Unbound (Crimson Romance) (25 page)

BOOK: Unbound (Crimson Romance)

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After a few nights alone, Dean had spent the night with her. The next night, they stayed at his house. His bed was bigger. After that, she hadn’t spent another night at her house. She loved her house, but it was really just a house. His house was home.

She took a deep breath to steady herself and finished applying her lip-gloss. She knew it was true. Things had moved fast between them. While everything had been going on with Talbot, she had been too busy to worry about it. Then, once she had started staying at his house, she had been too happy to consider it.

Outside the bathroom, she glanced toward the corner where Dean and the guys were setting up to play. She watched him as he sat on an amplifier, picking at the knots in another set of cords. His long legs were planted firmly on the floor in front of him, and his thick black hair fell in his eyes as he bent over the wad of cords.

As if he felt her watching him, he looked up and smiled at her. She felt butterflies in her stomach. She felt like that every time he smiled at her. As she had to retell her story over and over again, it felt like it had happened to someone else unless Dean was looking at her.

When he looked at her, or smiled at her, or held her hand, or was simply in the same room as her, she knew. She knew that everything that happened had given her him. She knew he was worth every cut, bruise, and terrified feeling she’d experienced. She knew she loved him beyond reason or doubt. She knew she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him.

• • •

Dean watched as Payten strolled toward him. All swaying hips and huge smile, she was beautiful. Her bright red dress hugged every curve. It stopped mid-thigh and revealed her long legs.

Gorgeous,
he thought.

He stood up and moved toward her. He couldn’t stop himself. He needed to get her in his arms. He needed to reassure himself she was there.

The morning she was released from the hospital, she’d insisted on staying in her house. Alone. He’d agreed —
like I had a choice
— but that night had been one of the longest nights of his life. Even longer than the night before.

He had paced the floors at his house all night long. His worry ate at him even knowing Talbot was in jail. He resisted calling her to check in, but couldn’t resist going to town to drive past her house. He hadn’t told her that and never planned to.

The next night when she’d insisted on it again, he thought he’d die. He figured insanity had been a narrow miss with all the sleep deprivation those couple of nights. He made it, though. She’d proven everything she needed to prove to herself, and he hadn’t died, gone insane, or crowded her overly much. He figured he was steps ahead of what any other Whitley man would have survived.

The most important thing about those couple of days for him was the realization he’d come to. More than anything, he’d missed her. The smell of her through his home, the sound of her laughter, the way she teased him, waking up with her in his arms. He’d missed her, but he could live without her. Maybe not for long, he admitted, but he could. He realized, though, he didn’t want to live without her. He wanted to spend every single moment of his life with her.

She was smiling when they reached one another. He pulled her into his arms and held her tightly. He swayed with her slowly, dancing without music. From the corner, a slow melody started to spill out of the speakers.

He pulled away and dug in his pocket. “Payten, I have a question — ”

“Yes.”

“I haven’t even asked yet,” he protested.

“You don’t have to.”

“But — ”

She took the small ring box from his hand and peeked inside. “Yes,” she said again.

“Payten — ”

She kissed him. “It’s perfect.”

“You could have at least let me ask,” he complained. “I’ve been working on it for weeks.”

“So ask.”

“Will you marry me?”

She looked up at him. “That much complaining for that?” she teased.