Page 94 of Endurance
I give her the side-eye and mumble, “I’m not shouting.”
Her watery gaze turns accusatory. “You know, Tanner, that’s a really fucking awful thing to say. Those aren’t casual words! When you say those words to a woman, you should mean them because she’s going to remember them forever. You just ruined them for me because you’re completely talking out of your arse right now!”
FLASH.
“I’m not talking out of my arse, Belle,” I reply slowly, cupping the nape of her neck and pressing my forehead to hers. “When you don’t know what to do, you should sit still. I know exactly what I want to do…I want to marry you. Soon. I don’t want to wait. I want to embrace our fucking crazy and do what feels right. Love is an action. You either jump or fall. Jump with me, Belle. Marry me.”
“I can’t believe you.” Her eyes are wide and searching my face, her disbelief morphing into shock. “I really can’t believe you. You’re actually serious?”
“Completely serious.” I pause, licking my lips and pinning her gaze with mine. “Say yes.”
The motion of her cheekbones turning up into a smile forces tears to fall down her face. She covers her eyes and laughs maniacally before replying, “Yes.”
My jaw drops. “Yes?”
“Yes!”
FLASH.
She laughs as I crash into her like a wrecking ball, brushing my lips all over her face. “I love you,” I mutter. “God, I love you.”
She giggles and tugs on my hair so she can look me in the eyes and reply, “I love you, too.”
We step out of the photo booth to find Indie, Camden, Booker, and several of the Bethnal team members hovering around the display screen that shows the pictures in progress. I glance over and see a shot of Tanner and me kissing and wince.
“Shiiiiit,” I groan, realising they all witnessed the entire exchange that just happened.
Tanner takes in the screen and then waggles his brows at me. “That one’s a keeper. We could make porn I think.”
His sexy half-smirk makes me chortle as he continues pulling me by the hand past everyone, desperate to get us out of this fishbowl and up to our hotel room. Indie notices us and steps in front of me.
“Everything okay?” she asks.
Her concerned face tells me she has no idea what’s truly happened inside that crazy box. And perhaps that’s okay for now. Perhaps for now, Tanner and I live in this crazy moment and enjoy it. Bask in it and not let anyone else in quite yet.
Tanner and I look at each other and communicate without words.
“We’re great,” I answer. “Really great. I’m going to go talk to Dr. Miller quickly and see if I can leave. I’ll call you tomorrow?”
She nods and half smiles, unease tensing in her shoulders. Tanner begins dragging me away again, but I slip out from his grasp and move back to Indie for a hug.
A hug.
Indie and I aren’t huggers. I can probably count on one hand the number of times we’ve actually hugged and over half were because we were pissed.
She giggles at my unexpected attack and I pull back, smiling down on her. “I love you.”
She shoots me a confused sort of grin. “I love you, too.”
“Talk later!” I brush a kiss on her cheek and run to catch up with Tanner, like a newlywed couple rushing off to their honeymoon suite.
Because that’s exactly what it feels like we’re doing.
The London city lights cast an erotic glow into the Shangri-La hotel suite, bathing both Tanner and me in a luscious blue hue. My breath is heavy as I stand in front of the window, looking out at the River Thames and a city full of life.
But all I can focus on is the man behind me.
Need pools in my belly as I feel the heat of his bare chest skim along the back of my dress. I was only able to get his shirt off before he took over and demanded to let him undress me.
