Page 166 of Falling for the Enemy

“If you know what the look means, why are you sitting all the way over there?” He tugged her off the chair and onto his lap. “Do you have any idea how much I missed holding you? Touching you?” He pulled the robe open, exposing her shoulder so he could scatter kisses across her chest. “I like when you use my things. It makes you smell like me.”

“For a caveman, you have really high-end toiletries.” She sniffed the back of her hand.

“Should I be on the lookout for any sharp objects?” he asked, loosening the clip in her damp hair.

“No, I’m all clean. Any weapons, narcotics, or questionable paraphernalia got flushed down your drain.” She reached for a glass of champagne. “Oh, but I do have this massive rock on my finger now, so don’t get any ideas. One swing with this iceberg and I could drop you like the Titanic.”

He laughed. “I actually thought about that.”

Jocelyn took a sip and held out her left hand, admiring the way the diamond sparkled.

“Do you like it?”

“Like it? I love it.”

“I wasn’t sure if you’d see it as some sort of archaic practice⁠—”

“I definitely see it that way. But also, look how sparkly!”

He laughed. “Promise you’ll never take it off.”

“Are you kidding? A rock like this? This is going to the pawn shop first thing in the morning. That’s rent.”

He clamped a hand over her fingers, and a flash of vulnerability danced across his eyes. “Promise, Joce.”

For that rare moment, she put all sarcasm aside. “I promise, Soren. I’ll never take it off. I’m yours until the day I die.”

He kissed her knuckle then informed, “You’re mine longer than that. After this life, I’ll find you in the next.”

“You better.”

That night they made love under the stars, slow and patient. Soren touched her in ways that permanently marked her soul. Then they made love again in the jacuzzi, where she discovered her talents at underwater seduction. When he finally carried her to bed, she was boneless, blissfully content, and more settled than she’d ever felt in her life.

Soren had proposed because he wanted a life with her. The ring was simply the traditional thing to do. But to her, it was a claim. He wanted her. Not for a day or a few weeks or months, but for the rest of her life and his. It was the greatest commitment anyone had ever offered her, and shockingly easy to accept.

Lying on her side, curled into the crook of his arm, she stared at that glittering claim, imagining what kind of ring she would give him. Something lasting. Something he’d never want to take off.

“What are you thinking about?” He kissed the top of her head.

“You. Us. Our future.”

His mouth curved into a smile against her temple. “I was thinking about the same thing.”

Cordelia slept soundly at his back, and King draped his long body over their legs. This was just the beginning.

“I hope you know your perfectly ordered life is about to get very messy.”

“I can’t wait.”

Strangely, she believed him.

She had too many soft, squishy feelings rushing through her to accurately name, which was a terrible problem to have for someone who wrote love stories for a living. Then she realized she didn’t have to label every flutter or know what caused her heart to skip a beat, she only had to say the one word that encompassed all.

“I love you, Soren.”

His arm tightened around her, another smile pressing into her skin. He sighed as if he’d waited a lifetime to hear that single word from her. And, in a way, he sort of did.

She nestled into him, perfectly safe and protected in the shelter of his arms. She was a kaleidoscope of jagged edges, and he was the light. Apart, they were only broken fragments, but together they made beautiful, chaotic sense. Falling and colliding all along, until they finally stopped fighting long enough to see that this was how they were always meant to be.