Page 118 of Cavern of Silence

His lips tease my neck, sending throbbing zings of pleasure to every nerve. He nibbles on my lobe and murmurs, "I want to marry you, Julieta."

I freeze, and my heart beats harder for an entirely new reason.

Did he just say...?

I slowly turn my head.

His eyes are full of heat and love. "I do. I want you to be my wife. As soon as we get wherever we're going, I want to marry you and know you're mine forever. No matter what happens, I'll take care of you, but I want you with me always."

He becomes blurry from my tears, and when I blink, they fall. "Are you... are you really asking me to marry you?"

He lightly kisses me. "Yes. Will you marry me?"

I don't have to think about it. "Yes." I kiss him, and as our kiss deepens, he begins thrusting inside me again.

I never believed in fairy tales or second chances for happiness. I thought I would live the rest of my life and die alone, with no one. A man like Ryker never even crossed my radar.

But since the moment he rescued me, all I want is him. And the need I have to be his has only grown. It's like a fire that you can't put out. It burns hot and never cools. And now he wants to give his vow to me.

He pounds harder into me, and I spiral as he murmurs, "Sorry, I don't have a ring for you yet."

"I...oh God... I don't need...oh...a ring...oh God!"

"That's it, baby," he growls and ferociously pumps his seed into my shaking body.

I collapse on my elbows, and he hovers over me with his chest pushing into my spine.

I flip and tighten my arms around him. "I get to be your wife?"

He grins. "Yes. But I'm getting you a ring."

"It doesn't matter."

He pecks me. "It does to me. I want the entire world to know you're mine."

There's a knock on the door, and William shouts, "Five minutes until we get to the marina. Dad said to get your passports out and Julieta's disguise on."

Ryker gives me a final kiss, and we put our clothes on. He hands me the blonde wig and a baseball cap.

I go to the mirror and hide my dark hair under it and then put the hat over it. I turn toward him. "I still look like me, don't I?"

"Yes, but if someone isn't looking for you or knows you, they won't notice anything out of the ordinary."

My stomach suddenly flutters with nerves. "Are we really going to pull this off? We're going to be together, and the Global Leaders aren't going to own me anymore?"

Ryker cups my face. "They don't own you. No one will ever own you. I will die before anyone owns you."

"I don't want you to die."

"You're free, Julieta, and I'll make damn sure it stays that way."

I swallow the lump forming in my throat.

"Baby, why do you look so worried? No one at the marina is looking for you."

"I don't know. I'm just really nervous all of a sudden."

"Don't be. I need you to look confident when we go through immigration, so no one suspects anything. We stick to the truth. We went fishing, caught a ton of fish, swam with a bunch of piggies, and you got engaged to me, since I'm so crazy about you, even though I don't have a ring for you yet." He winks, and my insides turn to Jell-O.