Read Love Is Nuts (3 Tales) for Free Online Page B

smooth rhythm. If she expected multiple encores, he’d better start pacing himself now.
    “We will, baby, I promise. We have the rest of our lives to work on it.”
    “We do?”
    “We will if you’ll marry me,” he said, never breaking stride.
    The words were out before he knew what he was saying, but once he heard them, Byron realized how excellent the idea sounded – and amazingly, money was the furthest thing from his mind.
    Or maybe not so amazing.
    “Was that a proposal?” Merciless as a trained torturer, Sophia put the “tongs” to him, halting the action on an inward stroke.
    Byron gave a guttural grunt. “ Uhh ...”
    “I’ll assume that means yes.”
    Her fingers tangled in his hair, lifting his head to meet her eyes – smoldering blue embers.
    “You do realize we hardly know each other, right? We met barely an hour ago. Even in the classics it never happens this fast,” she pointed out, challenging him, dueling with rapier reason.
    She’d picked a hell of a time to go practical on him.
    “It does in classic fairytales,” he parried. “In stories like Sleeping Beauty one look, one kiss is all it takes.”
    “Touché.” A delicious sliver of a grin curled her lips. “Read a lot of fairytales, have you?”
    “I’m living one right now,” he said on a hoarse breath. Prince Charming had never had it so good, and neither had Byron. She felt like pure magic, felt like a dream. He hoped he’d never wake up.
    “Sophia, I do realize this is sudden, but I’m not a patient man. When I see what I want, I go after it.”
    “And you think you want to marry me?”
    “I know so.”
    “This soon?”
    “The sooner the better.”
    And the hell with the money! There was treasure enough just in her smile. Which suddenly broadened.
    “Okay, works for me!” The smile waxed wicked. “I’m not very patient either.”
    Um, yeah, he’d noticed that. “It’s something we have in common.”
    “Mmm” – her eyes narrowed to smoky slits – “and we’ll discover more common ground after we’re married. We’ll build it if we have to.”
    “Can you think of a better way to get acquainted?”
    “No.” Laughter bubbled out with the word. “I love your sense of humor.”
    He hadn’t been joking, actually. But he’d take all the love he could get. Even more, he wanted to give it – all the love he’d received from his idealistic fragile mother – it all poured out of him now. He finally understood the truth of the matter, what his problem had been. To him, at too early an age, love had become synonymous with loss. To protect himself, he’d planted a barrier of thorns around his heart, just like the thorns that had guarded Sleeping Beauty’s castle. And just like the prince in that story, he’d had to battle his way through the bramble – spurred on by a prize too good to lose.
    Sophia.
    “I love you ,” he answered her.
    -------
    “Likewise,” she said – but only because Take me, I’m yours! might have sounded a bit superfluous under the circumstances.
    Lying under him , specifically – floating in steamy satin clouds of passion – held fast in a lovers’ embrace. She might still be a little drunk – and she’d always be a romantic – but she wasn’t a complete idiot. She knew there might be pitfalls ahead, but love could bridge any gap, leap any hurdle. Love would carry them through. Seriously, she’d never have landed herself in this position, never have fallen into bed so fast, if she hadn’t fallen in love even faster. At first sight – or at least second.
    Second sight?
    Yes, she’d inherited some of her grandmother’s psychic ability. Sophia’s clairvoyance wasn’t quite so clear or finely tuned as Angelica’s, but it worked well enough to let her know when she’d found the real thing. The One.
    Byron.
    As in Sharpe, not Lord. This Byron was better because he was all hers.
    She rocked her hips against him, rekindling the action, taunting him into a horizontal tango