CHAPTER 46

Gently, almost reverently, he kissed her neck while removing the dildo. Then he left the bed. She wondered where he had gone, but the most delicious languor she had ever experienced claimed her limbs. She couldn’t move. Even the effort to keep her eyes open was too much, so she just lay there.

He came back with a moist warm towel. After cleaning his seed from her, he gathered her in his arms and settled into the bed, bringing the comforter over their cooling bodies. Creating a cocoon of warmth and love. She smiled, her heart full to bursting. If the sex had been mind-blowing, this tender care was heart melting.

He had never done this before. In all their previous encounters, even when they slept in the same bed, he would always move to his side, staying apart. He had never cradled her in his arms as if she were precious to him. She was almost falling asleep with a smile of pure, unadulterated happiness on her face when his words jolted her awake.

“Would you marry me, Kalli?”

“What?” She turned in his arms, rising up on her elbows to face him. He looked straight into her eyes, his gaze steady and... intent.

“Is the idea so shocking? I thought it was what you wanted. Or at least... what you once wanted. Have your feelings changed in the past few weeks?”

Doubt. Fear. She could see it in his gaze. He wasn’t sure of her affection. Not anymore. The notion should have vindicated her, given her the satisfaction of making him taste his own medicine. It didn’t.

She didn’t want to make him doubt her feelings for one second. But marriage? It hadn’t crossed her mind to consider that far ahead. She had hoped—no, not even hoped anymore. She had wished against hope to have a chance at a relationship with him.

“Of course my feelings have not changed, Dariux. I’m here with you, am I not? I just don’t understand how you have gone from not wanting a relationship to proposing marriage in the space of a day.”

His arms tightened around her, hugging her to him. “It wasn’t in a day, sprite. I wish it had been. I wish it had taken me less time to realize my feelings for you and act accordingly.”

“What made you change your mind?”

“I didn’t change my mind. I fell in love. There’s a difference.”

“And when did you fall in love? If you think you are in love because of the test results—”

“No. The results just illustrated something I already knew deep inside.” His eyes bored into hers, glimmering with sincerity. “I’ve been falling in love with you since the nineteenth century, Kalli. I was just too stubborn and afraid to acknowledge it. But then you disappeared, and I couldn’t find you. I’ve never felt such desperation as when I couldn’t reach you.”

“I called you, but you picked a fight with me. And your parbot—”

“She doesn’t matter.”

“But she was living with you!” She struggled out of his arms and sat up in bed.

“Out of habit!” he exclaimed, sitting up as well. “Because I haven’t had the mental presence to get rid of her. I was trying to find you!”

“And you expect me to believe that? It takes two seconds to get rid of a parbot. Can you swear you have not been intimate with her?”

“Damn it, Kalli. I swear. The only time she came near me since we returned, I was asleep. I thought she was you, and for a moment... she touched me. When I woke up, I stopped her. And gave her instructions not to serve me in that capacity anymore. She only cooks and cleans.”

“Cooks and cleans? Present time? She is still living with you?” she yelled, bolting out of bed and grabbing a robe.

He stood too. Glorious in his nakedness that he did nothing to hide. There was genuine alarm on his face. As if he suddenly realized he had committed a grave faux pas.

“Yes, she is.” His words were measured, tentative. “But like I said, it means nothing. Kalli, you have to believe me. I’ll get rid of her tomorrow if it bothers you.”

“Oh, why should it bother me?” her voice dripped with sarcasm. “Why should I care that the parbot I saw you dry humping before we went on this mission has been living with you all this time?”

“It is not as if you don’t have a parbot too. I saw him.” A spark of real irritation showed on his face now. And something more. Something akin to jealousy.

“I already dismissed him,” she replied without hesitation. “Since I returned, I haven’t seen him or even been to my house. I’ve been living here.”

He sighed with what looked like relief. She wished she could do the same.

“I’m sorry, Kalli. This relationship thing... it’s new to me. I’m bound to make many mistakes.” He came towards her as he spoke until he stood in front of her.

“But I’m asking you to take a chance on me, anyway.” He held his arms out to his sides. “I’m standing here in front of you; naked in body and soul. I’ve never lied to you. Please, believe me when I tell you I love you, and you are the only woman I want.”

Old insecurities wanted to rear their ugly heads. Make her doubt him. Crush her self-esteem until she felt undeserving of any kind of devotion. Yet, how could she doubt him when he spoke like that? He might be maddening, stubborn, domineering, and sometimes even insensitive, but he was not a liar. He was almost brutally honest.

“I believe you,” she whispered.

He took the last step, and she was in his arms again.

“Will you marry me then?”