Chapter 19 – Greyson
“No.”
In every dream I’d ever had, every fantasy of making Mari my wife, I’d never expected my answer to be that.
“No?” The rejection hit swiftly, and her voice shook as she pulled away. It was hell trying not to grab her back, but while I needed her closer, she needed distance. She’d always been the type to run away and gather her thoughts before she came back to discuss things. She needed solitude and peace to process, but that wasn’t going to happen this time.
I sat up, and even though she was only a few feet away, arms wrapped around herself as if they could hold her together, it felt like a canyon.
“I don’t want you like this.”
“Like what, Greyson? Begging you? Because I can guarantee that’s not going to happen again,” she snapped.
“Scared.”
Silence fell thick and painful around us.
“You think I asked because I’m scared?”
“Yes,” I admitted. The look on her face when Lucia had dropped the marriage pact on her…it had been just as devastated as when she’d found out about Nate. Honestly, it was probably worse. “I don’t want you as my wife because I’m the only choice. I want you as my wife because we love each other. Because it’s the most rational step forward. I want you because you want me as much as I crave you.”
For a moment, she just stared at me like she had no idea who I was. Then she huffed, and the shock quickly wore off, transitioning to something almost warmer. It was unexpected. Mari’s fear of rejection tended to react with snarky barbs and sharp words. Instead, she climbed on my lap.
“Why do you think I asked you to marry me?”
It felt like a trick question, but I couldn’t help answering. My queen commanded, and I obeyed. “Because you’re upset with Dominic and Nate. You think I’m the safe choice.”
I didn’t mind being the safe choice when we all knew I’d never hurt Mari intentionally, but it stung that she’d used it to decide something as important as this.
Unexpectedly, Mari laughed, head thrown back and loud. She was so fucking beautiful like that, unencumbered by the world and its problems, and I wanted her in my lap, on my cock, always.
When she quieted, she took my face in her hands. “You’ve never been the safe choice, Grey. You’ve always been the one most likely to break my heart in two.”
I clenched my hands at her hips. “I would never.”
“But you could. It’s always been you, Grey. Even with Dominic and Nate, and the others before them, you’ve always been my forever. I did ask you because I was scared, but not for the reason you think.” She slid closer, running her hands through my hair so softly it was almost heartbreaking. “I cannot lose you. Not to secrets or life or this fucking war. If I don’t have you by my side, at my back, I can’t breathe. I asked because I need you and I love you. I know now that there isn’t a future where I exist without you wearing my ring. Don’t make me live it.”
I cleared my throat, trying not to show how much her words meant to me because I wasn’t sure I could believe them. Not truly. I’d been without her for so long that some part of me still expected her to walk away, to choose someone else. When I told her that, she frowned.
“Why do you think I’ll leave you?”
Shrugging, I tried not to show how much the idea of it hurt, but Mari was my everything. My blood and bones. Losing her wasn’t losing a limb; it was losing my existence. But I didn’t know how to tell her that, so I just said, “Forever is a long time.”
Mari had always understood me better than anyone else, even Antoni. He’d seen the surface, but Mari had always seen to my heart with ease. She brought our foreheads together, whispering against my lips. “You think I can’t love you enough for forever, Greyson?”
“I’d understand if you couldn’t.” Some days, I wasn’t sure I had anything substantial inside me, and it wouldn’t surprise me if it wasn’t enough for her. If I wasn’t enough.
She pulled back to stare at me until, finally, she climbed carefully off my lap. The disappointment was staggering, but I kept my hands where they were and didn’t call out to her. She didn’t need me chasing after her right now, not on the heels of so much bad news. When I expected her to head for the door, she walked farther into her suite, and I watched unsurely as she moved over to the ornate dresser and pulled open the top drawer. She dug around for a minute and brought out a package I’d never seen, still in the mailer.
Keeping it in hand, she climbed onto the bed and gave it to me.
“What is this?” I asked warily, unsure what was making my heart race so much. For the first time in ages, my hands were shaking.
It was like my body was telling me something was happening. Something important.
She tipped her head to one side and smiled. “Open it.”
I pulled off the mailer, surprised to find a jewelry box inside the size I’d expect for a necklace. When my hand hesitated over the flip lock, Mari laughed at me. “Be brave, Greyson.”
Three rings sat on the velvet, similar but not identical. As I looked at them, my eyes caught the one on the far right. It was a charcoal gray, shined to near sparkling. A single line of bright silver broke up the bottom edge. It was sophisticated and smart, basic without being boring. I loved it. When Mari gave a pointed nod, I tilted the band and saw something incredible.
The inside of the band was etched with a single word. Always.
“That one’s yours.”
My eyes snapped to hers, disbelief dropping my jaw even as a sense of rightness dug into my bones. I’d known it the moment I’d reached for it, hadn’t I?
“I had them made a while ago. They came in recently, and it just hasn’t seemed like the right time to give it to you.”
Because there were three rings in the box and only two of us left.
“Why tonight?”
Mari climbed back onto my lap, circling my neck with her arms, cradling me in every inch of her warmth. “Because I don’t want to spend another second without you wearing my ring.”
When I couldn’t speak, she plucked the ring from my hand, holding it between us, though our eyes were locked together. “Marry me, Greyson Andrews. Be my husband. Live with me, fight with me, love with me. Always.”
Always. “Yes.”
Mari wasn’t asking because of Dominic’s secrets or Nate’s; she was asking because of me. Her lifelong best friend, her childhood protector. Her soul mate.
Just me.
And I would love her forever. Always. A day beyond eternity.
The metal was cool against my skin as Mari slipped it on my finger, but I’d never felt anything more right than the weight on my hand.
The second it was on, I grabbed her by the hips and tossed her off me. She startled, barely catching herself as I got up and headed for the door.
Her huff was uncertain as she yelled at my back. “I have to admit, I expected more than a runaway groom from that proposal. This better not be a warning sign.”
Smirking to her, I said nothing as I slipped out the door. Dominic was waiting in the hallway, legs spread wide on the floor, head tipped against the wall.
“Is she okay?”
“She will be,” I said before hustling to my room next door. I probably should’ve told him, but it didn’t feel right. Tonight was ours—Mari’s and mine. Tomorrow, they’d sort things out and he’d be back in the fold, but for the first time ever, she was mine. Just mine.
For a few hours, at least.
It took me seconds to find what I needed and cram it into my pocket, and a few more to get back to the bedroom and lock the door behind me.
Then I pulled out the box and dropped to one knee in front of the bed. “Marianna Marcosa. You’re the love of my life. My heart, soul, and breath. I don’t want to live a day without you. Marry me.”
She slid out of bed, eyes bright with happy tears. “You weren’t supposed to counter propose.”
“If you think it’s necessary for me to wear your ring, you have no idea how much I need you wearing mine. Say yes, reina. Be my queen forever.”
“Yes. Of course.”
I slid the ring on her finger, happy when we looked at them together and they matched. A one-carat upside-down pear-cut diamond sat in the center, and the rest of the ring was all filigree and diamonds around the top edge. It looked like a crown, the perfect ring for my queen.
Mari’s eyes were wide as she took it in. “It’s beautiful, Grey.”
“I’ve had it for ages. Found it in an antique shop one afternoon and just knew it was yours. I wasn’t sure if I’d ever get the chance to give it to you, but I kept it just in case.” I’d stored it in a safe-deposit box in a neighboring town for years. But after Cameron’s and Aislynn’s wedding, I’d moved it into my room, wanting it close in case I got up the nerve to ask.
Seeing it on Mari’s finger felt like a full-circle moment.
We stared at it for another beat longer, then I tossed her on the bed.
I could hear those happy squeals every day for the rest of my life.
Our first kiss knocked me off-kilter. It felt like it always did with Mari, like coming home, but there was something else too. For the first time ever, I believed that I’d get to keep her. That she was well and truly mine. Yeah, I’d share her with the others, but she wasn’t going to wake up one day and wish she hadn’t chosen me.
She asked for forever because she wasn’t going to change her mind.
We were nothing but grasping hands and lingering lips as we tore off each other’s clothes like we were both in a hurry. I needed her naked and mewling under me, needed her pussy stretched around my cock, warm and wet and real.
I needed to claim her the only way I could.
My cock throbbed as she wrapped her hand around it, the glimmer of the ring bright against my skin, and I groaned into her neck. “Don’t tease me right now.”
“I’m not.” She swiped my head through her slick lips before lining me up and tilting her hips until just the tip of me was inside her. “Remind me what I have to look forward to for the rest of our lives.”
Done.
Cradling her close, I slid all the way home, not pausing for a second to let her catch her breath. She’d have all the time in the world for that later. Right now, I had to imprint myself on her body. With each thrust, I whispered all the things I loved about her, hoping my words embedded in her skin so she’d never doubt them, obsessed with how her body clenched with each one.
Mari loved me dirty, but she loved me soft, too.
Sneaking a hand between us, I circled her clit, knowing we were both close. “Greyson,” she warned.
“It’s okay, baby. I’ve got you.”
When she came, clenching around me, she took my breath away. Head thrown back, mouth parted on a sigh, and fingers digging into my arms. It was the sight of that ring on her finger that sent me over, pushing myself as deep as I could go, as if I could brand her from the force of my orgasm. Mark her like she’d marked me so long ago.
For a moment, neither of us moved. Then I realized I was going to crush her and rolled us, not willing to let her move even an inch. Hell, I was still inside her and desperate never to leave. As we caught our breath, I brushed her hair back, needing to see her face. When she waggled her eyebrows at me, I thought I was going to combust. “I’m going to love you forever, baby.”
She grinned at me. “Always?”
“Always.”
She rested her head on my chest, letting me stroke her hair as we both came down from the endorphin high that I knew we’d be repeating soon enough. The longer we lay there, the more I wanted to come clean. “I knew about the deal.”
“Antoni,” Mari guessed, tipping her head up to see me. I nodded and she sighed. “I was too harsh with Dominic.”
I hummed, not agreeing or disagreeing. “He knew better than to hide it.”
“He did, but still. I promise to fix it tomorrow.”
“Secrets are only good if we’re keeping them from everyone else.”
She paused. “I have to tell you something. I’ll tell Dominic tomorrow too, but…I saw Nate. We…talked.”
“Just talked?” Because her voice sounded anything but sure.
“No.”
Ah. I waited to see if any residual jealousy surged within me, but other than concern for her safety, I felt nothing. The longer I spent thinking about Nate’s lies, the less the entire situation made sense. Sure, I’d initially been pissed, but I saw the way he looked at Mari. I’d watched him interact with her, and I’d checked every single second of his time at the mansion while she’d isolated herself from us. He’d never taken a step out of line.
If he truly was a spy, he was a fucking terrible one.
But Mari wasn’t ready to hear that yet.
“That’s where you were last night? With him?”
She nodded, and I pulled her closer, letting her rest on my chest so she knew I wasn’t mad. She hummed in her throat, a happy sound that made me smile, even if the situation sucked. “I needed closure.”
“Did you get it?”
It took her a long time to answer. “I don’t know. He says he loves me, that he made a mistake and he’s going to fix it, but I can’t get over it.”
“Do you believe him?”
“How can I? He’s a liar. All he did was lie to me. To us.”
That wasn’t all he did, but I could understand his lies being the most pressing thing for Mari. “Maybe.”
Because the more I thought about it, the less the lies made sense. Especially knowing that he rarely lied about anything at all.
And the love he showed Mari, the kindness? That couldn’t be faked. Not the way he did it.
No, I had a feeling Nathaniel Beckstrom had been all too honest with my queen, and one day, she was going to realize it.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.”
“I’m not mad at you, reina. I can’t understand what you’ve been through, and if that was what you needed, then so be it. All I ask is that you keep me in the loop.” I tipped her head up, pressing a gentle kiss to her lips. “I’ll follow you into hell any day, without question.”
“I love you.”
“I love you too.” With a grin, I smacked her ass and kept her still. “Now, rest up. I’ve got plans for you tonight.”