Hostile Territory - Marie James Page 0,98

running down her cheeks taste like a million promises I can’t wait to hold her to.

When we finally pull away and I manage to get the ring on Anna’s finger, there isn’t a dry eye in the house.

“God, I can’t wait to start my life with you,” I whisper into her neck as her legs go around my waist.

“Deacon,” she whispers as she holds onto me even harder.

“Anna,” I warn when she moves just a little too much.

God, this is all so damn new, I’m going to have my invitation to the family rescinded if she doesn’t settle down. She chuckles, but eventually releases me. Alessio shakes my hand, pulling me in to slap my back heartily.

“So?” her mother prods as she wipes tears of joy from her eyes. “The seventeenth?”

Chapter 42

Deacon

“Is it too much?”

“It’s perfect.” Anna looks down at the ring on her finger for the hundredth time since leaving her parents’ house a couple of minutes ago.

“You’re perfect.”

“I’m far from perfect, but so long as you keep thinking that, at least until I’m Annalise Black, I think it’ll work out.”

Fuck, I love the way that sounds.

“I hope you don’t feel like I put you on the spot.”

“You didn’t.”

Her eyes are still on her ring, her finger wiggling as the diamond catches the light coming from the dash.

“You’d tell me if it was?”

“I wouldn’t have said yes if I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life with you.”

“You have three weeks to change your mind.” I look over at her as we brake at a red light. “After that, I’ll never let you go.”

There are no doubts for me where she’s concerned. I never knew what I was going to get from Dani, and I thought asking her to marry me before leaving for basic training was the right thing to do. I knew if I went away before officially making her mine, I wouldn’t have someone to come back home to, and if that isn’t fucked up, I don’t know what is. Anna is the complete opposite. She isn’t with me for anything other than love, and even though we’ve made numerous declarations in the last day, I don’t have a shred of doubt that she’s being a hundred percent honest.

“You’re not getting rid of me, Deacon Black. I’m yours.”

Her hand runs up my thigh, and I can’t wait to place the matching wedding band to her ring on that very same finger. I’d suggest getting married tomorrow if I didn’t suspect that she has her dream wedding to plan. Three weeks doesn’t seem like enough, but maybe she doesn’t want the extravagance a longer one would take to plan.

“We have to head to the office. There are a couple of things I need to wrap up before we go on vacation.”

“Vacation? I thought we were heading to the ranch.”

“We are.” I give her a salacious grin. “But we aren’t leaving for the next week at least. I nearly embarrassed myself at your parents earlier.”

“And you think a week is enough time to get better control over your body?”

I love that she knows exactly what I’m hinting at, but maybe it’s because I’ve been hard nearly every second since I slipped that jewelry on her hand.

“Not nearly enough time,” I confess. “But maybe just enough to take the edge off.”

“Hmm.” It doesn’t sound like a consideration, and the way she’s watching my face right now has me seconds away from pulling the truck over and proving just how hard it is to wait.

The parking garage is dark and deserted when I pull the truck in, and Anna’s head must be in the same place because she’s straddling my lap the second it’s in park.

“I have an apartment on the tenth floor,” I murmur against her mouth. “I can always deal with the office shit tomorrow.”

“We’re spending the day in bed tomorrow,” she reminds me.

“If that’s the case, I need you to get off my lap.”

“Don’t want to.”

The way she kisses me makes every cell in my body spark to life, and since the tint is so dark on my truck, I’m honestly considering tugging her jeans down and slipping inside of her right here.

Banging on the window startles her, but I saw Flynn’s shadow in the side mirror before his knuckles could meet the glass near my head.

“Go away,” I hiss loud enough for him to hear.

“Wren is watching you on the camera. Says he’s going to upload the video to the BBS website.”

Anna’s cheeks burn