Undercover Protector. Melinda Di Lorenzo
say.
The girl’s smile only faltered for a second. “Well. It’s a good thing I came up to change the flowers in the nook. Ask her now.”
“Now?”
“She’s obviously not going to say no. Otherwise she wouldn’t have come to the suite. Or the hotel at all. Besides that, I’m the perfect witness. Not so much of a crowd that she feels like she has to say yes, but the perfect person to capture the moment if she says yes. Give me your phone.”
“My phone?”
“How else am I going to record it for you?”
Anderson eased away from Nadine, dug the slim device from his pocket and handed it over. The girl’s grin just about split her face.
“Okay,” she said. “Don’t forget to get down on one knee. You want it to be good.”
Anderson shrugged helplessly at Nadine. Her eyes were wide, her bottom lip tugged in. She looked nervous bordering on terrified, and Anderson wondered how that was going to translate in the recording.
He leaned toward her ear again. “You’re going to have to fake it a little better than that, honey. Even Little Miss Chatterbox won’t be fooled if you look like I’m trying to push you off a cliff.”
Her lips turned up in an almost passable smile. “I might be fighting an urge to strangle you right now.”
“Just a few moments and one proposal and you can strangle away.” He winked, then dropped to his knee and shot a genuine smile up at her. “Nadine Elise Stuart. For as long as I’ve known you, you’ve sparked something special in me. I can honestly say you know more about me than most people. I feel like it only took five minutes to get to that point. Literally. So between that and the fact I’ve never seen anyone look quite so sexy in a pair of hospital pajamas, I was wondering if you’d do me the honor of marrying me?”
Nadine’s mouth worked silently for a second. Her gaze was a little soft, a little amused and a little something else that he couldn’t quite pinpoint. Finally, she nodded, and Anderson tipped his head toward the check-in girl.
“Good enough?” he asked.
She lowered the camera phone. “Close.”
“Close?”
“You need the kiss.”
Crap.
“We’re not really into PDAs,” he said.
The girl shook her head. “This isn’t public. This is just the two of you, plus your own personal videographer. Posterity.”
“Still not really—”
“It’s fine.” Nadine’s hand landed on his shoulder.
He looked up again. “What?”
“It’s fine,” she repeated.
Anderson pushed to his feet. It was hard to stop his gaze from flicking down to her lips before shifting up to her eyes. Although it hadn’t been directly on his mind before, to say he had zero interest in kissing her—now that it had been put in his head—would be a lie. But to say that he wanted to force her into doing it was an even bigger untruth. In fact, the idea made his gut twist and ache.
“Nadine?” His voice came out a little hoarse.
She smiled, and he couldn’t help but note that now her eyes moved briefly to his lips. “Let’s just not make it something we wouldn’t want our kids to see, okay?”
“All right.”
He stepped forward, then stopped just far enough away that they weren’t touching. He started to tell her he wouldn’t do it—couldn’t under the circumstances—but one of her hands came up to his cheek, stilling his mouth. Nadine’s palm was warm on his skin. It sent a shock of heat straight through him, and articulate thought flew away as she used her fingers to guide his face down toward hers. Instinct kicked in quickly. Especially when Nadine pressed up to her toes, stumbled a little and bumped up against him. Then his hands came up automatically to steady her. To pull her body flush to his.
“Ready?” she breathed.
He tried to say that he was, but her face tipped up then, and her lips grazed his, and words were no longer an option. Action, on the other hand...that was a different story.
Anderson lifted one of his hands up and placed it on the small of Nadine’s back. The other he brought to the back of her neck in a caress. Her hair brushed his knuckles, and as short as it was cut, it was still softer than silk. Her mouth was softer still. Warm, too, and not just yielding. Eager and willing. Her lips pressed to his firmly, then pulled away, then pressed again. She tasted so good—felt so good—that he wanted to keep it going. True regret filled him when the check-in girl’s voice interrupted the kiss.
“That’s perfect!” she crowed. “And I think I got it all.”
Anderson dragged his eyes open and stared down into Nadine’s chocolate gaze for another second before releasing her. As heavy as her lids looked, she didn’t blink. It was impossible to look away, and he couldn’t quite resist the need to drag his thumb over her lower lip.
“Nothing the kids wouldn’t want to see,” he murmured.
“Yes,” she agreed.
“All right!” The ponytailed girl pushed in between them, shoving the phone at Anderson. “Promise her you’ll get her a proper ring. No. Not just a proper one. The perfect one. To go with the perfect proposal and the perfect kiss. Did you hear that? He’s going to get you something absolutely perfect.”
“I heard it,” Nadine said.
Anderson couldn’t help but shoot her a surprised look. “You did?”
“Didn’t you?” She lifted an eyebrow, undisguised mirth evident in her eyes.
“I guess I did.”
“Oh, my gosh!” interjected the girl. “I can’t wait to see it! But you better get going because those strawberries and champagne you just have to order will be up soon.”
Then she flounced off in the other direction. Anderson shook his head in disbelief, then dragged his wallet out to free his key card, apologizing as he opened the door to the suite.
“That was...interesting. I’m sorry if—” He cut himself off as Nadine pushed by him, bent over and let out a strangled gasp, then collapsed to the edge of the couch.
He took a step closer, but she waved him off. Her shoulders shook, and for a second Anderson thought she was crying. He moved closer again, concern flowing in. When she lifted her head, though, he saw that tears weren’t the case at all. She was laughing.
He frowned. “What’s funny?”
She gasped out a sentence between laughs. “That—girl’s—poor—fiancé.”
“What?”
“She must just steamroll him. Can you imagine? Do you think he even meant to start dating her, let alone get engaged to her?”
He felt his lips twitch; it was good to see Nadine so relaxed. “Hard to say.”
“Or maybe he’s just like she is. Scripting his life aloud like that, too. I wonder what happens if their stories conflict?”
“God knows.” He stepped past the couch and sank into the enormous chair on the other side of coffee table. “I really am sorry we had to go through all that.”
“Which part?” she replied. “The running, the sneaking, the lying...or the kissing?”
“Yep.”
“That’s not really an answer.”
“I know.”
Nadine laughed again and leaned back, her gaze