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“The one I made in the hot springs the other night.”
“You wished you could screw me blind against a wall?” she asked teasingly. “And my wish came true, too.”
Well…maybe if he had thought of that, he might have wished for it. It had been pretty damn amazing. But what he had wished for was much more important. “No. I wanted you to love me and stay with me forever.”
She looked up at him, her luminous eyes filled with tears. “That was my wish. I wanted you to love me so badly.”
Ally’s words echoed in Travis’s heart, and as he looked down at her, he vowed to give her all the love she’d never had in her life until now. She wanted so little when he wanted to give her so damn much. “I do. I wanted you to love me too, baby.” He swiped at the tears rolling down her cheeks, making an even bigger mess of her makeup. He reached into his pocket, grinning as he came to her ripped panties first, but digging deeper for the small box he’d been hoping to give her tonight. He popped open the lid, the glimmering diamond catching every ray of the dim light. “I’m not even going to ask you to marry me again because you already said yes and you can’t take it back,” he grumbled, not willing to even take that chance. He pulled the ring from the box, put the container back in his pocket and took her hand, slipping the diamond onto her finger.
Mine.
Holy hell, she looked good wearing his ring, a physical declaration that she was finally his.
“Travis, I don’t know what to say,” she murmured, her eyes traveling from the ring to Travis’s face. “Damn. All I’ve done is cry all night. I hardly ever cry.” But her eyes were bright with tears.
“Nothing,” Travis answered in a rush. “Don’t say anything. You already said yes.” No backing out now. She’d already agreed to marry him. There was nothing more to say. “Just kiss me,” he suggested hopefully, hoping she wasn’t going to cry again. “I don’t want to see you sad anymore,” he admitted in a ragged voice.
Ally stroked his cheek, and then put her hand behind his neck to give him the sweetest kiss he’d ever had. He savored it, savored an embrace that was full of tenderness and love, a connection that was so much more than passion. She pulled away slowly and whispered huskily, “I’m not sad. I’m overwhelmed.”
“I know. Your house—”
“Not the house,” she interrupted, giving him a small smile. “I’m overwhelmed by you, by us. I’ve never been this happy and it’s almost scary.”
“Then get used to being terrified, because I plan to keep you happy every damn day,” he answered with a devilish grin, knowing exactly how she felt. For a man who had lived in isolation and darkness for so long, being this damn happy was fucking terrifying, but he’d risk it. “You’ll get used to it eventually.”
Ally gave him a watery smile, swiping her hands across her cheeks. “I need to clean up. I know I’m a mess. And I’m curious to see who ended up with Tate for the evening.”
Travis wasn’t curious, but he smirked as he hoped the other man had ended up with the most annoying woman at the charity event. It would serve the bastard right for the way Tate had tortured him about Ally.
He put his arm around her and walked her to the ladies’ room, waiting outside after he ducked into the men’s room to clean himself up, propping a shoulder against the wall as he watched the crowd. The ball was in full swing, the auction apparently over. His eyes searched the dance floor, looking for Tate, but he didn’t see him anywhere.
“I think I look as good as I’m going to get without more makeup,” Ally said in a low, anxious voice behind him.
Travis turned and looked at her. “You’re stunning.” And she was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen.
Ally rolled her eyes at him. “I look like a woman who has been crying all night. My eyes are puffy, my makeup is gone, and my nose is red. I’m not an attractive sight.”
Travis thought she was wrong. He looked down at the ring on her finger and back up at her face, thinking she looked incredible. “You look like you’re mine,” he told her simply, thinking thatthatmade her more than attractive. She looked like a goddamn miracle to him. “Dance with me,” he demanded, reaching his hand out for hers.
She slipped her hand into his with a smile, moving closer to him to whisper, “Don’t forget that my butt is bare. Some barbarian ripped off my panties and I doubt they’re wearable.”
They weren’t. Travis had pretty much shredded them. He checked her skirt, making certain she was covered. “For Christ’s sake, don’t bend over,” he rasped harshly, pulling her into a more secluded area of the dance floor, torn between the desire to hold her in his arms and his territorial need to make sure he didn’t expose her. As he pulled her into his arms, he solved the problem by putting one of his hands on her ass instead of her back, making damn sure her skirt didn’t ride up.
“People are staring,” Ally told him in an amused voice as she followed his lead perfectly.
“I don’t give a shit,” he responded, surprising himself that he really didn’t care. It was a formal occasion, and maybe it wasn’t appropriate to hold her this way, but it felt good. “If they don’t like it, they don’t have to look.”
“Travis Harrison, are you actually willing to do something a little bit scandalous?” Ally teased.
He looked into her deep green eyes, his expression intense. “There’s nothing I wouldn’t do when it comes to you,” he told her in a hoarse rasp, knowing he meant every single word. “Tell me you love me again,” he said insistently, knowing he sounded pathetic, but he didn’t care about that either.
“I love you,” she responded immediately.
Travis felt his cock growing hard just from the tender, sultry tone of her words. Unable to stop himself, he stopped dancing and he kissed her, not holding back anything as he tried to tell her without words how much he treasured that love. Ally loved him exactly as he was, asshole and all. She didn’t care about his wealth, his freaky precognitive dreams, or his less than tactful behavior sometimes. She just cared about…him.
Cameras flashed, and Travis knew he’d see a picture of himself in the society pages tomorrow, ravishing his new fiancée on the dance floor of a charity ball. And he’d actually relish it. He’d waited for Ally for years, and he wanted every man in the world to know she now belonged to him. In fact, he’d happily look for the photo tomorrow because he was pretty damn sure he’d frame it.
One week later, Ally watched Travis’s face as he painfully explained to his family the truth about his precognitive dreams, knowing how difficult it was for him. Her heart ached as she sat on the arm of his chair in his living room, his family all listening intently, as though they could sense how difficult this was for him, too.