Page 86 of Without Pride and Prejudice

A shiver that had nothing to do with how chilled his hands were went through me. My lips met his, and he immediately deepened the kiss, urgently twisting his tongue with mine. He pressed me against the nearest wall, and I dropped the bag and rose so that I could run my hands through his hair as his warm lips trailed kisses down my neck. I gasped when he worked his way back up and began to nuzzle my ear. It was then I remembered what his mother had said. “We need to take this into the library before your mum hears us. And I want to give you my gift before we go any further.”

“This is all the gift I need.” His fingers pressed into my bare back while he nipped my earlobe.

I held on to him, feeling woozy. So woozy. “Fitz,” I whispered, breathless. “Let’s go to the library.”

“As you wish.” He swept me up into his arms, managing to grab the gift bag too. The poor rose got left in the dust. Wild, passionate kissing ensued on our trek to the library. When we crossed the threshold, Fitz only came up for air because I’d filled the library with hundreds of paper hearts and balloons.

Fitz chuckled and shook his head.

“It kind of adds something to the broody vibes you have going on in here.”

He walked us over to the brick fireplace, where a fire was crackling nicely. I’d set a picnic blanket out in front of it. A basket full of food waited for us, but I had a feeling our food was going to get cold.

Fitz gently set me on the blanket. He shed his coat and kicked off his shoes before he joined me. He started unbuttoning his shirt.

I placed my hand over his furiously working ones. “Hold, please.” I smiled.

He groaned but stopped, his hungry eyes roving over me.

“I promise the wait will be worth it.”

“Of that I have no doubt.” His sexy smile begged me to hurry.

I reached for the bag next to me and handed it to him.

“Did you get my letter this morning?” he asked before looking in the bag.

“Uh-huh.” I felt all warm and fuzzy inside just thinking of it. As simple as it was, it was the perfect Valentine’s Day gift for me. “I was going to text or call you about it, but I didn’t want to interrupt any of your classes with my sexy words.”

“Feel free to interrupt me anytime.”

I smiled, knowing he meant that. “Open your gift.”

He reached in and pulled out the ring first. I’d enclosed the other gift in a box. He pulled out the ring and stared blankly at it, alarmed. “Did my mother die?”

“No,” I laughed. “But I about died when she gave it to me just moments ago. By the way, she thinks we are nauseatingly in love.”

Fitz chuckled. “Why did she give it to you?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe she kind of likes me, or else she’s cursed it.”

Fitz stared at the ring. “I knew if anyone could get to her, it would be you.”

“Well, I don’t know about that, but today gave me some hope.”

“Would you wear my grandmother’s ring? It would mean a lot to me. To her. She would have loved you. She said I shouldonly give this ring to the woman who would love me not only on the good days, but on the worst days as well.”

“I love that.” I held out my hands and let Fitz switch the ring he had given me to my right hand before he slipped his grandmother’s ring on my left ring finger. It was a little big, but I held up my hand and admired it. “It’s beautiful. I’m honored to wear it.”

Fitz kissed my hand. He was such a romantic.

“There’s one more gift for you. Well, for us.” I grinned.

“Hmm.” Fitz reached into the bag and pulled out the slender rectangular box. “This isn’t a trip to Pride and Prejudice Park, is it?” he teased.

“No,” I sang. “But you have to admit, we might not be here if it weren’t for that place.”

“Rubbish. I planned to have you regardless.”

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