Page 44 of Personal Escort

“Don’t take it back.” I shake my head. “Not the last part.”

“All on me?”

“No, before that.” I press the cotton to my cheeks, to the corner of my eyes, then take a deep breath and wiggle my fingers between us, finding his hands as I blink up at him. “Did you mean it? About…”

“Loving you?” He gives me a lopsided grin. “Yeah.”

“When…How…Why?”

“Over sushi. Probably before the kiss, but that definitely helped solidify some things. In hindsight, probably since you were barely legal and wicked smart.”

“Toby!”

His grin gets broader. “Don’t hate me for that. I never fantasized about you naked until after we kissed. Definitely legal, then.”

“Last night wasn’t just a one-time thing?”

“I sure as hell hope not.”

“I don’t know what to say.”

“Say you’ll marry me. Just the fake thing you’ve already set up. Let’s tell your family we eloped, because we’re crazy, and crazy about each other, and see where things go from there.”

I search his face for any sign of doubt or sympathy or charity. I find none. “Yes.”

“Yes?” He drops his forehead to mine and grins. “Yes.”

“I’ll fake marry you, Tobias Alexander Hunt.”

“That’s a start.” He cups my cheek and kisses me, softly at first, then deeper when I part for him. Butterflies take flight in my chest as his lips move against mine, soft and sweet and oh so knowing.

Click. Flash.

“You must be the happy couple,” calls the photographer from the other end of the platform. “I was wondering where you’d gone.”

Toby pulls me close. “Show time.”

CHAPTERNINETEEN

TOBY

I CAN’T STOP TOUCHING Cara, becauseI can touch her. And every time I do—when I take her hand, brush my fingers up her arm, or hold her close—she gives me the biggest smile.

Apparently, this isn’t the first elopement photo shoot the photographer, Tanya, has done. After she introduces herself, she runs us through the basic shots she likes to get. To get us a good set of thirty pictures, she wants to take a couple hundred, so she encourages us to just do our thing and let her click-click-click without too much interference.

Easier said than done, like this entire thing.

“When did you get here?” Cara asks as she snuggles into my side in the limo, Tanya at the other end of the stretch vehicle.

“Yesterday morning,” I murmur against her temple.

I don’t miss the way she quietly sucks in a breath. “So last night?”

“I was just down the road.”

She ducks her head, her cheeks pink.

“I’ll make up for that this afternoon,” I promise, and a shudder racks through her body. “If you want.”

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