He sounded disgruntled, and I had to smile. “Do you think you can let me up?”
His grip on my wrists became gentler, and he finally pulled me into a sitting position as he grumbled, “I’ll release you, but I won’t let you go.”
He got a firm grip around my waist and tugged me between his legs.
I sighed as I felt the warmth of his body against my back. “I want to stay with you, but I’m afraid of what Britney will do. I didn’t want to go, Trace.”
“You’re not going, and I don’t give a flying fuck what Britney does. She’s out of here. I’ll apologize to Dane for losing him his fuck buddy, but I need you more than he needs her.”
I sat there for a moment, stunned. It had to be the first time in his life that Trace had thought about his own needs first, and I told him so.
“I have to this time,” he admitted. “I wouldn’t be worth a damn if you leave me.”
I kicked off my shoes and let them fall to the floor, then I turned, positioning myself on my knees and wrapped my arms around his bare shoulders. “I love you. I thought my heart was going to break,” I mumbled tearfully.
“I would have put it back together again, baby,” Trace said huskily as he nuzzled my ear. “There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you.”
I clung to him as my tears fell again, landing on his bare skin as I hugged him to me. There was nothing I wouldn’t do for him, either. I was convinced that he really didn’t care if my past got out to the public. “It will get ugly if she talks,” I warned, my fear still present even though I was completely convinced that he loved me. I really didn’t want my past to cause him any pain in the future. It would kill me if he got hurt because of me.
“Don’t care,” Trace grunted. “The only thing that would hurt me is if you leave.”
I crumbled as he spoke his candid response, and I was grateful to whatever fate had brought this amazing man into my life, the only person who’d ever completely believed in me.
I pulled back as his arm reached out to the bedside table and he snatched something from his nightstand. “You forgot this,” he said in a slightly annoyed voice.
He had his mother’s ring.
“I couldn’t take that,” I stammered, surprised that he would ever think I wouldn’t have given it back.
He lifted my left hand and slid the beautiful ring back on my finger. “Take it now, then. I want you to marry me, Eva. Not pretend, but for real. Put me out of my misery and tell me that you’ll be my wife, that you’ll wear this forever.”
I looked from my hand to his face, not sure if I was elated or terrified. Then, because I couldn’t stop myself, I started to cry.
Chapter Eighteen
Eva
The thought of having Trace in my life forever as my best friend, my lover, and my husband was overwhelming.
Things like this don’t happen to women like me.
I hugged him again, whimpering against his neck.
“Hell, is the thought of marrying me that depressing?” Trace asked, as he wrapped his arms around me tightly.
“No,” I answered with a cough that sounded more like a sob. “It’s amazing. But for a woman like me, it’s pretty much a fantasy to have the man of my dreams ask me to marry him.”
“I’m an asshole, Eva. But if you agree to put up with me, you’ll make me the happiest asshole in the world.”
I couldn’t help it. I laughed. Trace might be arrogant, bossy and determined to have his way when he thought he was right, but his positive qualities outweighed those things by a ton. Besides, sometimes I actually liked his bossiness. When I didn’t, we were bound to argue, but none of that mattered. We loved each other, so we’d always compromise somehow.
“You are a little bit bossy,” I mused aloud.
“Agreed,” he admitted readily.
“And I don’t like it when you do what you think is right for me without asking me.”
“I won’t,” he vowed.
My heart melted, and I couldn’t tease him anymore. “But you’re my Prince Charming, and you rescued me when I didn’t want to keep trying anymore,” I admitted tearfully. “You believed in me, and made me feel like a valuable person again. Pretty soon, I started to believe that I was, too. I have work to do if I’m going to find myself again and leave my past behind, but I know I want to do that with you. I’m not sure what I’m going to do with my life, but I know where I belong now.”
“Where?” he asked nervously.
“With you,” I breathed softly into his ear. “Always with you if you really want me.”