The Billionaire's Bridal Bid (13 page)

She stood, gave her palms one quick swipe before catching herself and then tucked them behind her back. “Actually, I am here to give a warning. But not about them.”

Surprised, he quirked an eyebrow. “No?”

“No.” She pursed her lips, seeming to search for words. “The thing is, I consider the Walsteads family.”

“So you are warning me to stay away.”

“No, I’m just warning you that if you’re going to be part of their family, then you’re not going to be able to avoid me.”

Slowly, she walked down the steps until she stood directly in front of him. Then she reached out and took the bottle of wine and the gift from his hands.

His heart started pounding, every instinct he had screaming at him to kiss her before she had a chance to escape. Screw his resolve to stay away. Forget all his intentions to excise her from his life and his heart once and for all. But he didn’t move. Didn’t even give himself the option to touch her, because he knew if he did, he’d never have the strength to stop.

After carefully setting the wine and the gift bag on
the step behind her, she stepped even closer, plastering her body against his.

She threaded her fingers through his hair and pulled his head down toward hers, stopping just shy of kissing him, so their lips were mere centimeters apart. So that when she spoke, he felt her breath against his lips.

“And I intend to make it very hard for you to walk away from me.”

His hands still hung loose at his side and he had to clench his fists to keep from reaching for her. His blood pounded in his ears, his pulse thudding, his every nerve ending alive. “Why are you doing this, Claire?”

The one thing he needed more than her was answers. He needed to know this wasn’t just a whim of hers. That she wasn’t going to change her mind later and decide that he didn’t live up to some mysterious standard that he didn’t even know about.

She met his eyes, her gaze clear. “I’m doing this because I love you. Because I’ve always loved you. And because I’m guessing that you love me, too. If I’m not the love of your life, you’ve done a pretty crappy job of getting over me.”

She rose up on her toes like she was going to kiss him, but pulled back just before her lips touched his.

“So what if you are the love of my life?”

Her lips curved into a smile. “Then I figure we’re pretty lucky. Seeing as how we’re engaged already.”

“How do you see that?”

She extracted her left hand from his hair and held it up for him to see. Somehow the broken ring had been reassembled. Now, the metal of the ring wrapped around her finger, the two ends overlapping with the diamond wedged between them. “You gave me a ring.”

“I dropped it at your feet. In pieces.”

“But it was an engagement ring.” She smiled smugly. “I’m keeping it. And I’m saying yes.”

This time when she rose up on her toes, he closed the scant distance between them. Her lips were pliant beneath his. Her kiss full of love.

When he finally raised his mouth from hers, he took her hand in his and studied the ring. “How did you—”

“I brought it to the jewelers here in town. Martin designed a new band for it.” She brought her other hand up to his cheek and paused until he met her gaze. “I asked him about this setting. He called it a tension setting. And he said he wasn’t surprised it broke. Apparently, the man who first designed this style ring had the idea for the setting long before they had metal alloys strong enough to cradle the diamond. The rings were weak and prone to breaking. That first ring you bought me? The metal was too weak. It didn’t stand a chance.”

“And now?”

“Now, Martin made the new ring out of a titanium alloy that’s super strong and it’s not going to break.”

“You sure?”

“Yes, I am.” The look in her eyes told him she knew he was asking about more than the ring. “We’re both stronger than we were twelve years ago.”

He pulled back just far enough to say, “You need to know, I’m still going after Vic. I’m going to take control of Ballard Enterprises. I’m going to destroy him financially. Jonathon’s already chomping at the bit to do it.”

She nodded slowly, pressing her lips together. “I wish you wouldn’t.”

He nudged her chin up so she was looking him straight in the eye. “Courtney and Kyle may not need
vengeance. But I do. He took you away from me. And he enjoyed doing it.”

After a minute, she nodded again. And smiled slowly. “But you have me now.”

They kissed again. A long, slow kiss full of the promises they both intended to keep. Whatever doubts he might have had dissolved under the strength of her touch.

When he finally lifted his mouth from hers, she socked him in the arm.

“What was that for?” he asked, rubbing his arm.

“That was for leaving me for a week.” She frowned, her brow furrowing in question. “Were you really going to walk away? What if I hadn’t come after you?”

He just smiled. “I think you just needed the time to figure out that you needed to come after me.”

“I think I can live with that.” She wrapped her arm around his waist and rested her head against his chest. “So what do we do now?”

“Now, we go have dinner with our family.”