Her eyes met his. “I’d say I’ve made it pretty easy so far.”
“So,” he prompted, “there was no one else back home who took your attention?”
She looked away from him for a moment, so he jostled her arm. She looked down at him and lightly tapped his forehead. “Be quiet and look at the stars,” she said.
“I’d so much rather look at you,” he breathed, cupping her cheeks with his hands. She looked into his eyes, her hair falling around her face. He brought a lock of it to his nose and sniffed it. She smelled like sunshine. She always had.
“Stop looking at me,” she groused, but she turned her head and kissed the palm of his hand. The heat shot straight to his groin, and he raised a knee in hopes she wouldn’t notice how she affected him.
“Cece,” he whispered.
“What?” she whispered back dramatically.
“I want to kiss you,” he said softly.
“You already did that,” she replied just as quietly.
“I want to do it again and again, until I get it right.”
“I’d say that last kiss was right.” Her skin flushed and she closed her eyes.
“I was afraid I would do it wrong,” he confessed. “I’ve wanted to kiss you since the moment I saw you in the ballroom. And every day before that. Every day we’ve been apart.”
“That kiss was a welcome surprise,” she admitted. “But you didn’t give me much of a choice.”
“We can practice,” he suggested, a grin tugging at the corners of his lips.
“Maybe,” she said with a wistful sigh.
“Maybe?” Certainly she wasn’t serious.
“I think this courtship thing is supposed to go slowly.”
If it went any more slowly, Marcus would lose his mind. He’d tasted her. He’d finally kissed her and had her back in his arms. And now she wanted to go slowly. “How slow?” he asked.
“I don’t know.” She shrugged. “Perhaps I should ask your mother how things are done here.” She laughed. “Though perhaps not about kissing specifically.”
“Are you serious? My mother would be overjoyed that I’m kissing you.” He pulled her hand down to lie flat on his chest and covered it with his. Her fingers played in his hair. “She helped me make a list of things I could do to win you back.”
“And just what was on this list?”
“I’ll never tell.”
She slapped his chest. “Tell me!” she cried.
“I may need to use that list in the future,” he said with a laugh. “In the odd instance that I make you angry at me.”
“I would say that’s a given,” she warned.
“You won’t leave me, will you?”
She quieted for a moment. “Will you leave me?”
“Never again,” he swore.
“Promise?” she asked, her voice quiet.
“I swear on my life.” He sat up and turned to her, sliding as close as he could without pulling her inside him. He tugged her legs over his lap and turned her to face him.