She lets out a great huff. “How can you be so sure of what I’ll say?”
I capture her gaze as I shift into gear and step on the gas. “Because I’m going to make you an offer you’d be crazy to refuse.”
I’d be crazy to marry a man I haven’t seen in years because I feel I owe him for some long-ago debt.
But, I’ll do it.
I’ll go to the altar, kicking and screaming—figuratively, at least—but go I will. Because it’s the right thing to do.
He helped me, and I’ll pay him back.
However, that doesn’t mean I have to make it easy on him.
When he reaches across the car, his large hand engulfing mine, my insides quiver.
It’s like I’m fifteen all over again, wishing Tyson Masters would ask me on a date.
Yet, here he is, asking me to marry him…but with no love or romance or any illusions of forever in sight.
I bask in the feel of his fingers laced with mine for a few moments before I pull away. “Please don’t do that, Ty.”
He turns into an estate community, slowing as the gate slowly opens to allow us entry. “Do what?”
“Don’t pretend we’re romantically involved. It’s not fair.”
His gaze finds mine a few times, as though he’s working on the right come-back while navigating through the neighborhood of beautiful homes.
He pulls up the drive of a huge stone and brick house. It’s surrounded by a perfectly manicured lawn and flowerbeds that make the little rosebushes outside of his current abode seem sad in comparison.
Ty parks the car, hops out, and jogs around to open my door. Squatting next to the car, he takes my knees and turns me in the seat to face him.
“We’re getting married, JoJo—I mean, Jo. There’s nothing that says we can’t be romantically involved.”
The depths of his eyes pull me in over my head.
If I’m not careful, I’ll drown.
I ignore the softness trying to engulf my heart. “So whose house is this?”
He looks over his shoulder and then back to me. “Ours.”
I gape.
After a few seconds of my speechlessness, he stands and gently pulls me from my seat.
As though the house is drawing me inside, I take a couple of steps around the car door before I stop. “It’s not ours. It can’t be.”
Ty pulls me backward against his solid chest. His arm rests over my collarbone, his hand gently holding my shoulder.
His breath warms my ear as he whispers, “Okay. You’re right. It’s mine at the moment. But…I want it to be ours.”
In a heartbeat he has me off my feet and up in his arms.
I try to wriggle out of his hold. “I can walk. The concrete won’t hurt me.”
Ty tightens his grip. “I’ll put you down inside.”
“This is silly. I’m capable—”
“No one said you weren’t capable. Relax, woman.” He carries me like I weigh nothing. “I went shopping the other day and stocked the bathrooms with tissue and soap and all the stuff, so if you need anything, it’s there.”
The door is unlocked, and he waltzes us right inside.
An expansive entryway with rich hardwood crown molding and heavy baseboards greets us.
“You can put me down now.”
He grins and drops me to my feet. When I try to move, he uses his body to trap me against the closed door.
The combination of his heat, his size, and his scent, all woodsy and masculine, almost overwhelms me. He drops his forehead to rest on mine. “Before we go take a look, I just…I want to…”
With a shake of his head, he licks his lips. The tip of his pinky traces from my temple across my brow, barely touching, so gentle. His mouth brushes mine every bit as softly, a whisper of a touch designed to take me down.
Another swipe of his lips, this time, a bit more firmly, and my knees go weak.
My body trembles as his arm slides around me, pulling me closer. He sucks in my bottom lip, sending a shot of electricity zinging through every muscle. I can’t stop the small moan that comes from the depths of my soul, the little part of me that’s longed for this moment since the last time we kissed.
His tongue slips in for a sweet second. He tastes of mint and madness.
My fingers dig into the well-defined muscles of his shoulders as a slow, deep throb beats in the hidden places I try not to think about too often.
He pulls away but returns for one last, lingering press of his lips to mine, before he takes my hands and leads me through the house.
Walking backward, never turning me loose, he shows me the impressive kitchen and the huge living area. There’s a flex room, a media room, complete with a wall-sized screen, and five upstairs bedrooms.
At the last bedroom, he lets go of my hands and turns in a circle with his arms open wide. “This one is for Caden. I’ll want you to help me get it set up.”