The Forbidden Twin(29)

"When I said no earlier," he said, following her, "I meant I wasn't interested in keeping the status quo."

She continued toward the door.

"What I am interested in," he said, "is a full-time, publicly acknowledged relationship."

Her steps slowed.

"I love you, Scarlet."

She stopped and turned around, her gaze meeting his, her expression one  of guarded surprise. He caught up with her and slipped his arms around  her, but still she didn't speak.

"This is the part where you say you love me, too." His heart thudded. He  was taking a leap of faith, based on everything he'd seen in her eyes  this past month, heard in her voice, felt in her touch. Still, he  wouldn't know until she said-

"I fell in love with you a year ago," she said, her voice just a whisper, as if she were afraid to admit it.

"A year ago? But-"

She put a hand over his mouth. "As it turns out, you're not the man I thought I fell in love with."

A year ago. She fell in love with me a year ago. The unbelievable words  kept repeating in his head. Then it hit him that she was speaking in the  past tense. "Meaning what?" he asked.

She toyed with his lapels. "You were an ideal, and I loved the ideal  without really knowing the man. I hadn't seen below the surface until  this month. Now you're real. And now my love is real, too."

The world righted itself. He pulled her closer, needing to hold her,  needing her arms around him, squeezing tight. She pressed her face  against his neck.

"Do you want to know when I started falling in love with you?" he asked,  loving the feel of her breath against his skin, warm and unsteady,  hinting at intense emotions. "At the country club. In the conference  room. When you stopped me from making love with you on the table. That  hadn't been my goal when I got you in there. All I wanted was a kiss,  but things escalated. You do that to me."

He stroked her hair, enjoying the soft sound of pleasure she made as she  snuggled closer. "There is much more to you than I'd guessed, and I  want to know it all. I want you."

He kissed her, long and lingeringly, putting everything into the kiss  that he felt, feeling everything back from her. Then he framed her face  with his hands, keeping her close.

"I want you to marry me, Scarlet. Will you marry me?"

She smiled; her eyes welled. "Yes," she said, then repeated it in a  stronger voice. "Although one little problem does stand in the way.  Summer wants to have a big, splashy wedding. Those take a while to  arrange."

"What do Summer's plans have to do with us?"

"She'd like to have a double wedding."

It didn't surprise him. The twin bond was a powerful force. It did  surprise him that they'd discussed it already. "And you? What would you  like?"

"I want to marry you, period."

"But you'd like to do the spectacle with your sister. The Cinderella thing."

"I promise it won't be a three-ring circus. It'll be tasteful and classy and-"

He kissed her, this time without restraint and with the intent of getting her to think about something else-him. Them. Now.

He lifted her into his arms and carried her to his bedroom, as he'd done  the first night she'd knocked on his door. In his pocket was the ring,  nothing as simple as a diamond. She was a complex woman who needed a  different kind of engagement ring, something untraditional, something  with flair.                       
       
           



       

He'd chosen it yesterday, had tried not to think about what he would do  if she said no. He would've fought for her, though. Fought hard.

He wouldn't give her the ring tonight. Tonight he would give her  himself, and let himself just enjoy her. Tomorrow, though, he would find  a creative way to present the ring to her. His magna cum laude  graduation from Woo U wouldn't go to waste.

"I love you," she said, reaching for him.

There was so much yet to say and do and discover. But it started and  ended with one truth. "I love you, too," he said. "Forever."