by Kent, Rina
We’ve already lost ten years of our lives apart. There will be no more wasting time.
I stand on tiptoes and brush my lips against his. “I thought playing with fire came with being yours.”
“Fuck.” His hold tightens around my waist. “You’re everything I could’ve asked for.”
“And you are mine.”
“Even when I piss you off?”
I sigh. “Even when you piss me off. I don’t only love your protective side, Aiden. I fell in love with everything about you.”
Aiden rests his forehead against mine so that I’m captured in his grey irises. “You were made for me, sweetheart.”
“And you were made for me.”
His eyes glint with sadism. “Do you trust me?”
“Absolutely.”
Aiden grabs me tight and drags me to the edge. I shriek as we fall all the way down.
It’s not fear that takes me over. It’s complete, utter excitement because by being in Aiden’s arms, I have no doubt that everything will be fine.
He said I saved him once upon a time.
What he doesn’t know is that he saved me, too.
13
Kimberly
When Xan said we’d spend our honeymoon in a castle, I didn’t think it would be an actual castle.
No clue how he even got us this whole mansion all to ourselves.
This area of Yorkshire has a lot of castles due to the wars that happened in the Middle Ages, but there’s something special about this one.
I run up the stairs, half escaping Xan’s merciless clutches, and half attempting to find out why I have an intuition that it’s a special castle.
My feet come to a halt when I reach the top, and it’s not because of the breathtaking view of the fields below — although that does play a part.
It’s the whole image of the high towers and the terrace. The stone railings and the smooth floor, which give a nostalgic view.
Everything is so familiar.
A hard body crashes into me from behind and I squeal as I lose my footing. Xan wraps his strong arms around my waist, steadying me in place as he spins me around to face him.
He’s breathing heavily, probably due to the run up the old stairs. I, on the other hand? I cease breathing altogether.
For a moment in time, I get lost in the deep magical blue of his eyes, in the rebellious blond strands falling all over his forehead, in the way he’s holding me close, as if he’s afraid to let me go.
I wind my arms around his lean waist because, in a way, I’m also scared of losing him. The thought of not having him in my life after I finally found him again gives me nightmares sometimes. The type he holds me through and coaxes me to completely forget about.
He raises a perfect brow. “You thought you could escape me, Green?”
“I wasn’t escaping.”
“Not that you could with these short legs.”
“Hey!”
“Or your stamina.”
“I’ve been working on improving it!”
“You mean we’ve been working on improving it.” He winks.
My cheeks flame and I stare to the side. “Shut up.”
He places two fingers underneath my chin and switches my attention back to him. “Did I tell you that you’re so fucking adorable when you’re shy?”
“I’m not a kid anymore.”
“No, you’re not. Doesn’t mean you’re any less adorable, Green.” He pinches my cheek and I swat his hand away as I fight the blood rushing to my face.
His attention remains on me as a beautiful, heart-stopping smile grazes his lips. It doesn’t matter how many times I see that smile or how long I spend with him. The way those dimples make an appearance will always be my weakness. I can’t resist stopping and staring and probably looking like an idiot.
This man is now my husband.
My. Husband.
The man I will share the rest of my life with.
I’m so lucky that I found him when we were young. We had a connection before we even knew what a connection meant. The whole separation in between, although cruel, morphed us into who we are today and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Neither of us are perfect, but we fit perfectly. After RES, we built back our relationship from the past. Even though we don’t agree on everything, we don’t clash. We don’t stay mad at each other for too long.
Every night, we crawl back into each other’s arms and sigh as we fall asleep.
It’s even better than all the romance novels I’ve read. Those are fictional, but my Xan is real.
Very real.
He’s the most real thing in my life and nothing will take that away.
“Green!”
“Huh?” Was he speaking?
“I asked why you came up here?”
“Oh, it’s...the view.”
“The view?”
“The castle. Doesn’t it look like it’s from one of those children’s books I got from Nana?”
He grins wide, his dimples deepening. “You noticed that.”
“You did it on purpose?”
He feigns a curtsy. “Your knight is always at your service, my queen.”
“God.” I can’t help smiling like an idiot. It must’ve taken him a lot of digging to find something remotely similar to what we used to read together.
I palm his cheek, thumb stroking his skin. “I’m so lucky to have you.”
“It’s the other way around. I’m the lucky bastard because you’re in my life, because you forgave all my fuckups and chose me. I’ll spend the rest of my life making it up to you, Green. After all, you staked your claim on me when you named me your knight.”
“And now, I’m Mrs Knight.”
“I love my last name on you.”
“Me, too.”
He brushes his lips against mine, and although it’s brief, my breathing hitches and I snuggle further into the hard ridges of his body. There was too much distance between us in the past and there’s no way I’ll let that repeat.
But even with the distance, we saw each other. We felt each other’s darkness and demons, and I think that’s why we’re inseparable now.
That’s why we appreciate each moment spent in each other’s embrace. We take nothing for granted, because life is meant to be lived to its fullest.
“Do you know that I love you, Green?”
I laugh. “You kind of tell me every day.”
“It’s not enough. Nothing is enough when I’m with you. Now say it.”
“What?”
“That you love me, too.”
“What if I stopped?”
“You won’t.”
“Arrogant much, Xan?”
“No, but I will fight for your love all over again if I have to.”
“As if I would ever stop loving you. My heart and my soul are yours, Xan. They always were.”
“You forgot something.”
“What?”
“Your body is also mine.”
I squeal, then break down in giggles as he lifts me in his arms and throws me on the wooden bench.
Here we go again.
14
Teal
“Ready, ma belle?”
No.
I’m far from being ready. Actually, I want to crawl back to our hotel room.
Instead of sounding like a coward, I rub Ronan’s bicep slowly, which has become my sign for when I want him to fuck me.
Though I don’t really get to use it a lot, because he’s usually ready before I have to tell him anything.
I rise on my tiptoes to whisper in his ear, “Let’s go back to the hotel and you can have three rounds.”
His eyes darken, and I feel his bulge growing against my stomach.
I’ll never get used to how easily I can turn Ronan on. Sometimes, it only takes a touch and he’s more than ready to ravage me senseless, even in public places.
Not here, though.
We’re standing on the top of the C
olossus Bridge near Milan and there are too many people for him to act on his desire.
“Fuck, belle,” he mutters under his breath. “When did you decide to take cocktease as a job?”
Since I got to know him, but I don’t say that. Instead, I run my fingers over the hard muscles of his chest and down to his waist, making him groan.
He grabs both of my hands in one of his own and imprisons them at his chest. A sly smile grazes his lips. “Are you scared?”
“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.
I try telling myself that he’s probably in the captain’s cabin, considering that he’s the one who personally sails the yacht, but my heart won’t stop beating loud and fast.
After everything t
hat happened between us, I don’t like spending time apart from Cole. Not that he ever stays away from me. He’s my shadow most of the time and rarely gives me an opportunity to miss him.
Now, however, there’s no trace of him.
I stand at the railing and peek over. That’s when I see him. In the sea, floating with his head facing down.
My heart hammers when he doesn’t move. No, no…
Cole might have had that trauma in the pool of his old house, but he’s an excellent swimmer outside of that.
Why isn’t he moving?
I don’t think about it as I jump. Cold water shocks my skin and fills my nostrils, but I don’t pause as I reach for him. By the time I touch him, he’s surfaced, his wet hair sticking to his forehead and his deep green eyes glinting in the sun.
I hit his shoulder, breathing heavily. “You fucking arsehole! I thought something had happened to you.”
He holds me to his chest, causing my hits to die out. “And leave you? You think that would be possible?”
I breathe in his cinnamon scent, taking my fill of him. “Don’t ever do that again.”
“I was only observing under the sea. I didn’t think you’d wake up so soon from your nap.”
“Well, you took my clothes, you pervert.”
“It takes one to know one, Butterfly.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“You think I don’t notice when you take pictures of me when I’m asleep?”
“I-I do not.”
“Do you stare at them when I’m not beside you? Do you have another kink I should know about? You know I’m always game for making all your kinky wishes come true.”
That he is. There hasn’t been any wish that he hasn’t made come true. He lights my body on fire in the best way possible, and he doesn’t stop until I’m so utterly spent and pleased.
“Ready whenever you are.” He thrusts his thigh between mine, making me feel his erection, and yup, he’s also naked.
“Is this why you removed my bikini?”
