Chapter 43
The moment the car pulled away from the airport tarmac in Boston, Alizé curled into me. She snuggled her nose into my neck. Her warm breaths against my skin electrified my system. Safe, she was safe, I reminded myself. I wrapped my arms around her tight, never to let her go again.
By the time we arrived at our condominium complex, she slept soundly against my shoulder. I carried her up the elevator to our penthouse.
She didn’t wake as water clapped against the bathtub and whooshed to fill it.
Nor when I disrobed her and sat her in the warm water, my legs casing her in.
With soft swipes of a washcloth, I washed the day off her.
Then I draped her naked body in my clothes and tucked her into my bed with more care than I’d ever given anything else.
And when she drowsily reached for me and weakly tugged me into bed despite my sorry state, I knew I was done for.
I used to believe I was unable to feel anything unless I forced it.
At some point in the past two decades, my mind shattered into chunks.
I picked my pieces up and glued them back together the best way I knew how, but it never felt like I quite fit.
They always grated against one another, each one seeking out the nearest missing piece, all while chipping at the others until none of their edges matched.
Every day I wrestled them back into place with bursts of adrenaline. If I was lucky, they stifled my black thoughts and lifted the pressure shoving me down for minutes. When unlucky, I got seconds of freedom.
Then she came into my life, full of bravado, strength, and attitude, and filled in my gaps. Cracks remained, but her presence smoothed them over. Made them bearable. Gave me what I never realized I needed. She was my incentive to never give up and never give in.
If she thought I was obsessive before, she was about to learn the meaning of the word. Losing her again wasn’t an option.
All night, my fairy never left my side, and I never wavered from hers, but sleep eluded me.
The instant I closed my eyes, I saw Alizé being dragged away again.
I saw her disappearing in a crush of underbrush and the kick of dirt beneath tires, and my heart hammered at me to get up.
To move. To run. To get her back. When my eyelids jolted open to my dark bedroom, I could still taste the dirt on my tongue and feel the impact against the car as I failed to reach her in time.
Then the warmth of her presence seeped into me. The puffs of her even exhales swathed me. The press of her leg against mine chased away the nightmare, and my demons quieted.
She was here. She was alive, but I couldn’t protect her if I wasn’t alert. I couldn’t stop the Love Knot Killer or anyone else on my long list of enemies if I fell prey to my baser instincts.
It only took one moment of inattention for everything to change. For a car accident to happen. A train to derail. A bullet to hit a target. A knife to puncture a heart. One little second was all it took for fate to change course. I refused to let a single one get the better of us.
I watched the flicker of her eyes beneath closed lids and the way her lips parted and her tongue peeked out before they closed once more.
The hint of a smile cropped up as she nestled her chin against my palm with a pleased hum.
Her long hair slumped over her forehead.
As a strand tickled her cheek, her nose twitched, and her eyes creased.
My fingers brushed the wayward strands away.
She looked peaceful, and even with the swollen bruise darkening her cheek, I believed it.
This was the woman who conquered me, who tossed the world a grand old “Fuck you” when it told her she wasn’t good enough.
Because she was good enough, more than that.
She was the definition of exceeding expectations.
Two days ago, I thought it was the end of us. Today, I wished for forever.
The hours ticked by. The moonlight shifted from a murky glow to bright shafts of daylight through the window shades.
It highlighted the clumps of dried blood over my arms, which in turn made me feel the suffocating cakiness of sweat and grime along my upper body.
It gnawed at me and itched, clinging to me with the weight of yesterday’s memories.
I rose with the sudden need to wash off but stalled only two feet away from the bed.
Two men stood sentry at my front door, but no one guarded the inside but me. That left her vulnerable while I was a room away, as water cascaded over my head and drowned out any sounds of danger.
I locked the door and latched a chair beneath the handle for extra security. Then I slipped a gun—safety on—under her pillow and a knife under mine, just in case. She never even twitched at all the noise, and I rubbed my chin at how unguarded she looked.
With a trill of my lips, I forced myself toward the bathroom. Beneath the cleansing warmth of a shower, I tipped my head back and let the water sluice away every one of my worries down the drain.
What felt like only seconds later, the shower door scraped open. I swung around to find the light of my life standing before me, naked.
“You alright?” she asked.
“Didn’t mean to wake you.”
I soaped myself and let my eyes rove over her figure. Her body was made for the sins my tongue, fingers, and cock desired to commit every day for the rest of our lives.
“Maeve and Erel are coming over. Remember? It’s not the time to be lazy.”
“Or we can be lazy together and let them wait.”
With a firm grip on her wrist, I pulled her into the shower, her front to mine.
“I need inside you, síbhean.”
Her arms wrapped around my neck, my longing mirrored in the wistful twist of her smile. “I need you too.”
Slowly, I lifted her against me and the wall.
She locked her legs around my waist as my cock nudged the weeping entrance of her pussy.
Gently, gaze riveted to hers, I pushed inside her tight warmth.
The feel of it was better than any surge of adrenaline.
With a tenderness only she brought out in me, I thrust into her, back and forth, and slipped my thumb between us to rub her clit.
“Anything you ask for, it’s yours,” I told her, pressing my forehead to hers.
“Just you. Just give me you.”
“Always.”
We made love under the stream of water and the buildup of steam.
Every sound was amplified under the steady plummeting of white noise.
Every view of her was more striking through the haze.
Every touch was worth more than all the ones before it, and when we fell over the precipice in each other’s arms, it was like coming home after a battle.
The noise in my head cut off. The darkness blanked against the comfort she provided. She was the sneaky downdraft sent to smother my internal tornado. That settled me in ways I didn’t think possible.
“You’re stuck with me, love. Forever.”
“With pleasure, mari chéri.”
Her head lay against my chest, and we simply held each other. Even though yesterday’s events hung between us, neither of us rehashed it. It happened. We lived it. Now it was time to move on.
“I wish we could stay like this forever,” she mumbled as I kissed a gentle trail over the bruise along her neck. She huffed against me. “Hélas. Things to prepare. Guests to receive.”
“Have them come tomorrow instead.” I couldn’t get enough of her, and my cock throbbed at the thought of another round.
“And tomorrow you’ll ask me to do the same. No, it has to be today. I can’t let this fester.”
“You talk like it’s a wound.”
“It is. For seven years, your neglect hurt me, and Maeve heard all about it. She was the one I called after you left me at the altar, after every email you never responded to, when I was desperately horny with no husband to help me through it.”
“I’m here now, happy to be of service.”
She slapped at my wandering hands.
“Listen. Every achievement I made, she was there. Every difficult moment I had, she supported me through it. All my ups and downs. She has been my cheerleader, and I hers. No matter how busy or where we were, we were there for each other. When no one else listened, I always knew I had her.” Alizé stroked my beard, and her nails scraped my skin.
“Maeve has hated you for so long because of how I felt. That needs to change. She is my best friend in the whole world, the sister I never had, and you’re my dearest husband.
You”—she poked her finger into my chest—“and her need to get along. So, be nice and get to know her.”
“Oh, now I know you’re serious. You’ve stopped using contractions.”
“This is not funny.”
She swatted playfully at me. I caught her palm and pressed a lewd kiss to it.
“Don’t worry. I’ll behave.”
“You better.”
My phone rang against the vanity top. Since I’d long ago finished rinsing off, I wrapped a towel around my waist and walked out to answer.
As I hung up, Alizé finished shampooing her hair. Suds slid down her body on the same trail I imagined my tongue taking. Despite her imminent guest, my cock tented the towel. I gave it a few strokes, then squeezed it to curb the desire with pain.
“Might want to hurry. Your friend’s on her way up.”
She shrieked and coughed up water. “What? What time is it?”
“Too fucking early, that’s what.”
“Merde. Okay. No big deal.”
Over the last month and a half of living together, she had never showered so quickly.
What was normally an eight-product wash-and-care routine—like hell I knew what for—she cut down to three.
By the time I was dressed and the doorbell rang with a text from Arthur and Big Charlie with photo confirmation of our guest, Alizé was up and out of the shower.
One towel was turbaned in her hair, the other wrapped and somehow knotted above her breasts.
“I’ll get it.” She hustled away, clutching her towels in place.
As they greeted each other with squeals and lively exchanges, I checked the time on my phone and gritted my teeth. Nine a.m. Three hours ahead of schedule. I didn’t know the woman yet, but with this load of bollocks, she was already sliding herself into my bad books.
I braced myself against the vanity, staring at my reflection in the mirror, and steeled myself for whatever the next few hours entailed.
I reworked my scowl over and over until it softened enough to please my wife.
Honestly, it was the best I could do for someone who didn’t respect punctuality.
With a guttural sigh, I shoved away from the vanity and pocketed my favorite knife.