Page 55 of Company of Thieves
Jack stopped arguing. “Eh?”
I nodded toward Alan. “Trying to have a private talk, here.”
“Inourcabin,” Jack pointed out.
“Yeah, but that’s because you are building a robot in mine. Skedaddle, please.”
“Yes, Jack, let’s give them a little privacy.” Octavia pulled him after her when she left. “I really don’t know where you get this idea about what a captain can and cannot do. ...”
“And close the door,” I yelled when Jack left it ajar.
He muttered something, but did as I asked.
I turned back to Alan. “I really want to kiss you, but can’t until I brush my teeth. Please imagine I’m kissing you now, just before I tell you that I do indeed want you. I love you, Alan. I want to be with you. I want to talk to you. I want to feel you next to me, being all dashing and daring and wonderful. I want to wake up to you snoring in my hair. I want to fall asleep smooshed up against your side. I want you infuriating me, and teasing me, and letting me tease you in return. I want to know every single thought you have, and what you’re feeling and why you are the way you are. I want you to wear things that I recognize, so I can pick you out of a crowd. I want your mustache back.”
“Then marry me,” he said.
I waited a minute, but he didn’t say anything about loving me in return. I shook my head again.
“Why? If you love me, why won’t you marry me? Is it because of my father?” I felt him withdraw, not physically, but emotionally, and immediately I wanted to take him in my arms and reassure him. “It’s because of who I am?”
“No, of course not. I mean, your father is an ass, but you’re not responsible for that. I loveyou, Alan. Exactly who you are.” I eyed the suit. “Or at least, who I thought you were. I really liked your other clothes better, though.”
He was silent for a moment, then shook his head. “I don’t understand what I’ve done that makes you refuse me.”
I was going to remain in silent martyrdom until he figured out that he loved me, too, at which point I would consent to marry him, and we’d live happily ever after, but that just seemed like such a stupid amount of work for nothing in return.
“For the love of the goddess,” I yelled, punching him on his chest. “Stay right here.”
“What?” he asked when I hurried out of the cabin. “You’re leaving me? Now?”
“Stay there!” I said, pointing at him. “I’ll be right back. I have to brush my teeth.”
He was waiting for me when I returned, his hands clasped behind his back in the gesture I’d seen so often while he looked off into the distance, across the scraggy landscape of Tozeur that I realized I missed so much. It gave me a bit of a jolt to see him standing in such a familiar pose but wearing the clothing of a stranger.
“Right, now we can do this.” I took a deep breath when he turned toward me.
“If it’s not my father, it’s the fact that I kept my identity as Alan Dubain from you,” he said, his voice all gravelly around the edges. “You are angry that I did not tell you the truth. I had intended on doing so, but the time never seemed right—”
“I don’t care about that,” I said, waving away the idea that I was angry about something so trivial. “You’re a badass spy. Of course you have different identities.”
“Then for the love of the gods, what is it?” he almost shouted, taking my arms in his hands. “Please tell me so I can fix whatever I’ve done.”
“You’re supposed to tell me you love me, you boob! Everyone knows that! It’s part of the whole proposing thing, not that you had the chance to think about whether or not you wanted to ask me, because my brother was being his usual bossy-pants self and demanding you do so, but still, it’s part of the whole package. Do you?”
“Of course I love you,” he said matter-of-factly.
I pointed a finger at him. “Oh no. You have to mean it. And don’t think you can just say the words and I’ll be happy, because I will know you aren’t being honest.”
“Oh really?” He smiled slowly, pulling me gently against his body, moving my hips against his. “And how are you going to tell, my sweet dove? Will you read the truth in my eyes? Or will you feel it when I touch you? When I kiss you?” His hands slid along my hips, moving upward to cup my breasts. “Will you need the words when I take you again and again until you’re exhausted and panting, lying across me in a boneless heap?”
He moved against me, his entire body wooing me with his words.
“Oh, yes, please,” I said on a breath, welcoming his mouth when it claimed mine, my body doing a shimmy of need and desire and want against his. I loved how our bodies fit together. Until I met Alan, I had never realized that a woman’s body was made of curves and softness and flesh that yielded simply so that it could fit so well against the hard planes of a man.Myman.
“Do you really think I could be anything but helplessly, hopelessly, madly in love with you?” he asked when I let him have his tongue back, his breath hot on the shivery spot behind my ear. He pulled my hips tighter against him. “Is there any doubt in your mind that I want to spend every second of the rest of my life with you?”
“I changed my mind,” I murmured against his lips when he went in for another one of those soul-scorching kisses. “I’ll marry you. Like, today. Right now. I’m going to burn into an ashy blob if we don’t start the honeymoon in the next ten minutes.”
