“I’m not offering you a date.” Sloane placed his hand on the packet I hadn’t given much thought to once I saw he was in my office. He slid it across the desk before me, but hadn’t moved his hand.
“I don’t understand why you’ve come then. Jason is doing fine at the center and I’m all right. I’ll survive.”
“If you don’t want to tell me what is in your heart, how about I tell you what’s in mine?”
“Sure, if that will make you feel better and give you closure.”
He chuckled. “Let down that wall of protection around your heart for a moment and hear me out.”
“I’m listening.” I did have a barrier around my heart, but what Sloane didn’t know was that in one night he’d broken through it.
“I love you.”
What?
I must have said the word out loud, because Sloane smiled and leaned over the desk until his face was close to mine. “I love you, Gabby Reston. From the first time I saw you in middle school. Shy and sweet and hiding behind your hair and glasses.”
“You love me?”
He reached out and caressed my cheek. “Every time you look at me with those brown silk eyes it robs me of my breath. When you touch me my heart swells with joy.”
“I don’t think that’s your heart.”
Stretching further, he kissed me. “Both.”
I lifted my hand and brushed my fingers over his lips.
“Tell me what’s in your heart.”
“You.” I looked deep into his eyes. “I don’t know how, I don’t know when. But you found a place in the center of my heart that night and buried yourself there. It scares the shit out of me because I’ve never felt like this before.”
“Good. I like to know I’m not the only one knocked on my ass.” Sitting up, he removed his hand from the packet. “Open this.”
I saw it was a travel agent packet. Pulling the jacket open, I saw an itinerary for two to Las Vegas. “What’s this for?”
“I want you to trust me and do something crazy.”
Gazing up from the information to him, I lifted a brow. “Like?”
“Marry me. Tonight in Vegas. We already have an appointment at the Chapel of Eternal Bliss.”
I dropped the packet and stood with my purse in hand. “You have to be out of your mind.”
“Why, because I love you?”
“Because rational people don’t run off and get married.” I moved around the desk to the door.
“When they are guided by love they do.” He stepped in front of me and took my hands. “Both of us did the long relationship route the last time. Even though mine didn’t end in marriage I wasn’t happy and it wasn’t true love.”
I hadn’t been happy either. Sloane knew that, I’d confessed to him how I’d settled for Michael, because he was safe and familiar. “I don’t know, Sloane. We could date and then plan a wedding.”
“Wasted time to me when I could be spending every night with you.” He pulled me closer. “I don’t have anything else to do over the next couple months besides meetings and training for the next school year. Let me take care of you, shower you with love. Let me bond and become a father to Jason.”
I should say no. Tell Sloane that this was completely insane. But then I looked into the kind eyes of the man who had remembered a shy, heavy-set, awkward teenage girl and found her smart and beautiful. I was a perfect example of people getting married for all the right reasons and it not lasting. Why not give it a go for love?
“Yes.”
“Yes?” He leaned back and stared at me as if he were shocked I’d agreed.
“You were serious, right?”
“Hell, yes.”
Stepping back, I placed my hands on my hips. “Then ask me right.”
A broad smile curled the corners of his lips as he lowered his tall, massive frame to the floor on one knee. Taking my hands in his, he gazed into my eyes. “Gabrielle Reston, the love of my life. Will you marry me and make me the luckiest and happiest man I have ever been?”
“Yes, I will.”
He pulled me onto his knee and kissed me and brought delight to my heart.
~The End~
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If you haven’t read it, pick up your copy of Love in the Afternoon.
Oriana Price fell for Chase Henderson the first time she accompanied her college roommate on a family vacation. When she saw her best friend’s cousin, Oriana’s world shifted. The only problem was that Chase treated her like one of the family members—always kind, always sweet, but never as passionately as she would hope. Then on the night of Chase’s surprise birthday party Oriana watched the life of the man she cared about shatter into a million pieces. As faithful as always, she was around to help him pull the tattered edges back together.
One thing led to another and Oriana soon discovered that Chase was battling the same sexual beast that plagued her to keep from pulling her into his arms at every turn. But can this be real? Is Chase just using her to fill a temporary void in his life and mask the hurt?
It is said that time heals all wounds, but can it give you the love of your life?
The second story in Lingerie Series Night Night
Kalan Henderson has had her eyes set on Aaren Reston for the last two years. When the sexy, brown-haired hunk with light green eyes became the newest senior executive at her job she knew she had to have him. However, over the years he hasn’t given her an ounce of encouragement that he’d be receptive to the idea of something in the recreational department between them. That is until she’s selected to work extra hours with him on an assignment.
Six weeks of discovering Aaren is more than a hot body and pretty face has just made Kalan lust after him even more. Then one night everything changed and the after hour’s heat exploded to a level she could never have imagined. But soon Kalan discovers that the man of her dreams may have secrets that will wreck the fantasy of what they could have in an instant.
Up next in Lingerie Series Exclusive Pleasure
Marisa Yasmine Martinez is feeling a little down in the dumps as all her friends and family are getting married when she can’t find an available man for a hundred miles. However, when a last minute errand for a friend has Marisa retrieving a packet from Pleasurable Getaways agency, she runs into her brother’s best friend. One glance at his coal black hair and smoky gray eyes reminds her just what she has desired all these years, him.
Alec Milano has two days to find the perfect woman to take on his family’s annual camping trip. There’s no way he can take the wild women he’s used to dating. Every year, he’s inundated with his family carting single women to the event playing matchmaker. During the months leading up to the trip, he has them convinced that he’s dating someone special. He knows that if he shows up empty handed he will never hear the end of it. In walks Marisa, his best friend’s younger sister, a curvaceous beauty too tempting for her own good.
The two of them soon find themselves in a weekend adventure that is blazing hotter than the campfire. But is it strong enough to last when opposition arises?
About the Author
I've been penning erotic tales since 2006, on the hedonistic side of the romance genre. However, I've been writing romance under a different pen for a while. I'm eclectic by nature.
I'm married to my best friend. A guy that makes me laugh 'til I can't breathe and one who steals my breath every time he walks into a room. I believe in happily ever after like the rising of the sun depended on it.
http://yvettehines.com
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