after sex.”
“You made my first time special,” she said quietly. “It was perfect. You were perfect.”
He kissed the top of her head. “I’m glad.”
She yawned against his chest and cuddled deeper into his hold.
“Go to sleep,” he murmured. “I want you to sleep here tonight.”
Her eyes were incredibly heavy, and she was already drifting off when his directive registered in her consciousness.
“Want to sleep here, too,” she mumbled.
His fingers stilled in her hair and then his hands wandered down her body, bold and possessive. “That’s good, Ash, because from now on, you’ll sleep every night in my bed.”
Three
Devon woke to the odd sensation of a female body wrapped around him. Not just wrapped but completely and utterly surrounding him.
Ashley was draped across him, her legs tangled with his, her breasts flattened against his chest, her arm thrown across his body and her face burrowed into his neck.
He … liked it.
He lay there a long while watching the soft rise and fall of her body as she slept soundly across him. She was really quite beautiful in an unsophisticated, effervescent way. She lit up a room when she walked in. You could always pick her out of a crowd. She was extremely … natural. Perhaps a bit too exuberant and unrestrained but in time with the proper guidance, she’d be an excellent wife and mother.
He ran the tips of his finger lightly up her arm. She was pale. Not so pale she looked unhealthy, but it was obvious she wasn’t a sun bunny, nor did she indulge in salon tanning. Perhaps what he liked most about her was that she looked the same no matter when he saw her. Though she wore makeup, she didn’t wear so much that she was transformed into someone completely different when they went out.
Glossy lips and a touch of coal to already long, lush lashes seemed to be all she did, but then he was hardly an expert on women’s gunk.
But she didn’t seem fake. At least not that he could tell. Yet. Who knew what the future would bring. He liked to think she wasn’t an accomplice in this ridiculous plan of her father’s even when he knew it was best for all parties involved to know the entire story from the start.
The selfish bastard in him liked the idea that she felt affection for him, free of machinations. If her words from the night before weren’t merely a result of being overwhelmed in the moment, affection was perhaps the wrong term. She’d said she loved him.
It both complicated the matter and gave him a certain amount of satisfaction.
While he may approach the marriage as a matter of necessity, convenience and a chance at a successful business venture, the idea that she would be coming into the marriage for the same reasons bothered him immensely.
It made him a flaming hypocrite but he was happy for her to want him because she desired him and yes, even loved him.
First, however, he had to get the preliminaries out of the way. One of which was making their upcoming nuptials official. She didn’t know it yet, but she would become Mrs. Devon Carter.
He carefully extricated himself from the tangle of arms and legs, but he needn’t have worried because she slept soundly, only wrinkling her nose and mumbling something in her sleep when he slipped away completely.
He pulled on his robe and glanced back at the bed. For a moment he was transfixed by the image she presented. The sun streamed through the window across the room and bathed her in its warm glow.
Her blond hair was tousled and spread out over his pillow. One arm shielded most of her breasts from view, but there, just below her elbow, one nipple peeked out. The sheet slid to just over her buttocks but bared the dimple just below the small of her back.
She was indeed beautiful. And now she was his.
He dug into the pocket of the jacket he’d discarded the night before to retrieve the box with the ring in it and then quietly left the room. When she awoke, he’d put into place the next part of his carefully orchestrated plan.
Ashley stirred and stretched lazily, blinking when the sun momentarily blinded her. She kept her eyes shut for a moment, simply enjoying the warmth and comfort of the sumptuous bed. Devon’s bed.
She sighed in contentment. As virginal deflowering went, that had to top the list of all-time most awesome. How could it possibly have been any better? A wonderful night. Romantic dinner for two. Devon staring at her with those gorgeous eyes and murmuring that she would now be his. Oh, yeah, perfect.
Then she realized that he was no longer in bed with her and she opened her eyes with a frown. Only to see him standing just across the room. Staring at her.
He was clad in a robe, though it dangled loosely, open just enough that she could see his bare chest. He was leaning against the doorway to the bathroom and he was simply watching her. For some reason that sent a giddy thrill up her spine.
Then a flash of color caught her eye and she glanced downward to see a lush red rose lying on the sheet next to her. But it was the tiny card propped next to a dazzling, truly spectacular diamond ring that took her breath away.
Blood rushed to her head and she stared openmouthed at the items before her. She pushed to her elbow and reached for the ring, hands shaking so badly that she was clumsy, nearly dropping the small velvet box where the ring rested.
Then she glanced at the note again, sure she’d misunderstood. But no, there it was. In his neat, distinctive scrawl.
Will you marry me?
“Oh, God,” she croaked out.
She looked at the ring, looked at the note and then back up to him, almost afraid that he’d be gone and that she’d imagined this whole thing.
But he was still there, an indulgent smile carving those handsome features.
“Really?” she whispered.
He nodded and smiled more broadly. “Really.”
She dropped the rose, the ring, the note—everything—and flew out of bed, across the room, and launched herself into his arms.
He stepped back and laughed as she kissed his face, his brow, his cheek and then his lips. “Yes, oh, yes! Oh, my God, Devon, yes!”
He made a grab for her behind before she could slide down him and land on the floor. Then he hoisted her up so they were eye level. “You know it’s customary to actually put the ring on.”
She glanced down at her hand and then over her shoulder to the bed. “Oh, my God! Where is it?”
Shaking his head, he carried her over to the bed then set her on the edge while he reached behind her.
A moment later, he took her hand and slid the diamond onto her ring finger. She sucked in her breath as the sun caught the stone and it sparkled brilliantly in the light.
“Oh,
