Handcuffed in Housewares: Tulle and Tulips, Book 3 by Nikki Duncan Page B

the key.
    “I’m hoping instead of an escape you’ll choose to stay cuffed. To me. For life.”
    Her heart hammered her ribs. Her breath backed up in her lungs.
    “Burton.” The strength had left her voice so his name came out as a weakened whisper.
    “From the moment we met at this toilet you’ve captivated me. Holding out against your charm has been impossible.” He placed a hand on her thigh and flexed his fingers lightly. “I love you, Leigh.”
    Laughter came from nearby as the staff moved about their job. A few of them sounded really close. “Burton.”
    “Marry me, Leigh. Say you’ll spend your life with me and I guarantee there will be no more handcuffs in bathrooms.”
    She opened her mouth, but nothing would come out. Whatever she wanted to say she couldn’t push the answer out. She wanted to. She really wanted to answer him; he deserved it. She just couldn’t say what was in her heart with an audience.
    He wasn’t asking for sex in public. No, what he was asking for, a simple yes or no, was much more intimate.
    Again, Leigh opened her mouth to speak and again nothing came out. She wasn’t always chatty, but she was never at a loss for words. Burton widened his eyes in what had to be a silent plea. She answered with the same wide-eyed look, begging him to understand.
    Her conservative clothes had started as a defense after Derek. Over time the preference for privacy had become the norm and Burton was pushing her out of her comfort zone. She struggled when he kissed her in front of her friends. This was torment.
    “I shouldn’t have done this here,” he whispered. Getting to his feet, pulling her to hers, he stepped back. “I’m sorry.”
    “You asked me once if I’d figured out what I was missing in life.”
    His hand holding hers and the intensity of his gaze pierced her heart.
    “I was missing you, Leigh. I don’t want to miss a moment more.”
    He was laying himself bare at her feet, risking himself when he’d been as badly burned as her, and she was causing him pain. Everything he’d said and done since she met him had made her feel safe and secure and cherished. Hurting him, making him second-guess his decision to propose, was the last thing she wanted to do.
    Tuning out thoughts of fear and comfort zones, Leigh focused on the man she’d fallen in love with. Getting lost in his gaze, seeing the time they’d spent together and the fun they could still have, she lifted the empty cuff and snapped it around his right wrist.
    His mouth widened in a smile that stretched his cheeks. Questions lingered in his eyes, and she knew him well enough to know that while he wanted to take her gesture as a yes he was hesitant to believe it could be so easy.
    “I’ve been lost since we went bowling.” Leigh leaned forward and kissed Burton. “I’d love to spend my life with you.”
    With a jagged exhale, the tension tightening Burton’s shoulders relaxed. His gaze cleared and reflected happiness. “You really know how to make a man suffer.”
    “Sorry. You caught me off guard.” His laughter filled her until she was laughing too. “I’ve wanted to hear you say you loved me since my second visit to your house. Hearing you… I was stunned.”
    “I almost didn’t ask you here, but it seemed right.”
    “It’s right as long as you don’t ask to seal the deal here.” She kissed him again, not caring if anyone came around the corner and saw them. “I trust you more than I ever thought I could trust a man again.”
    “So you trust that I really am perfectly happy behind closed doors? That I always will be?”
    “I do.”
    “Then move in with me. Help me make my house our home.”
    Home. It was something she’d always dreamed of. He was the kind of man she’d dreamed of.
    “I can’t be in the house without thinking of you, Leigh. When you leave, the place feels empty. Because of you I’ve lost the desire to sell.”
    “You want to put down roots and keep the house?”
    “If it