Page 300 of Romeo

His eyebrows lifted.

I grabbed the front of his shirt before he could move farther away. “You do not get to start that and then stop again.”

The laugh that rumbled through his chest should not have been attractive when I was irritated with him, but apparently my body had no loyalty whatsoever. Jasper brushed his thumb across my lower lip, his eyes following the movement with enough heat that my annoyance almost disappeared.

“Ma Belle, you have no fuckin’ idea how sorry I am right now.”

“Then don’t stop.”

His eyes closed briefly, and the expression that crossed his face made me wonder if he was actually suffering. Good. I had been suffering for months.

When he looked at me again, he pressed another kiss to my mouth, softer this time, before rolling onto his back. “We’ve got about an hour before my mama and Aunt Marabella get here.”

I blinked. “What?”

“Mama. Glorianna. The terrifyin’ woman responsible for my beauty, charm, impeccable manners, and most of my childhood trauma.” He glanced at me. “Aunt Marabella is Wade’s mama. She’ll be with her.”

I pushed myself upright, trying to reconcile the conversation with the way he had been kissing my neck thirty seconds earlier. “Why are they coming here?”

Jasper’s expression became far too innocent.

That should have warned me.

Instead of answering, he reached up and tucked my hair behind my ear. His fingers lingered against my cheek, and the humor faded from his eyes as he studied me. There was something different about the way he looked at me now, something focused enough that the question I had been about to ask disappeared.

“I need to hear it again.”

“Hear what?”

“That you’re sure about me.”

The words settled differently than they had on Granny’s couch. Yesterday everything had been too raw, my emotions tangled with fear and exhaustion and relief because Jasper had appeared when I needed him most. Now I was lying in a room above a Bourbon Street bar after willingly climbing onto his motorcycle and crossing half the country with him. There was still fear inside me, but it wasn’t about Jasper.

He was the one thing I wasn’t afraid of.

His thumb moved lightly across my cheek. “I know what you told me before we left. But I need you to think about it without that parkin’ lot anywhere near the answer. You want this? You want me? All the shit that comes with me?”

I studied his face, trying to find some clue about why he suddenly needed the answer again. Jasper had never lacked confidence about us. He had apparently known what he wanted before I even realized there was an us to consider. Learning about the La Croix curse helped make more sense of that now, though I still wasn’t sure I believed a family could inherit destiny along with eye color and cheekbones.

I believed Jasper believed it.

More importantly, I believed what the last year had become.

“I want you.”

His gaze held mine. “All of me?”

I almost smiled. “That sounds threatening.”

“It probably should.”

“I’m still saying yes.”

The tension in his face eased, and for one second, I thought he was finally going to kiss me again.

Instead, Jasper smiled.

“Then marry me.”