I clasped the ends of his hair in my hands. Laying my head on his shoulder I rocked my hips slowly against him.
Our gasping breaths filled the car. All thoughts of someone seeing us had long disappeared.
“I love you,” I murmured, pressing my lips against his throat.
Until I met Trace, I hadn’t understood how powerful those three words were. Some people tossed them around like they were nothing, when they meant everything. When you love someone as completely as I love Trace, you can make it through everything as long as you’re together.
“Not as much as I love you,” he gasped, cupping my cheek and forcing my eyes to meet his.
I closed the distance between us, kissing him deeply.
There was no talking after that.
Nothing else needed to be said, we only needed to feel our love for each other.
Something was brushing against my skin and it was super annoying. I swatted at it and laughter met my ears. With a groan, I opened my eyes slowly.
I was sprawled on top of a grinning Trace and he was tickling the bare skin of my shoulder with a piece of my hair.
“I was sleeping.”
“And my body is numb. Did you know you’re kind of heavy when you’re sleeping?” He tapped my nose with the chunk of my hair he was still playing with.
“Did you know that you’re annoyingly peppy in the mornings?” I rolled my eyes, reaching for my shorts and scooting off of his body. I’d put my bra, tank top, and ripped panties on before we fell asleep. After I got my shorts on I crawled over the seats and into the front of the car.
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“Face it, you love my cheerful personality.”
I looked back to see Trace sit up and stretch. The ways his muscles flexed and rippled when he did that left my mouth watering. I never thought I’d be one of those girls constantly checking out guys—or in my case, guy—but I had a hard time taking my eyes off of Trace.
He pulled his jeans and shirt on and climbed over the seats like I had. He sat in the driver’s seat, staring out the windshield. I looked to, wondering what had captured his attention. A dancing cow, maybe? But there was nothing there.
“Tr—”
“Marry me?” He cut me off.
“Uh,” I raised a brow. “Did I dream that, or didn’t you already propose? I’m kind of confused right now.” I frowned, looking at him like he’d grown three heads.
He chuckled, shaking his head. “That’s not what I meant. What I mean is, marry me…today.” There was no playfulness in his gaze or smile. He was dead serious and I was…shocked.
“Today?” I whispered, my voice fleeing me.
He nodded. “Today.”
“Why?” I gasped. When he frowned, I hastened to add, “Not that I don’t want to marry you today, but our families aren’t even here. Why now?”
“Why not now?” He questioned, taking my hands in his. “It’s not that I don’t want them here, but this is about the two of us and our commitment to each other. We can have a wedding with a dress and cake and all that other crap, when we get back. I’m sure they’ll insist. But I don’t want to go another day without you as my wife,” his hand glided up my arm, causing me to shiver, and then rested against my cheek.
My eyes closed and a shaky breath gusted between my lips.
I had always thought I’d get married with my family surrounding me while wearing a white dress, but what Trace said was making me think differently. Marriage was between the two of us everything else was just pomp and circumstance.
“Your mom is going to kill us,” I eyed him.
He kissed me quickly and pulled away grinning. “I don’t care.”
“You know,” I glanced down at my shorts and plain white tank, “I never really imagined getting married dressed like this.”