She whispered, “I know.”
Casimir carried her to the couch, cradling her in his arms, and told her, “I almost lost you today.” His arms tightened around her sides, and he whispered, “I want to marry you, now, tonight, but we can’t. But I want to. I am desperate to.”
Rox sat up and shoved him backward. “Are you serious?”
He looked straight at her with those emerald-green eyes of his, not laughing, not joking. “I asked Arthur to fly us to Las Vegas last night.”
“What, the plane didn’t have enough gas in it?”
He smiled a little on the left side of his mouth. “So you would have said yes?”
Her head swirled, shocked and yet it was so right. She didn’t want to just date him like all the other women had. She couldn’t have survived if he had ghosted on her.
“I, well, I don’t know.” She let herself smile back at him, just a little. “You didn’t even ask me to marry you. That would have been pretty presumptuous, just ending up in Vegas and expecting me to marry you without even asking.”
“You know that I’m arrogant as all Hell. I think that’s how you have put it, dozens of times, maybe hundreds of times.”
“You bet your butt, I have.”
He gathered her back into his arms. “You know me too well.”
“Yeah, I do.” She wrapped her arms around him and held on. “And I still haven’t said yes, yet.”
“Duly noted.” He sighed, his muscled body deflating in her arms. “There are some legal hoops to jump through first, anyway.”
Rox could only think of one legal impediment to marriage. “Are you married to somebody else? I didn’t think to ask that.”
Casimir chuckled. “No, I’m not married and never have been. I’ll explain in a minute. I want to make sure we’re properly locked in here. Stay away from the windows.”
A wall of windows and French doors looked out over the ocean and sky. “I’m not sure that’s even possible.”
“I’ll be right back.”
Rox dragged her skirt down and curled up on the living room couch, watching the churning Pacific ocean for any sign of a submarine or a helicopter coming to attack them. She gathered all three cats into a pile on her lap while Casimir paced the hallways and rooms, rattling every window and door to make sure it was locked.
The cats were unsure why Rox was insisting that they all sit on her. Speedbump kept weakly lunging with his bum leg to get away and follow Casimir around the house. Rox had owned cats all of her life and knew just how to grab at the scruff of his neck to keep him on her lap. Speedbump kept jumping just a little just to see if he could get away, but he stayed.
Pirate sighed and swished his fluffy tail, gazing up at her with his single eye, but he seemed resigned to the fact that he was going to be sitting on her lap for a few minutes. She scratched the back of his neck, digging her fingers deeply into his thick fur, and he went limp.
Cash paced through the living room again, opening the door to the garage to check that the garage doors were down and locked, and then setting off for the guest room wing to check those doors and windows.
On his fourth time through, before he could leave again, Rox said, “Casimir, honey, why don’t you sit down here with me for a minute?”
When he glanced at her, he must have realized the futility of checking the doors and windows for a fifth time, so he flopped beside her on the couch and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. The cats wandered away to lie around them. “I almost got you killed today.”
“No, you didn’t. Don’t be silly, Cash.”
“Casimir,” he said.
“Okay, Casimir didn’t almost get me killed, either. Some sniper almost killed both of us, but this wasn’t your fault.”
“I should have had security here.”
“Look, you’ve obviously got quite a bit of money, but most people don’t have hot and cold running security guards. Other than Maxence, evidently.”
“Maxence and I have a lot in common. Right now, I need to call in professional security services.”
“Wow. Mr. Fancy Pants can call in professional security services with just a phone call.”
He looked down at her from the sides of his eyes without turning his head. “When I get done with this, we need to talk.”
“Seriously? That offended you?”
“I’m not offended in the slightest, but we should talk.” He pulled his phone out of his pocket and told it, “Call Ana.”
Rox wanted to tease him that he was calling his sister like he would call his mommy, but he was on the phone. She could do it later.