“No!”
“Are you sure, though?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm, why do I feel like you’re seducing me just so you can escape this.”
“Hmph. This is child’s play. I am not scared, Ron.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Stop it.” I glare up at him, and that merely makes him widen his smile.
Sometimes, I hate how easily he can read through all my layers. He’s the only person who sees past the persona I project onto the world and senses the vulnerable part in me. The part I usually keep under lock and key because I don’t want it to get hurt by the harsh outside world.
With Ronan, though, I want to display it and let him feast on it. Despite his jokester personality, he has so much empathy, it’s insane.
It makes me want to protect him, too, because the world is too cruel for someone like him. The world doesn’t deserve a pure soul like Ronan.
He grabs my cheeks with his hands so that we’re staring into each other’s eyes. I’m so tiny compared to him and I hate that he has so much height on me, I have to stand on my tiptoes to get to his face — or close enough.
Whenever he does this, the entire world disappears from around us. The only one I see is him.
The only thing I feel is his body glued to mine, even though the vest and ropes are in the way.
“Do you trust me?” he murmurs in the tone that turns me boneless every time.
“With my life.”
“Time to test that, ma belle.”
Ugh. I must’ve been drunk when I agreed to this. Oh, wait, I was. But not on alcohol. I was completely spent last night after he wrenched multiple orgasms out of me. So when he suggested we go bungee jumping today, I might’ve agreed while half-asleep.
Ronan, being a manipulative arsehole when it suits him, took that opportunity and brought us here first thing in the morning.
“How about five rounds?”
He grins. “Okay.”
“Okay?”
“I will have those rounds as soon as we go back, trésor.”
“No. You don’t get the rounds if you make me do this.”
“What if I change your mind?”
“You can’t change my mind.”
“If you like this, if you let go and scream, then I will get my rounds.”
I poke his side. “So now they’re your rounds?”
“They always were.” He winks, and I can’t help but smile.
Ronan will be Ronan. He’s addicted to adrenaline and fun. Although we’re both moving on from the trauma of our pasts, Ronan has never changed into a grim person.
He’s still the heart of the party and the one people gravitate towards. I’m one of those people, but the difference is that he somehow gravitates towards me, too.
He somehow can’t fall asleep unless I’m by his side, holding him close. He somehow only searches for me.
He’s somehow mine.
My husband. My world.
He’s everything I could’ve asked for and more. I might be addicted to him. The thought of waking up to find him gone gives me nightmares.
So whatever. I don’t care if it’s bungee jumping or literal jumping. I’d go anywhere with this man.
Hell included.
I wrap my arms around his waist, holding on to him because he’s the only anchor I’ve ever needed in my life.
“That’s my woman.” He leans his head down and captures my mouth in a kiss.
I get lost in the softness of his lips, in the way his entire body angles towards me. My eyes close as I soak in the overwhelming sensation. The way Ronan kisses is like he’s saying without words that he can’t get enough of me as much as I can’t get enough of him.
His lips slowly leave mine and I open my eyes to stare at his dark ones.
“Why do I love you so much, Ronan?” I sigh.
His grin is to die for. It’s so bright and happy and I want to keep it that way for a lifetime. He holds me to him by the waist. “Because I won you over, belle.”
And then we jump. Arms around each other, hearts beating loudly against one another.
And in the air, when we’re both falling and gazing into each other’s eyes, a sense of freedom hits me in the bones.
The freedom of being with this man until death do us part.
15
Silver
I moan as the soft sea breeze hits my body.
My nipples peak and I rub my thighs together. That’s when I realise I have nothing on.
No clothes.
My eyes shoot open, wrenching me from sleep, and sure enough, I’m lying on the chaise longue under the sun, completely naked.
Cole.
No one other than that pervert would remove my clothes. I hate that the part I’m the most bothered about is that I wasn’t fully awake to witness it.
Groaning, I get up on my elbows to search for my husband.
I smile to myself.
Cole is my husband. It took us ten years since we got together and twenty years since we promised each other our firsts, but we’re finally here.
We’re married.
We’re spending our honeymoon in France, in that small town where we first kissed each other in public. The town where we got our tattoos together.
My fingers snake over my side to touch the butterfly I got that day. Although a bit impulsive, that was one of the best decisions I’ve made in my life.
Aside from marrying the love of my life. The peace of my days and the absolute chaos in others.
But I wouldn’t change anything about him, even if I could.
We’re currently on a yacht, sailing through the Mediterranean Sea. And yes, Cole owns a yacht. I think I underestimated William Nash’s fortune, because apparently, even though he passed away a long time ago, he spent his life building a literal empire of gold.
It’s become even better ever since Cole struck a partnership with both Jonathan King, Aiden’s father, and Ethan Steel, Elsa’s father. He knows exactly which bigwigs to target. With his calculative personality, he was made for the business world.
And my competitive personality is also fit for it. I can’t wait for Cole and me to conquer the world, or as he says, to own it.
We’ll have a problem with Aiden, considering his own competitive streak, but he stands no chance if Cole and I come at him full force.
That arsehole is going down.
I don’t bother searching for clothes as I stand up. We’re alone on the yacht, and although it’s not currently moving, there are no people in sight. We’re literally in the middle of nowhere, where no one knows us and we can be ourselves.
Not that it would cause a problem if we were together in public. After all, we got married.
But, in a way, we yearn for our private time together, to do the freaky stuff only the two of us know. Cole still ties me up and wrenches one explosive orgasm after the other from me. We still go to La Débauche to watch other people have sex while we get each other off.
We still sneak to dark corners for quickies because my husband can’t keep his hands off me — just like I can’t keep my hands off him.
“Cole?” I call, but there’s no reply.
I search downstairs and in the rooms, but there’s no sign of him. I return upstairs, my fingers shaking the slightest bit.