She gave a tight smile. “Get ready for the greatest show on earth.”
His heart flipped over. “Sin, you don’t have to—”
“Yes. I do.” She bit her lip. “Sorry the accommodations are a little tight, but this won’t take long. You want to sit on the side of the tub? Don’t worry. I dried it off.”
She pulled out an alcohol pad and tore it open. “I talked Rex into giving Maria a job. She and the kids are moving to the ranch.”
She looked matter-of-fact but sounded nervous. Concentrating on her, Troy nodded. “That’s good.”
She sat down and allowed her robe to slide open. “Left thigh today. Can’t repeat injection sites too often. I probably seem calm, but I want you to know how I really feel.”
She lifted one of her hands to him. “Touch my palm.”
Troy did. It was damp, sweaty and trembling slightly. He closed his hand around it.
She looked at their entwined hands for a long moment, then brought his to her mouth and kissed it. “Thanks,” she whispered, then released his hand. “I really hate shots. Always have. When I was a little girl, I screamed every time I got a booster shot. So when the doctor told me I would be giving myself injections twice a day for the rest of my life, I asked about other options.” She frowned in distaste. “None of them were good, so before I knew it, I was practicing on oranges. And then on me.” She shot him a warning glance. “It’s still not a dignified sight.”
She swiped the alcohol pad across her thigh and hesitated for a few seconds. Her tension wrapped around his heart like a steel cord. Fear flashed through her eyes, and he wanted to hold her.
“God, I hate this,” she whispered. She plunged the needle into her thigh. Her face wrinkled in a quick slice of pain. “Oh!” Two seconds passed, and she was tossing the syringe into the trash can.
She stood, took a deep breath and smiled sheepishly. “All done.”
Troy stood more slowly. “Why’d you finally let me see?”
“Because you asked,” she told him, her eyes growing suspiciously shiny. “I’ve never had anyone love me the way you did.” She swallowed and seemed to work at keeping her composure. Her voice was unsteady. “Enough to make me love him back. And I guess I wanted you to know that whatever you ask of me, even if it’s hard, I’ll try to give it to you.” She met his gaze, her eyes awash with fear and love.
Troy’s heart was so full, he couldn’t speak. She loved him.
She bit her lip. “I’m getting very nervous, Troy. I just spilled my guts, and you’re not saying anything.”
Swearing, he still couldn’t form words, so he lifted her in his arms and carried her to the bed. He set her down and followed after her.
“You’re still not talk—”
He covered her mouth with his hand. “Give me a minute. I feel like Lazarus coming back from the dead. The last two weeks have been hell.”
She lifted her hands to his face and looked at him in wonder. “I missed you. I hadn’t counted on it, and it really annoyed me.”
Troy felt a rusty chuckle bubble up from his chest. “Annoyed you enough to make you come to Tennessee so I could annoy you some more.”
She smiled. “Yes.”
He thought about how she’d finally let him watch her give herself an injection. It was crazy, but sharing that moment of vulnerability with her had felt almost as intimate as making love. He pushed open her robe and lowered his head to press a kiss to her thigh. He felt her fingers thread through his hair, and he closed his eyes for just a second.
“You said you’d give me anything I asked for,” he said, looking up at her.
She met his gaze straight on. “Yes.”
“I want to know all your secrets.”
Her eyes widened. “Okay. But I might not know all of them myself.”
“That’s okay,” he told her, feeling his gut tighten again. “I want your body next to mine every night and every morning.”
She stared at him. “Yes.”
He stared back at her, his heart hammering against his rib cage. “I can’t get enough of you. Can’t get close enough. I want you so much, it scares the hell out of me.”
Her eyes filled with tears again. “I feel the same way, Troy. All you have to do is ask.”
“I want to belong to you. I want you to belong to me.”
She nodded, and he couldn’t believe it.
“I want you to marry me.”
“Yes,” she said without hesitation.
He’d expected a long pause, an I’ll-think-about-it, or a thank-you-but— “Again,” he said, because his heart and his ears could hardly take it in. “Again.”