Proposing to Preston (The Winslow Brothers, #2)(85)

“I loved what you just said about having kids,” he said, staring down at his plate, his cheeks coloring just as hers had. “I’d love three. And raising them in New York sounds wonderful to me. Taking our little ones to the Central Park Zoo on sunny spring afternoons and to museums and the theater as they get older. I get season tickets to Madison Square Garden, too. There are fantastic private schools there, and besides, it’s central for both of our families. I want our kids to know our families, Elise. Heck, I’d like for you to actually meet my family.”

She giggled, looking up at him as she wound pasta onto her fork. “I’d love to meet them. Well, actually, I briefly met Brooks and Jessica at the engagement party. Brooks knew about us, didn’t he? I could tell by his expression. He looked…terrified.”

Preston nodded. “He found out a few months ago. He stumbled across the divorce papers.”

Her heart lurched at the very thought of them. How close they’d come to throwing something precious away.

“He must hate me.”

“He doesn’t. If anyone understands the rocky road to true love, it’s Brooks. And Jess is pretty excited to have a movie star in the family.”

“I hope she’ll be just as pleased to have a Broadway actress in the family.”

“Knowing Jess, the title of sister-in-law will probably be her favorite of all. It wasn’t always a picnic being the only girl of five.”

Elise, who already had three sisters, couldn’t wait to welcome a fourth into her life. “I can’t wait to get to know her better.”

“Will you move in with me until we find a place in New York?” he asked.

“Of course. There’s nowhere else I want to be.” She leaned down, picked up her purse off the floor and rifled through it. When her fingers emerged they were holding the silver key ring he’d gifted her on the opening night of Ethan Frome and she grinned at him with tears in her eyes. “I just need a key.”

He stared at the key ring for a moment before lifting his eyes to hers. His voice was raspy with emotion as he said, “I’ll have one made after we wake up tomorrow.”

“Thank you.”

“Thank you for giving me my life back,” he said.

“Thank you for giving me a second chance to be your wife,” she answered.

“I had no choice. I love you,” he said simply.

“I love you, too.”

***

Preston held her hand as they walked the half-block back to his apartment building, his body fully aroused and humming with want. He forced himself to think of something else, and realized they hadn’t discussed their marriage and the public.

“We forgot something,” he said.

“What to name our first born?” she asked, grinning up at him.

She was so adorable, so beloved, he paused, dropping his lips to hers for just a moment before resuming their walk.

“No…though that’s a conversation I can’t wait to have with you.”

“Me too,” she murmured, her bare arm brushing against his and making his blood sluice south.

Mercy. At this rate, he was going to walk into his apartment building with a tent pole under his belt, like some excited teenager. He cleared his throat, willing it to go down until they made it to his apartment. “We, um, we forgot to discuss the fact that you’re a public figure.”

“So are you.”

“And we got married in secret two years ago,” he said, pulling open the door of his apartment building and guiding her inside. “If we announce that, there will be a media storm, with every reporter in the world wondering why we were estranged for the past two years. I don’t want people mucking through our personal business, Elise.”

“Me neither.”

“Then, as much as I hate it,” he said, “I think that, besides our families and Jax, we should let the media believe that we’ve just met and started dating.”

It rankled, because they’d just fought hard to put their marriage back together and now they’d have to conceal it.

“I wish there was another way,” she said softly, as he pressed the elevator call button.

“I don’t think there is.”

The doors opened and he pulled her into the elevator, into his arms.

“If I could, I would shout it from the rooftops,” she said. “I’m Mrs. Preston Winslow!”

“And I would write in the stars,” he said, recalling the words she’d used to tell him that she loved him two years ago, “so that every night when you looked at the sky, my love would shine back at you.”

“Pres…” She sighed, her eyes filling with tears. “Kiss me.”

Backing her against the wall of the elevator as it leisurely climbed to the ninth floor, he lifted her into his arms as he had earlier that evening at Chateau Nouvelle, and she wrapped her legs around his hips as his lips smashed into hers.

His tongue broke the seam of her lips, searching for hers, stroking and sliding against it as they were lifted higher and higher. She arched her back, her nipples pinpoints through the flimsy fabric of her romper, and threaded her fingers urgently through his hair, her fingernails digging into his scalp.

The elevator doors opened and he turned, his lips still fused to hers, moving swiftly through the doors and down the hallway to his apartment. At the door, he sucked her bottom lip between his and finally released it with a soft pop.