Truth or Dare (23 page)

"You almost left me," he accused between kisses.

"I would have died without you."  She kissed his jaw, his neck.

He pulled her shirttail from her jeans and ran his hands up her back.  "I want you.  Here.  Now."

"Yes."  She tugged his unbuttoned shirt down his arms.  "Here.  Now."

Mindlessly, frantically, he took her down on the carpet amid their discarded clothes.  No tender kisses, no soft words.  No holding back.  Just Rachel, taking him into her body and giving him back his soul.  Her fingers dug into his backside, urging him on, faster, harder.  The heat of her, the cries she made in the back of her throat, seared his brain.

Their loving was raw and hot and glorious, and he couldn't hold back.  He plunged into her again and again until his name burst from her lips, and hers from his, in a mutual release more powerful than anything he'd ever felt.

*  *  *  *

When Jared could breath again, when he thought his quivering muscles were his to command once more, he lifted Rachel in his arms and carried her upstairs to his bed.  They lay there, sweat
–
slicked bodies entwined, hearts still thundering.

Rachel turned to kiss his shoulder.  Something on the bedside table caught her eye and she smiled.  "You kept them," she said in wonder.

Jared followed her gaze and spotted the tacky green glasses she'd worn so long ago.  They'd been on his nightstand since he'd taken them from her in Las Vegas.

"Why?" she asked, puzzled.  "I thought you hated them."

Jared nuzzled his face against the golden hair spread out in disarray across his pillow.  "Sometimes, I felt like they were the only part of you I could hold on to."

Rachel wrapped her arms around him and squeezed.  "You can hold on to all or any part of me as long as you want, Jared Morgan."

He raised his head slowly and cupped her face in his hands.  "Would you be willing to put that in writing, Rachel Fredrick?"

"In writing?"

"With witnesses?"

"What witnesses?"

"Any witnesses you want, as long as one of them's a minister, or at least a justice of the peace."

Her eyes widened.  She simply stared at him and tried to swallow, but the lump in her throat was too big.

"I love you, Rachel.  I'm asking you to marry me."

She blinked, and tears ran down her temples.  "Oh Jared," she breathed.  "Oh, yes!  Yes!  Yes!  Yes!"  She planted kisses all over his face, laughing and crying at the same time.

THE END