Fighting for Flight by JB Salsbury (best books for students to read .txt) 📗

I just asked her to marry me. Sure it wasn’t your candlelight dinner, down on one knee, shed a tear kind of proposal. But it was a proposal. I don’t know what came over me. It just came out. I don’t regret the words, but fuck. What kind of a dick asks his girlfriend to marry him in his garage? I don’t even have a ring.

I’ve known for a while now that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her. I just haven’t been able to focus on that. It’s been more important that I focus on our immediate future and the fight.

But now, nothing’s as important as her answer. Why isn’t she saying anything?

I reach out and cup her face, running my thumb along her lower lip. “Baby?”

Her eyebrows pinch together. Not a good sign.

With a few rapid blinks, she focuses on me. “What if you win tomorrow night?”

Ah, fuck. Not this again.

No matter how many times I assure her that I can throw this fight, she’s never totally convinced.

“I told you I’d lose it. I mean it. Now leave it alone.” My words are terse and powered by irritation. I don’t mean to be rude, but fuck. I just proposed, and this is the shit she wants to talk about?

I push both hands through my hair and take a deep breath. Her soft hand brushes my cheek. I look at her, my jaw cramping and eyes narrowing. She jumps, but quickly recovers, and places a lingering kiss on my cheek.

“I believe you can lose the fight, I do. But what if I say I’ll marry you and then something happens? Something terrible, like you get hit too hard and flip the switch on Del Toro? Or what if, I don’t know, he does something to forfeit the fight? You want to marry a prostitute? You want to share your wife with the wealthy men of Las Vegas?”

I grimace at the thought. No, I won’t share my wife with other men. I’d fucking kill any man who came near her with those intentions.

Her expression goes soft and she nods. “That’s what I thought. So what are our options? We could run, take off, live out our married days moving from place to place . . . ’til death do us part.”

She brings both hands up to cup my face. “You deserve better than that, Jonah. Your mom deserves better than that.”

“I don’t want to live without you.” Emotions surge within me making my voice rough.

A single tear trails down her cheek, betraying her smile. “And I don’t want to live without you. Of course, I want to spend the rest of my life with you.” Her expression hardens. “But I don’t want to talk about the future. Not until we know, with one-hundred-percent certainty, that we have one.”

So that’s a yes. Right? A maybe? Shit.

“Nothing will keep me from you. I know what’s going to happen tomorrow night. But if things don’t go as planned, I’ll take you away. Living a life on the run is better than living a life without you.” I wrap my hand around the nape of her neck and pull her face close to mine. “No one can keep us apart.”

“I love you, Jonah." Her hands run down my shoulders, and chest, settling on my abdomen.

My blood roars from the heat of her touch. I need her to understand that her life means more than my own. I’d give it all away: every dream, every accomplishment. Everything for her.

With a gentle tug, I tilt her head and hold her lips mere centimeters from mine. She closes her eyes and leans in for a kiss. I fist her hair tighter, holding her in place. A moan vibrates deep in her throat. We swallow each other’s breath from our parted lips. Electricity buzzes between us. My teeth scrape against my lower lip with the urge to take her mouth. Her eyes dilate and her breath quickens.

She shifts and steps closer. The side of my mouth curls into a half smile. My girl. Always so anxious and ready.

She licks her full lips. Our mouths are so close I can almost taste the moisture her tongue left behind.

“Jonah—”

“Baby, you look so sexy right now.”

She closes her eyes at my whispered words. I hold on tighter.

“Holding you like this, putting you close to what you want. It’s hot, baby. You shift and rub your thighs together like you’re trying to put out a fire.”

She sucks her bottom lip into her mouth.

“You press into me, like you’re hoping our bodies will melt together.”

A whimper escapes her lips.

“Mmm. Love that sound.” I flex my hips into her stomach.

Her eyes shoot open and plead with me to end to her suffering. Pissed or begging, smiling or crying, my girl is damn sexy.

My girl.

Dominick’s words echo in my head. I take care of what’s mine. His? The fuck she is. I don’t care what I have to do tomorrow night to make it happen, but I will walk out of that arena with Raven under my arm and our entire future ahead of us.

I lean forward and brush my lips softly against her forehead. Her eyes flutter closed. I brush my lips against each of her eyelids, taking my time to savor the soft pear scent of her hair. Finally, my lips hover over hers.

“You’re mine, baby. Always.”

“Promise me.” Our mouths are so close, her lips brush against mine with her words.

My chest cramps at the desperation in her voice. “I promise.”

And that’s all I can take.

I cover her lips with mine, and she immediately opens to me. Our tongues glide together in gentle strokes. I grab her hair, tilt her head, and delve in deeper. Soft, wet, and delicious. A groan pushes up from my chest and she takes it with an answering moan.

My ass planted on the hood of the Impala, I use my leverage to pull her tight between my legs. Her hands