Chapter 63 Livy
Livy
Livy snuggled into Derek’s neck, breathing him in, all man and fresh soap with a trace of smoke.
She couldn’t wait to spend the rest of her nights just like this.
Technically, she should go back to her chamber tonight…
but it wasn’t as though Aunt Mellie or the dowager were going to say anything.
And her father hadn’t arrived yet. Aunt Mellie had written to him after the fire, and he’d packed up and left for London immediately, according to his return letter.
He should be here any day now. Which meant…
“My papa will be arriving soon,” she murmured. “You’ll speak to him straight away?”
His chest vibrated beneath her in a rumbling laugh. “I would jest about you being eager, but I’m not waiting any longer than I have to. I’ll be securing a special license the moment I have his blessing.”
“So certain you’ll have it, are you?” she teased.
His muscles went tight for the briefest moment before relaxing again. He scoffed. “Every parent in the ton has been trying to get me to marry their daughters for years.”
She pulled back and gently pulled his chin, so he faced her. “I was teasing, love. I promise you don’t need to be nervous. He’ll give his permission. While a bit absent-minded and lacking in affection, my father loves me, and all that will matter to him is that I want to marry you.”
“I’m not nervous,” Derek grumbled.
She patted his chest. “Of course you’re not, dear.”
“You’re humoring me.”
She smiled up at him and threw her leg over his hip, entwining them even tighter. She sighed. He was so deliciously hard. “I am. And I promise I always will.” She trailed a finger down his nose. “I’m so happy I found you that day at the Chesterfield Ball,” she whispered.
His green eyes softened, and he dusted his knuckles over her cheek. “You have no idea how much truth is in that statement. I was lost, disappearing more and more every year. You found me, Livy. And you brought me back, refused to let me fade away.”
“Mmm,” she hummed. “Apt, that. Considering you’re the only person to ever see me.
And appreciate what you saw. Perhaps that’s how it is when two people are perfectly matched.
We can’t hide from each other.” She smiled, then wrinkled her nose and bounced excitedly as something dawned on her.
“It’s like you’re my inverse function! Together, we undo each other, leaving only who we truly are beneath, a pair irrevocably intertwined. ”
He buried his head in her neck and groaned like he was in pain.
She frowned. “Derek, are you all—” And that was when she noticed it, a certain persistent part of him pressing against her thigh.
“Christ, Livy. That mathematical tongue of yours…it’s like an aphrodisiac. Is that a thing? Arousal by integration?”
“Well, with integration, you are often…raising things…” She wiggled against him. “Which, in this context, feels very fitting.”
He chuckled and pulled back. “I love you. So fucking much.”
“I love you, too.”
And she would always love him. Through anything life dealt them. She could only pray that fortune was finally smiling upon them.