’re stuck to the wall with centrifugal force when the floor drops away from your feet. “It’s too soon,” I protested.


“You can say that to me after the flight over?” he snapped. “You f*cking own me, Eva. I’ll be damned if I don’t own you back.”


“I can’t breathe,” I gasped, inexplicably panicked.


Gideon rolled, pulling me on top of him, his arms banding around me. Possessing me. “You want this,” he insisted. “You love me.”


“I do, yes.” I dropped my forehead to his chest. “But you’re rushing into—”


“You think I’d ask you this on the fly? For God’s sake, Eva, you know me better than that. I’ve been planning this for weeks. It’s all I’ve thought about.”


“Gideon … we can’t just run off and elope.”


“The hell we can’t.”


“What about our families? Or friends?”


“We’ll get married again for them. I want that, too.” He brushed the wet hair off my cheek. “I want pictures of us in the newspapers, magazines … everywhere. But that will take months. I can’t wait that long. This is for us. We don’t have to tell anyone, if you don’t want. We can call it an engagement. It can be our secret.”


I stared at him, not knowing what to say. His urgency was both romantic and terrifying.


“I asked your dad,” he went on, shocking me all over again. “He didn’t have any—”


“What? When?”


“When he was in town. I had an opportunity and I took it.”


For some reason, that hurt. “He didn’t tell me.”


“I told him not to. Told him it wasn’t going to happen right away. That I was still working on getting you back. I recorded it, so you can listen to the conversation if you don’t believe me.”


I blinked down at him. “You recorded it?” I repeated.


“I wasn’t leaving anything to chance,” he said unapologetically.


“You told him it wouldn’t be right away. You lied to him.”


His smile was razor sharp. “I didn’t lie. It’s been a few days.”


“Oh my God. You’re crazy.”


“Possibly. If so, you’ve made me this way.” He pressed a hard kiss to my cheek. “I can’t live without you, Eva. I can’t even imagine trying. Just the thought makes me insane.”


“This is insane.”


“Why?” He frowned. “You know there’s no one else for either of us. What are you waiting for?”


Arguments rushed through my mind. Every reason we should wait, every possible pitfall seemed crystal clear. But nothing came out of my mouth.


“I’m not giving you any options here,” he said decisively, twisting up and standing with me cradled in his arms. “We’re doing this, Eva. Enjoy your last remaining hours as a single woman.”