Desperate Desires (Mergers & Acquisitions #3)

Chapter 18-Ono

I nodded, ignoring the raging pride that sliced through me as I grabbed the documents and handed them to Gio before taking her hand and pulling her out of the SUV.

The skies were dark gray, but snow wasn’t expected to fall until much later. Nothing was going to delay our flight.

We ran the few feet towards the stairs that led to the cabin of my private airplane.

Michelle’s hand gripped mine, and damn, but I loved the feel of her clinging to me so tightly.

Like she trusted me. Like she wanted me.

It eased the guilt that sat heavily inside my soul. After all, I was the one who did this to her. It was me who put her in this position.

But I was also the man who would do anything for her. I’d make her happy. She just had to give me a chance.

Tires squealed, more shots were fired, and I waited a bit to make sure Gio got out of there in time. I nodded at the staff to close the doors and start the plane rolling.

Next thing I knew, we were airborne.

I pulled Michelle into the cockpit.

“It’s signed. Now marry us,” I told the copilot who turned to face me.

The older man nodded. He was a good man. Someone I trusted enough to get this job done.

I’d already made sure he was ordained, and this was as legal as it would get since we were still in the states.

He grabbed a script from his pocket, but I couldn’t hear anything except the sound of my own heart beating.

“Do you take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband?” the copilot asked some minutes later.

Michelle sucked in a sharp breath.

Her dark gaze flashed to mine, and I couldn’t move, frozen in her stare.

“I do,” she whispered, and I felt her vow down to my soul.

When it came time for me to return it, I did. No hesitations. It shouldn’t have, but it still surprised the fuck out of me.

Making her my wife felt so fucking right.

Like fate.

As if, in that singular, breathtaking moment, all the scattered, missing pieces of my life had somehow drifted back into place—perfectly aligned, like they had always belonged there.

The second his voice rang out, pronouncing us husband and wife, I felt an invisible tether cinched tight around my heart, anchoring me to something unshakable, something whole. Binding me to her.

Michelle Davis, no, it was Bottarelli now. My wife.

Years of quiet longing, and unvoiced uncertainty, of restless searching, evaporated in an instant.

All the broken edges I’d carried for so long softened and fit together with hers, mending the parts of me I never even realized were fractured.

In that moment, I felt found.

Complete.

Like everything I’d been missing had somehow been waiting for me wrapped inside this perfect, precious woman.

I was exactly where I was meant to be. And I mean to keep her.

Forever.

I took her left hand and slid the five-carat diamond solitaire onto her finger. It was big, a little ostentatious, but I’d had it set deep within the band so as not to catch on anything.

Michelle’s eyes widened as I handed her the plain platinum band to slide onto my finger.

She did it automatically, and fuck, nothing ever felt so right.

The cool metal seemed to sear into my skin, branding me as hers, and I fucking loved it.

“You may kiss the lovely bride. Congrats,” the copilot finished with a grin at my now wife.

I snarled at him and his smile fell away as he fled back to his seat.

“Um, Ono?”

Michelle tugged on my shirt. I turned towards her, still contemplating kicking the shit out of the man who’d just married us.

“Yeah?”

“I think I’m gonna. That is, could you?”

That was all she got out before her eyes rolled up and she started to fall to the floor.

I caught her before that happened.

I wouldn’t let my wife fucking fall.

Lifting her easily, and cradling her close, I carried her to the private cabin aboard the plane.

And then it hit me as I laid her down on top of the mattress.

Michelle was mine now.

Finally, irrevocably mine.

A whisper of a smile danced across my lips as I tucked a blanket around her and kissed her temple before I joined her on top of the mattress and held her close.

Maybe it was fucked up. Maybe I was wrong to take her like this. To make her marry me.

But I didn’t think so.

And with her tucked safely in my arms with my ring on her finger, I really didn’t care.