“So what does this mean exactly?” I inched out, my heart drumming faster.
He kept his eyes on mine and walked up to me slowly, moving forward and pushing me back. I gasped, hitting a stone column.
With amusement in his eyes, he leaned in, whispering, “Turn around.”
I hesitated, wondering what he was up to, but…
I never backed away from a challenge.
Turning around slowly, I let him take my hands and plant them on the column in front of me. Then he snaked a hand around my waist and covered my back with his chest, nuzzling my neck with his lips. I wasn’t cold anymore.
“It means that I want to keep playing,” he said, his voice deep and filled with heat. “It means that until the house is done and we’re ready to settle back here, my apartment is your apartment, my bed is yours, and my eyes are only on you.”
He kissed my neck, his hot lips sending shivers across my body.
“It means that I’m going to do my best to piss you off every chance I get, because there’s nothing hotter than you when you’re mad.” I could hear the grin in his voice.
He dipped his hand down to the inside of my thigh. “And then I’m going to do my best to remind you of how nice I am, so you can’t stop thinking about me when we’re not together.”
I sucked in a breath, feeling his fingers inch up my thigh, already making me throb.
“It means that you’re going to finish school, but I respectfully request that, when you come home, you do me before your homework,” he continued, brushing his thumb over my clit through my panties. “And it means that you’re going to have to constantly look over your shoulder for what I have up my sleeve next, because I’ll always be coming for you.”
And then his other fist came up, and I watched wide-eyed as he uncurled his fingers and a glint of sparkle appeared in front of me. I stopped breathing as he slid the ring on my left hand and continued to whisper in my ear, “And you’re going to want every second of it, because I know what you like, Rika, and I can’t live without you.”
I shook, my eyes pooling with tears as he wrapped both arms around me and held on for dear life.
“I love you,” he breathed out in my neck.
Oh, my God. I pulled my hand down, holding it with my right, as I looked at the ring.
A flood of heat hit my chest, and I stopped breathing. I know this ring.
It was a platinum band with an array of diamonds, looking almost like a snowflake. One stone sat in the middle, surrounded by ten more, with yet another circle of about 20 diamonds on the outside.
“This is one of the rings I took on Devil’s Night,” I said, my voice shaking as I looked up at him. “I thought you had returned everything.”
“I did.” He nodded. “But this one I bought.”
“Why?”
Why would he buy a ring for someone he hated? It would have been after the videos exploded online, so it didn’t make any sense.
He tightened his arms around me. “I don’t know. Maybe I couldn’t let a piece of that night go.” And then he leaned in whispering in my ear, “Or maybe somewhere down deep I always knew this day would come.”
I smiled, tears streaming down my face. It was perfect. The ring, the house, even the proposal.
He’d promised to piss me off, but he also promised to be good to me and always come for me.
But I had to wonder…would we really be able to do this? Keep up the games? The excitement? The passion?
“People don’t live like we do, Michael.” I turned my head to look at him again. “They go to movies. They cuddle in front of fires…”
“I’ll fuck you in front of a fire,” he retorted, spinning me around and smirking as I laughed.
But then he came in and leaned his lips into my forehead, speaking quietly. “Other people don’t matter to us, Rika. We don’t let their rules contain us. What we can and can’t do is irrelevant. Who’s going to stop us?”
I wrapped my arms around his neck, elation sweeping over me as I tilted my head back, staring up at the high ceiling.
“What?” he asked.
I inhaled a deep breath, my veins charged with excitement. “Our house,” I mused. “I can’t believe this is ours.” And then I met his eyes. “I love you.”
He grabbed my face and kissed me, his warmth spreading down my body. “I love you, too,” he told me. “So is that a yes then?”
I nodded. “Yes.” But then I popped my eyes wide and pulled away. “The catacombs!” I blurted out. “They’re not filling them in, are they?”
He laughed. “No. They’ll stay accessible.”
I dropped my arms and walked for the door, slipping off my coat and hanging it over the scaffolding.
“Hey, what are you doing?” he asked.
I spun around, cocking my head coyly. “You forgot to get on one knee.”
He snorted. “Well, it’s a little too late, Rika. I already proposed.”
“You can still get on your knees.” And I crooked a finger, turning back around.