Chapter 33
OUR KIND OF HAPPILY EVER AFTER
Rhys
“I’m going to marry you one day,” I say to Margot as I sink into the soaking tub in the bathroom off her bedroom.
There’s a view of the New York skyline from here.
Could get used to it, even if I’ll miss the mountains.
The triplets and Daphne and Oliver followed us here, and now, after Margot and Oliver gave the triplets initial debriefings about what to say to the press and when meetings with lawyers will happen and what to expect there, and after we’ve all watched some of the online reactions to the leaked news that Margot’s leaving Aurora Gardens because of a private rift with her father, they’ve all departed again.
She strips out of her shirt, and I suddenly forget anything else exists in the world beyond her.
Her and my suddenly aching cock.
“Not if I marry you first,” she says, dropping her pants too. “How’re the bubbles?”
“Lonely. Take your panties off.”
She peels them off slowly, first over one hip, then the other, teasing me before baring her whole pussy.
“I love you for more than how much I love having sex with you,” I tell her while I reach up and unhook her bra.
Her eyes get shiny. “I know,” she whispers.
I pull her closer to the bathtub. “And I’m going to love teaching you every day how lovable you are.”
She lowers herself into the warm water too, straddling my hips and leaning into me. “I don’t ever want to hurt you again.”
“You will. And I’ll hurt you. And we’ll work through it.”
“How are you so perfect?”
“Grief, life, trauma, and good genes.” It’s my line, and it’s the truth.
She’s smiling as she holds me by the cheeks and leans in for a kiss. “I’m going to deserve you one day. It’s my new life mission.”
“You already deserve me.”
“I don’t.”
“You’re a pain in the ass.”
She laughs, and then she’s kissing me, her pussy cradling my dick in the warm water, and it doesn’t matter who wins this argument.
We’ve both won.
I hook my hand behind her neck and kiss her harder. We’re surrounded by bubbles, which keeps making me smile.
“I hope we always have bubbles in our lives,” I murmur against her lips.
She smiles and kisses me again, her hands exploring my chest like she’s discovering me for the first time.
I drag my fingers down her spine to her ass, giving it a squeeze, and she shifts in the water, bubbles sloshing around us as she lowers herself on my aching hard-on.
I shudder. “Fuck, you feel so good.”
“You feel like everything I’ve never known I could want,” she whispers back.
She holds my gaze while she lifts nearly off of me, then sinks back down on me again.
My eyes cross.
I love the way she feels.
The way she touches me.
The way she puts me first without even realizing she’s doing it.
The way she loves me without even realizing she’s doing it.
“Thank you for coming after me,” she says as she rides me in the bathtub.
“Only you, Margot. I would only ever come after you.”
“I thought—you’d be better—without me.”
“It’s okay to be wrong, Skillet.”
She huffs out a laugh that has her inner walls squeezing my cock, and then she’s kissing me once more, her movements more frantic, hands settling on my shoulders and squeezing hard as she rides me harder and faster, my hips flexing to meet her, everything inside me coiling hard and tight and ready, not like this is the last time I ever get to make love to this woman, but like it’s the best time.
“No more secrets,” I pant as she slams down on me again.
“Never secrets,” she agrees.
“Fuck, Margot, I love you so much.”
She groans and grinds down on me, spasms squeezing my cock as she starts coming, and I let myself go too, her name on my lips, her fingers in my hair, her ass in my hands.
“I love you, I love you, I love you,” she chants.
It’s music.
It’s music and home and the promise of sunrise and the beauty of sunset, all wrapped up in this one complex, kind, strong, smart, compassionate woman whom I intend to love without reservation, without fear, without regrets, for the rest of my life.
She sags against me, spent, her chest rising and falling against mine as the last of my orgasm leaves me too.
“I love you,” she whispers again. “And I’m going to do everything I can to deserve you.”
“Just breathe, Margot,” I whisper back. “That’s all you have to do. Ever.”
She sucks in a shaky breath, kisses my shoulder, and then snuggles back into me while the bubbles softly pop and fizz around us, the world going on below us. I drop my head back into the perfect headrest at the edge of the bathtub and hold her.
This.
This is peace.
Clarity.
Happiness.
“So I’m unemployed,” she murmurs after a while.
I bark out an unexpected laugh at that. “I’m sure you’ll find something to do with your time.”
She kisses my neck. “Maybe we can find something that’ll scratch both of our itches.”
I crack up. “I thought we just did that.”
“When we’re not doing that.”
“Have something in mind?”
“Yes.”
It’s utterly impossible to not smile broader at that.
Of course she does.
“Tell me,” I murmur.
“So, I’m a billionaire…”
She’s a fucking hilarious billionaire. “Yes, you are,” I say through a roll of laughter.
“And my favorite people on this planet are people who are using their resources to do good in the world. So…I think I should use my resources to do good too. In ways that I can do good.”
“Such as?”
She giggles.
God, I love her giggle.
“You’re thinking something bad, aren’t you?” I murmur.
“I’m thinking I can start my own hotel chain, not care if it makes money, and competitively price my father out of the market.
” She giggles again. Clears her throat like she’s trying to be serious.
Giggles once more. “Not because I need revenge. More revenge. It’s a nice side effect, but if I can make it more affordable for families to stay at our hotels, more affordable for businesspeople to have a comfortable spot to rest so that they can do what they need to do better, and if I can personally sacrifice profits because I don’t need them, and invest in paying my staff well instead—that would make me happy. ”
I hug her tighter. “You’re fucking amazing, do you know that?”
“And…just listen, okay?”
“Always.”
“I want the hotel restaurant to be affordable and delicious too. A place for guests and locals alike to come and have a good meal. And I was thinking, you seem to love cooking, and so many of the recipes are your mom’s—”
“You’d put my mom’s recipes on the menu.”
“Only if you’re okay with it.”
“Fuck, Margot.” My voice gets thick. “Of course I’m okay with it.”
“You can have as much or as little involvement as you want. I know—I know there are things you wanted—”
“You. I want you. I want to be by your side. The rest of what I do—I’ll be happy doing anything as long as I’m with you.”
She presses a kiss to my neck. “Bea has some family recipes too. I’d ask her—”
“Fuck yes, Margot. She loves you like a sister too, you know. Embrace all of your family. You deserve it.”
She sucks in an uneven breath. “Why does love make me cry so much?”
“You’re still getting used to how big it can be.”
“It’s the best, isn’t it?”
I squeeze her tighter and bury my face in her hair. “The absolute best when it’s real. And, Skillet, this is real.”
Real and the absolute best.
“It was worth all of the pain to get here,” she whispers.
I can’t hug her tightly enough. “And if I have my way, you’ll never hurt like that again.”
“I love you so much, Rhys,” she whispers through tears.
I kiss her hair again. “I love you forever.”