Marrying Ember(6)

“What if I was?”

“What if you were what?”

I took a deep breath through my nose. “What if I was asking you to marry me right now?”

Ember rolled her eyes. “You’re not, though.”

My voice grew dark. “Answer the question, Ember.”

“I—”

I didn’t let her finish before I cut her off by holding up my hand.

I bit my lip. I didn’t want to yell, but I didn’t want to stand in the room with her anymore. That was more my fault than hers. She had no way of knowing that with every word she spoke she was spearing every plan I had for us for the rest of the summer … and the rest of our lives. As I headed for the door, Ember seemed to sense what I was doing, and beat me to it, placing her hand on the knob.

“No way,” she nearly yelled, her eyes fierce with passion. “Hiding out here all weekend, remember?” She pressed her back against the door, blocking my exit.

I rolled my eyes. “I can just go out the back door, Ember.”

“Right. But you won’t, because you’re not an *. You’re not going to run away from this conversation by accusing me of running away from it, Bo.”

Her eyes widened as tears threatened to fall, and her cheeks were still red. Even worse, she was right. The good news was, she wanted me to stay, even though I was acting like a total ass.

“Okay.” I sighed. “Sorry. So … what do we do?”

Relief spread across her face. “Well, we dial down the panic a notch.” She walked past me, toward the oversized couch where she curled herself up.

“Yeah.” I chuckled nervously as I walked to the living space and sat next to her.

“So, do you want to talk about the whole marriage thing?” She lifted her eyebrows and twisted her lips playfully.

“No,” I said, surprising myself.

Ember leaned into me, pulling my arm way from my body and wrapping it around her shoulders as she snuggled into my chest. The smell of lemongrass was never far away. I kissed the top of her head and took a deep breath, grateful that I didn’t have to have a conversation with Ember about her thoughts on marriage to know … to know that soon I’d ask her to be my wife … and she’d say yes.

“Can I interest you in a topic change?” Ember’s voice lowered at the end of her sentence. She moved her lips to my neck and left them there until I responded.

“Anything you want.”

Her grin excited me. “Anything?”

I nodded, and all the blood my brain needed to process an answer raced south.

Ember pulled away from my body, throwing her hair up into a loose ponytail.

“What are you doing?” I asked as she worked her hands across the belt of my shorts.

“I want to see you the whole time. And I want you to see me.” After she undid my zipper, she lifted her shirt over her head, tossing it behind her where it landed on the coffee table.

I slid my shorts off as she stepped out of her long skirt. She stood in front of me for a moment, while I took off my shirt, and I could barely complete that task while staring at her form. The way her waist curved in, leaving soft slender hips in their wake, stole my breath. The sliver of a shadow her breasts created over her ribs begged me to touch her. With her hair pulled back, I had the good fortune of viewing the length of her, from her flawless hair that hung down past her breasts, all the way to her toes. Unobstructed.

“I can’t have you standing that far from me anymore,” I whispered, the obvious physical sign of my readiness posted up between us. She held out her hand as I reached for her, allowing me to pull her on top of me.

Hovering over me, her knees digging into the couch, she paused, drawing her lips across my jawline and ending at my ear so she could whisper to me. “I’ve never wanted anyone as badly as I want you at this moment.”

Her hard nipples pressed against my chest and I wrapped my hands around her hips. “So what are you going to do about it?” I growled into her ear.

Challenge flickering in her eyes, Ember moved her hands to the tops of my shoulders and slowly slid onto me. Excruciatingly slow. My fingers dug into her skin as she exhaled loudly, throwing her head back.

Each time we made love, I had to spend the first few seconds getting a grip or I feared it would end right there. The way she overrode my well trained sexual defenses caught me off guard more than I cared to admit. All guys have them … things they think about when they don’t want the sex to be over in a split second. Mine ranged from sports to standing naked in a blizzard. It’s true.

Somehow, though, when Ember tilted her chin back down and stared at me with warm devotion, that was all the focus I needed. I wanted her. Needed her. Wanted her to feel everything I felt in this moment.

“What?” She whispered, breathless as she moved against me.

I shook my head, moving my hand to the back of her neck, where I tugged on her elastic and released her hair. A forest of soft auburn encircled us in an instant.

“What are you doing?” She insisted, moving faster.

I gripped her harder, allowing the silk of her hair to tickle the side of my neck. “I want to be swallowed by you.”

I pulled down on her hips harder, and she answered by moving faster, pressing her forehead into my shoulder as I groaned through clenched teeth.

“Ah,” she cried out in that quick, panicked, high-pitched way that told me she was close.