Page 48 of Sinful Empire (Mount Trilogy 3)
He sees me. Not just the outside I show him, but into the heart of me.
“Are you going to have a problem with that?”
He shakes his head. “I knew exactly who I was getting, and I’ve been fine with it from the beginning.”
“Then you had an advantage over me, because I had no idea.” I pause, trying to figure out exactly how to explain what I want to say, and Lachlan waits silently, almost expectantly. Probably for the worst. But that’s not at all what I’m thinking. “You’re the most complicated man I’ve ever met in my entire life.”
He opens his mouth to speak, but I continue.
“But not in a bad way, obviously.” I nod at the cake in front of me. “I wouldn’t have married you if I wasn’t already in love with you. And I think I started to fall in love with you when you finally let me see the real you. In Dublin. That’s where I finally got to know Lachlan, not Mount.”
“There isn’t one without the other.”
“I guess it’s a good thing then that I get both.” I stand and pick up my cake plate. “So, let’s make it official.”
He rises, holding his plate. “I thought we did that in front of a priest and a judge.”
“You’re such a man. It’s not official until there’s cake and dancing.” I meet him at the end of the table.
“Dancing?” he asks, one eyebrow raised.
“Definitely dancing.”
He nips my fingers as he snatches the piece of cake away, at the same time feeding me the slice from his plate. Odile’s chocolate whiskey cake with Irish cream frosting melts on my tongue.
“Damn, that’s good,” Lachlan says, and I agree.
“You can have more after the dancing.”
He steals the plate from my hand, and they both clatter as he returns them to the table. “There’s something that comes before the dancing.”
“What’s that?”
Lachlan pulls me into his arms. “I get to kiss the bride for as long as I want.”
My cheeks ache from smiling so hard. “I can handle that.”
His lips close over mine, and happiness bursts inside me.
Mount
I ignore my phone the first three times it vibrates incessantly in my pocket, but when it starts for the fourth time, Keira giggles and backs away to change the music again.
I pull it out of my pocket, pissed that anyone would dare interrupt what is the closest thing I’ll ever have to a wedding reception. Just Keira and me, dancing with candles lit around the restaurant, and the bright light of the moon shining through the thick glass window.
The screen reads J.
“What the hell is going on that you can’t handle it yourself?”
“Got a tip that the cops are raiding the casino tonight, boss. Thought you’d want to know.”
Fuck.
“Tonight? Who the hell don’t we have on our payroll? Who’d fucking dare?”
“Apparently, there are more good cops in this city than either of us realized.”
“Shut it down and clear it out.”
