Page 57 of The Heiress Bride
Fuck. Her words, her voice, are a stroke to my ever-needy libido.
“Not yet. Come on…”
He takes her hand and tugs her out of my hold. I don’t even need to touch him to tell that he’s vibrating with happy energy. Happy, effervescent energy.
They stride across the deck, pastthe hot tub and all the lounge chairs, then he guides her down the stairs to the swim deck at the water level.
Alex and I follow at a bit of a distance because this is King’s treat. His vision. His project. He’s been a little bit nervous to show her, so we’re here for moral support. Which feels silly to me because women eat up sweet gestures like this. Hell. Men do too. Romance is a two-way street.
Her gasp floats on the breeze, and it’s a joyous sound.
“Called it,” I murmur over my shoulder as we descend the stairs.
16
GABE
“Wha—This is yours?” she asks.
“This is ours,” he corrects, so gently.
The massive boat bobs gently in the water, tiny waves lapping at the sides. I throw an arm over Alex’s shoulder, reeling him in. Gosh, this feels like a dream come true. King isn’t the only one vibrating with excitement.
In scripty black letters across the pearlescent white paint are the wordsOur Wildfire.
“What do you think?” King asks, still nervous. “Will it do?”
She giggles, throwing her arms around his shoulders, sloshing wine everywhere. I love that you never can tell what’s going to come out of her mouth. It keeps us on our toes.
“More than. And you know it.”
“Good.” He picks her up, spinning her around. Her glass is completely empty now. What a waste.
Alex has been quiet, which isn’t unusual, but I check in anyway.
“You good?”
“Yeah.”
He’s watching King and Katherine as she pets the paint, tracing the boat’s name. “I’m happy for them.”
“I’m happy for us.”
He glances over at me, and fucking hell, I go all misty-eyed. What is going on today? Alex cups my jaw, pulling me in for a kiss. The first touch melts me. I brace my hands on his hips and kiss him back. He’s got a hint of a beard that tickles my upper lip and sends spirals of need through my body. I want to feel that roughness across my skin, teasing my thighs.
Pulling back, he tips his forehead against mine. A heartbeat passes, then another. “I’m happy for us too.”
How does he have such amazing eyelashes?
“You know, I wouldn’t change a thing,” I tell him. As much as I yearned for him a decade ago, this is exactly where we were meant to be and when we were supposed to get here.
“No?”
I shake my head, which really just rocks ourforeheads back and forth. “No. This is exactly how we were supposed to end up. You were supposed to meet Katie Bird. She was meant to drive me to distraction. We were supposed to go to that Gala together and drop an obscene amount of money on her.”
“And then Kingston found his way to us,” he says.
“Yeah. And I had a bit of, you know, healing to do.”
