Page 103 of Entangled

He pauses. “That sounds serious.”

My pause drags on as I briefly consider spilling the news to him, but… he would tell the guys because they don’t keep secrets from each other and Mac is such an instigator he would totally tattle to Yvie.

“It is,” I finally answer him.

“Cara… have you gone and fallen in love on me?”

“Maybe.” I smile, feeling Coop come up behind me. He sits down at my back and cages me in with his legs, his arms wrapping around my waist, fingers moving to caress the tattoo under my left breast. The fresh ink on his left arm standing out in contrast where it winds up around his forearm.

“Well then you definitely must bring him. We’ll take him off your hands for a night and show him the town.”

“No way, Stefano.” Coop begins to kiss a path up my neck and I tilt my head to give him better access. “I know what you mean when you say you’re going to show someone the town and it usually ends with bodily injury, and not yours. I remember my prom date, thank you very much.”

“Do you have such little faith in me?”

“No, I would just prefer to still have a h—” Husband in the morning. I cut myself off, but Stef knows me too well and the silence over the phone fills with his suspicion.

“Cara…”

“Gotta go, Stef! See you soon. Bye!” I quickly end the call, pressing the button about a million times until my phone returns to the home screen.

Coop chuckles against my neck. “I can handle myself, Princess. In case you hadn’t noticed.”

“Yes, but three against one is not a fair fight.” I turn my head to meet his happy, sleep-soaked eyes. “What are you doing up?”

“You left the bed.” He drops a kiss to my lips. “I couldn’t sleep.” His lips twitch up at the corners, dark eyes dancing. “Plus, I have a surprise for you.”

I pop up, practically knocking him back with the move. “Well why didn’t you start with that!” I wave my hand hurriedly for him to do the same. “Don’t let me stop you.”

He laughs softly as he stands and grabs my hand. “I figured you were a surprise kind of girl.”

“Point me to a girl who’s not and I’ll point you to a liar,” I tell him, dragging him along as I skip toward the house.

I bounce on the balls of my feet when we make it in the house, clapping my hands excitedly as he goes over to where he dropped his bag by the desk last night. Reaching inside, he pulls out a small black velvet box and I still.

“I know you said you didn’t need a ring,” he says, coming to stand in front of me, hooded eyes down as he fidgets with the box in his hand in a way that’s so unlike him. “But I figured this way, if you feel like it… it’s there.”

He cracks open the box and my breath stalls at the sight of the most beautiful ring I’ve ever seen. It’s gold, curling around from the bottom with two stones almost meeting at the top. A round, black diamond sits slightly below a larger, pear-shaped diamond sparkling with brilliance. The barest hint of space between them. I’m rendered speechless at the sight of the unusual ring.

“It’s called a Toi et Moi.” He clears his throat. “It means you and me and I figured Delacroix is obviously French so… I don’t know. I was just browsing on my laptop to kill time at the airport and when I saw it, it made me think of us, the dark and the light of the stars…”

I blink down at the sparkles and open my mouth, trying to form words.

“If you don’t like it, I can—”

“Don’t you dare.” I reach out and snag the ring from his hand. “I love it. It’s perfect.” I twist the box this way and that, admiring the facets of the stones, and he chuckles.

“It’s us.”

His voice drags my eyes up to his, and my heart softens at the soft reverence in his gaze. “It’s us,” I echo.

He takes the box from my hand and gently pulls the ring from it. Reaching down, he pockets the box as he brings my left hand up and slides the ring onto my finger. He barely has time to mutter, “It’s perfect,” before I launch myself at him.

My arms wrap around his neck as I jump, knowing he’ll catch me, and I wind my legs behind his back as his hands immediately come up to cup my ass. I kiss him deeply, hungrily, as he walks us over to the bed and lays us down, not breaking our contact as he settles against me. I love the feel of him on me, the weight of him pressing against me in all the right places. Reaching down, I tug at the bottom of his shirt and he lifts his lips from mine long enough for me to yank it over his head, my eyes devouring that magnificent body of his.

He drops his mouth back to mine, tugging my bottom lip through his teeth and sliding his hand down to the strings on the side of my bikini bottoms, playfully pulling at them. I lift my hips in return, rolling them against his hard cock, impatient to have him inside of me. He lifts his lips from mine with a dark laugh and I take advantage of the opportunity to pull my tank top over my head, putting us skin to skin. I dip my head back and arch like the cat he accused me of being, rubbing my nipples against his chest, the friction causing a sigh of pleasure to escape my lips.

Sliding my hands up to his head, I tug on his hair as he grinds into me, my pussy so drenched already that my bikini bottoms might as well have been in the water earlier. When I bring my eyes back to his face, they land on the deep bags under his eyes, giving me pause. I reach up, running my thumb under one gently as he finally pulls that string loose, causing my bottoms to fall open to him. He looks down, cupping my pussy, and as much as I want to shove it aside, I can’t let go of the question nagging at my brain. Knowing that I’ll only be half here until it’s answered.

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