The Bachelor's Perfect Proposal (Bliss Series Book 2) by Michelle Jo Quinn

right hip and waist, watching goose bumps rise, scattering like minuscule nodules of fire. A fire that set my own desires aflame. Veronica hummed against my neck, and my arousal heightened.
    Two weeks without her had been far too long and lonely. Now that she was back in my arms, I had no intentions of letting her go again. Ever.
    She stretched against me.
    “You’re teasing me,” I growled in her ear, pressing her body to mine as I let my fingers grasp her bottom.
    A knowing smile was her reply. Her hands stroked my chest, one going up and the other going down. My back was pushed into the sheets as Veronica lifted herself up and straddled my lap, circling her hips against me. The sateen sheets fell off and left her exposed.
    Hands roved from her stomach to her chest. Hands that looked peculiar, yet, familiar. Hands that didn’t belong to me.
    From the threshold of a bedroom fashioned to look like a scene in a tropical resort, I watched, appalled and horrified at the sight of a man who was making Veronica moan in pleasure.
    “Veronica?” My voice faltered.
    She tilted her head and looked over her shoulder, the springs of the mattress creaking beneath her as her body bounced. “I couldn’t help it, Levi. I was lonely.”
    The man sat up, grabbing her hair, making her arch her body to him. I couldn’t see his face as it disappeared between her breasts, but his mockery was clear as the blue skies. “You should have married her when you had the chance.”
    The color red exploded in my mind. I lunged forward, with my sight blurred, my hands fisted, and my heart shattered.
    I woke gasping for air, my hands balled up the sheets underneath me. Blinking my eyes to see clearer, I realized I was back in my own bedroom, shaking and soaked in my own sweat. I looked to my side and saw Veronica curled on her side of the bed. Breathe , I told myself. It was just a horrid dream.
    In that moment, I wanted to reach out to Veronica and hold her in my arms. But something was suffocating me. Remnants of the anger I had felt in dream state spilled into my reality. I needed to get a grip before I touched her. I rolled off the bed and dressed for another outdoor run.

    * * *
    “ Y ou haven’t told me how your trip went.”
    She picked up another piece of chocolate-drizzled crepe off her plate and lifted it to her mouth. “I was busy,” she said, shrugging one shoulder, when she finished chewing, and offered me another piece.
    “Did you like the Maldives?” I stared right into her eyes, twinkling with her smile, as I wrapped my lips around the fork. Yes, I could, beyond any doubt, spend the rest of my life with this goddess.
    Veronica hummed, then nodded. A drop of whipped cream fell on top of one of her breasts. As helpful as I ever was, I licked her clean.
    “Sweet.” The word was meant, not for the cream, but the taste of her skin. “Would you like to go back someday?”
    “I’m going back in November for the actual event.”
    “Oh?” I hadn’t thought of that. “With me?” I asked, my voice low and serious.
    She smiled and nodded, licking off cream from the fork. “I would love that. Maybe I’d be able to actually enjoy the sun and the beach.”
    “I wouldn’t be too sure of that.” I gave her bottom a little squeeze.
    Veronica laid her head on my chest. “I missed you so much. It was so hard to be away from you.”
    Brushing off her hair to the side, I kissed her forehead and asked, “Why don’t we go away this weekend?”
    “To Maldives?”
    “Or somewhere closer.” Somewhere where tropical storms, or any storms of any kind, could not hamper my plans. “We can go to Napa. Finally see the vineyard?”
    She hummed, circling her finger over the tip of my clavicle. “There’s work...”
    I didn’t let her finish. “You can work from there. The house has Wi-Fi.”
    “I know that. But...” She pushed up to face me, cradling my head in her hands. “I’ve just returned. I have to meet with