Page 123 of Wicked Intentions (Wicked Games 3)
With his heart in his eyes and a rasp of hope in his voice, Ryan asks very softly, “What do you want?”
I break then. All my careful control, all my pretense of calm, it all falls away with a shudder. “The same thing I’ve wanted since I saw the most beautiful smile I’ve ever seen dazzling the crowd at a pool in St. Croix. You, cowboy. I want you.”
We move at the same moment, arms reaching out for each other, and meet in the center of the room in a hard, breathless embrace. His arms tighten around me, and he’s shaking just as hard as I am. My name on his lips is a prayer, his voice ardent and sweet and so full of love, it splits me wide open. I kiss him, and it feels like homecoming, his unshaven jaw rough in my hands, a thrum of pleasure and happiness like wildfire burning through me.
“Why did you wait so long?” he says hoarsely. “Angel, why did you wait so long to let me know you were alive?”
When I look up at him, his cheeks are wet.
I kiss his face, his soft lips, his closed eyelids. “You needed time to miss me. Did you?”
As I hoped he would, he laughs, a sound that makes my heart leap with joy. He hugs me so tight, I think my ribs might be crushed, but I don’t care.
“I’m not capable of witty repartee right now, so I’ll just say yes.”
I wrap my arms around his waist and nuzzle my face into his neck, breathing him in, feeling like I’ve been living under a thundercloud for a thousand years and the sky has just opened up and bathed me in rays of golden sunlight. “That isn’t the real reason,” I whisper.
He’s serious again in a heartbeat, his smile gone and his brows drawn together.
“I…I did go a little crazy, after I found out about Reynard,” I say haltingly. “I didn’t believe in anything for a while, not hope or trust or love. I didn’t even recognize my own face in the mirror. I thought I might be ruined, or that maybe I was cursed because of the diamond, but then…”
Ryan takes my face in his hands, searching my eyes. “But then what?”
“But then I got proof that I wasn’t.”
He slowly shakes his head. “I don’t understand.”
I draw away from him and go to the bathroom. I return holding a little white stick that shakes in my outstretched hand.
Ryan takes it, looks at it, at the little window on the front, and sinks to his knees on the floor. I crouch down beside him, wind my arms around his shoulders, and close my eyes.
Against my neck, he whispers, “There’s a blue line on this pregnancy test.”
“Yes,” I say, my eyes filling with water. “There’s a very blue line.”
Blue as a dragonfly’s wings, that line.
Blue as my lover’s eyes.
Epilogue
“We’re going to be late,” Mariana says, sifting her fingers through my hair.
“So we’ll be late. I’m busy, woman. And be quiet! With all your yammerin’, I can’t hear the bean.”
Her laugh makes my head bounce. We’re in bed, naked, and I’ve got my ear pressed against the gentle swell of her belly. It’s my new favorite activity, second only to having my lips pressed here. I do a lot of talking to this growing belly, and singing at it, too, so much so that I think Mariana is more tired of having a grown man clinging twenty-four seven to her stomach than of the nausea she’s dealing with about as much of the time.
“Maybe the bean is sleeping. Did you ever think of that? Maybe you’re giving the poor child insomnia with your constant harassment.”
I lift my head and look at my woman, sleepy-eyed against the pillow, her hair mussed and her skin glowing, and try to send her an appropriately outraged glare. I end up smiling instead. My pretend outrage is no match for her beauty.
“Harassment? No. This is called communication.”
“It’s a little one-sided to be accurately described as communication, honey. It’s more like an extended monologue. Very extended.”
The wry twist to her lips makes me chuckle. “Okay,” I say, moving up the bed. “I’ll give the bean a break. For now.”
I kiss Mariana softly, prop my head on one hand, and flatten the other over her bump. It’s not too big yet—she’s only four months along—but it’s irresistible to me. Along with all the other parts of her gorgeous body.
