Free A Girl's Best Friend by Crystal Jordan

I am not like Sherona. I know your work is a part of what makes you you .”
    “I love you.” He said it because he had to. He couldn’t keep it in anymore. How long he’d kept the words back, he’d never know. He’d been fighting it and ignoring it for so long, it was just second nature. But that was gone, and the words wouldn’t stay unspoken.
    Tears sparkled in her emerald eyes, but she didn’t say anything in return and it kicked him hard in the gut. Had she just come to tell him she could handle his job so they could be friends again? He didn’t know if he could go back to that. Too late. He’d waited too long to tell her, to let her know that she was everything to him.
    She stepped toward the front of the house and his heart stopped beating. She was leaving .
    After reaching in her purse, she held out the ring he’d shoved into her hand the night before. “I couldn’t wear it.”
    He winced. She couldn’t wear it because she just wanted to be his friend . “I understand.”
    She pulled in a deep breath. “You never asked me.”
    “Wh-what?” His mind drew a blank.
    A gamin grin flashed over her face, and she offered him the ring. “Come on, Tyrone. I dare you. Ask me.”
    Hope pushed hard against his chest. He looked her in the eyes, praying that he did this right. His hand cupped around hers so they both held the diamond ring. “I love you, Lorna. You’re my best friend, the love of my life. You make me laugh, you make me think, you don’t let me get away with anything, you get to me the way no one else ever could, you’re under my skin. Marry me. I want to spend the rest of my life making you happy.”
    “Yes.” She lifted her palm to his jaw.
    He caught her hand and slid his ring on her finger. Just seeing it there, he had to grit his teeth at the hot possession that swamped him. He’d waited so many years for her to be his. His dick was rock hard from having her near, from having her admit they should be together. He needed to show her how much she meant to him, how much he wanted her…every day for the rest of his life. For better or for worse, until death parted them. God, yes. “I want—”
    “I know what you want.” A small, secretive grin pulled up the corners of her full lips. Her finger looped through the ribbon that tied her dress closed.
    Lust slammed into him when the black fabric hit the floor. She was dressed just like he’d always fantasized. Thank you, Jesus. Knee high black boots encased her smooth legs. He let his gaze travel slowly upward to take in all of her. A black leather corset decorated with silver rings and a black lace thong were all she wore. His fingers curled into fists to keep from stroking every inch of her creamy skin. If anything could show him that she was willing to grow with him, to work to solve their issues together, it was this. Showing off her body, letting him just look without trying to cover herself. She amazed him.
    Then his brain shut down and all he could think about was sliding his tongue under that g-string and tasting her cream. It had been almost a day since he’d had her. Too long. Far too long. He never wanted to go without her again.
    “You like it?” She fingered the corset laces when he continued to stare in silence.
    A strained smile pulled at his mouth, and his hand slid down the front of his pants to cup his straining cock. “What do you think?”
    “I’m glad.” Turning, she walked away and led him up the stairs to his bedroom. There was no way he couldn’t follow her.
    He gave a short bark of laughter. “Glad you can lead me around like a—”
    She spun when she cleared the doorway and backed toward his wide bed. Just where he needed her to be. “Glad you want me, too. I never thought…with the way I look—”
    “I keep telling you you’re gorgeous.” He shook his head, trying to clear it of anything but the sight of her in that outfit and his bed. His woman wearing his ring in his house. Was there a more