Page 41 of Black Jack (Advantage Play 5)

“Can I make it up to you? Please?”

Please. I’m used to men begging.

But it’s different with him.

Ignoring how easily he seems to make me cave whenever he’s around, I mutter, “And how do you think you can do that?”

“Well, since I keep batting a thousand at figuring out your guilty pleasures, maybe we could try getting to know each other better so I actually stand a chance of finding them. What do you say?”

I dig my teeth into my lower lip as the warmth from his touch slowly seeps into my skin.

“Please?” he begs again.

Damn his blue eyes.

Damn his sexy smile.

And his warm grip on my arm.

And the way his apologies sound sincere instead of fabricated to get what he wants.

With a thick swallow, I shake my head and rasp, “We need to choose a date.”

His brows furrow. “A date?”

“For the wedding.”

“Oh.” Letting go of me, he runs his hands through his sandy blond hair. “Okay, sure. What date would you like?”

“It needs to be soon.”

“Agreed.”

“If your boss is demanding an invitation, then we need to find a church, a reception center, a caterer…everything. And despite what you may think, a wedding isn’t exactly easy to throw together in a short amount of time like my brother expects. You’re lucky I’m good at this kind of shit.”

“Is that what you want?” he murmurs.

My icy reservations melt a bit more when his sincerity shines back at me through his words. What I want? Since when does it matter what I want? I want to laugh at the audacity of such a statement, but I hold it back.

“I already told you what I wanted,” I answer, holding his gaze. “I want to elope.”

“Then let’s elope.”

“B-but I––”

He can’t be serious.

Collecting myself as quickly as I can, I try again. ”What about your boss?”

With a shrug, he replies, “I’ll figure it out.”

“You’ll figure it out?”

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

“Because there’s two people in this marriage, Bianca. And even though I keep screwing up the engagement part, I really do want to make you happy when it comes to the actual marriage portion.”