Her vision blurred. “But you—we only met three days ago. You hardly know me.”
“I know what I need to know,” he said, smiling. He reached out and touched her cheek, and Lauren didn’t even jerk away like her instincts usually made her. Finn squeezed her fingers, still relaxed and confident. “I know you probably still have questions, but I have no doubts. None. I was waiting for you. Looking for you. I knew it the second I heard your voice and smelled you and looked in your eyes. You’re mine and I’m yours, and we were meant to find each other.”
She definitely couldn’t breathe. Lauren looked down at the ring and where he held her hand. He sounded so certain. So sure. But how couldshebe sure of him? He was too perfect. Everything he said and did was exactly right, at least once they got through the whole misunderstanding about whether he was a bounty hunter.
When Lauren just stared at him, still trying to process the slow-bubbling thoughts, Finn’s smile didn’t slip. “Then how about this. I’ll give you this ring, and when you’re certain of me, you put it on. Does that work? I’m all-in, darlin’. I know you might need more time to be sure of me. That’s fine. I don’t want you to feel rushed.”
“I can’t take this,” she whispered, trying to hand it back. “I’ll lose it. It’s too valuable. I’m not—I shouldn’t be trusted with…”
“Didn’t I tell you what would happen if you started talking down about yourself?” Finn eyed her, then leaned like he needed to see where her ass ended up in case he needed to spank her.
Lauren shivered, trying not to laugh nervously at how much the thought appealed to her and shot straight to her center with anticipation. She couldn’t be distracted from the actual problem in front of them: the fact that she couldn’t be trusted withsomething that valuable. He would be heartbroken if she lost the family heirloom or broke it or forgot it somewhere…
“Babe,” he said, and leaned to kiss her. Finn took the ring out of the box and slid it onto her fourth finger, then turned her hand back and forth to see how the gems sparkled softly in the half-light. “You don’t give yourself enough credit. But wear this for a little while, just so I can see it on you, then we can find something out of a gumball machineif it would make you feel better. I trust you to treasure this ring as much as I treasure you.”
She laughed, a little watery as her vision blurred and more tears escaped. How could he possibly have so much confidence in her, when she hardly believed in herself even a fraction as much? “I’m more worried about someone trying to steal you. Why don’t you have a ring?”
He chuckled and set the box aside, then caught her to pull her close for another kiss. “I’ll wear whatever kind of ring you want me to, babe. There is no one on this planet who could distract me for even a second.”
Lauren stretched out underneath him, enjoying his weight over top of her. Funny how it was a comfort instead of leaving her feeling trapped and suffocated. She combed her fingers through his beard and then down his neck, pretending to measure the thick muscle with her hands. “Maybe a collar with a nice little tag on it. Lauren’s Teddy Bear.”
He inhaled so fast he choked, and for a second Lauren braced for the annoyance, the rolling eyes, the dismissal. Instead, he started shaking with laughter and leaned down to kiss her. He took his time, enjoying every second of it and exploring every part of her mouth, then broke away to murmur, “I’ll wear anything you want me to.”
She laughed breathlessly, stretching out under him and letting her legs fall open. Surely it wasn’ttooearly to thinkmaybe another round was out of the question? He wore those damn sweatpants, though, so even though she felt how much he’d recovered, there was still a barrier between them. Lauren wrapped her arms around his neck, still a little nervous about the unfamiliar ring on her finger, but she focused on him. He might actually wear a ring for her, instead of insisting it was something “just for chicks” and it was unreasonable to expect him to have a wedding ring.
“What aboutnotwearing something?” she whispered.
Finn chuckled and groaned, kissing the side of her neck down to her shoulder. He shimmied down until her arms loosened, and then he began to kiss his way to her breasts, then her stomach, then… Her back arched and her head fell back, and she barely managed to hang on to his head as he made himself comfortable between her thighs.
How had she possibly gotten so lucky? He was perfect. Absolutely perfect. After so many years of everything going wrong, maybe the universe decided to make it up to her all at once. She didn’t even know where they were, whose house stood around them, what the future held… None of it mattered. Well, it mattered a little. But one thing she didn’t worry about was Finn not having a plan. He knew what to do. No matter what, he knew what to do.
She sighed and reveled in the soft sheets and his heated, smooth skin. He’d said she saved him, but that was just plain wrong. She was brave for a few seconds at a time, he was the one who had to carry the heavy burdens. She would help where she could, that was for damn sure, and she wasn’t going to let anyone hurthim. But she wasn’t really brave. It was okay. She’d never been brave.
And he loved her anyway. He wanted to marry her. Lauren had to bite her lip to keep from laughing hysterically and distracting him from the very, very good job he was doingteasing her to the most delicious orgasm that left her entire brain shorted out and all of her limbs jerking and twitching like she’d been electrocuted.
He would marry her. She would be Lauren…Finn? Her head popped up off the pillow and she looked down her body at where his dark head kissed her thighs and occasionally dipped lower to make her moan. “What’s your last name?”
He looked up at her, eyebrow arched. “Bordelon.”
“Oh. Okay.” Lauren lay back against the pillow and exhaled some of that worry. At least she wasn’t going to marry a dude without knowing his last name. “Thanks.”
His shoulders bounced as he chuckled, making her legs spread more, and Finn blew a raspberry against the inside of her thigh as he watched her. “Anything else?”
“I don’t think so.” Her voice went high as his fingers stroked leisurely against her, and she cleared her throat a few times. “You can—can keep…oh.”
“My birthday’s in April.”
She tried to concentrate. April. Right. His birthday. Probably good to know, but… “Oh.Oh.”
He sounded on the verge of laughing at her again. “Originally from Louisiana, down in the bayou.”
Bayou. They had alligators. Or was it crocodiles? How did you tell? She tried really hard to focus but every time she got even the slightest bit of attention back, Finn did something incredible with his mouth or fingers and she was left completely scattered again. Her fingers worked into his hair and her thighs closed against his ears. “That’s—nice. But what if—oh my God.”
That time he definitely laughed. Lauren didn’t even mind. She sighed and just enjoyed his attention, not even thinking about the long list of shit she should have asked him or even asked herself. She wanted to be there with him, in the moment, feeling and listening and loving and just…being.
He loved her. And she loved him. And that was the only thing that really mattered.
Everything else would work out.
