“I’m being truthful.” Leaning my head back against his chest, I raised my hand to toy with the edge of the silver chain looped around his neck. “Do you doubt me?”
His mouth poised at my ear as he whispered, “Never, baby.” He trailed kisses down my neck. “Fuck, this dress will be the death of me.”
“Not what I’m wearing underneath?” I asked coyly.
He groaned. “Don’t torture me, Gabby.”
“But you love it when I tease you.”
“Mm, that I do.” I felt the deep rumble of his voice at my back before it slowly travelled down and sank in my core. “Am I being a good boy so far?”
“Yes, you are.” He’d be unwrapping me later tonight. “Though if you want to get on your knees and further prove that good boy status, I wouldn’t be opposed to it.”
“Fuck.” He manacled my throat and angled my head to snatch a kiss that turned me breathless. “On top of being a brat, you’re pure trouble.”
“You like the kind of trouble I bring,principe.”
“Tell me what that word means,” he pleaded. “I’ve been meaning to ask you for two days now.”
“It means prince.” I cupped his jaw. “In my mother tongue.”
Blue eyes awash with shock peered down into mine. “You think I’m princely?”
“I don’t think—I know,” I affirmed. “You’re gentle, dignified, selfless, and kind. What I like most about you is how you’d do anything for the people you care for. A better man does not exist.”
Hunter released a low noise in his throat like my words slayed him. He tightened his arms around me and tucked his chin in the crook of my neck, breathing in my scent with an audible inhale. “My God, I adore you. I used to dream of a time when I could hold you just like this. When I could kiss you like you belong to me. When I could talk to you freely and learn how that pretty mind of yours works. How is it that the universe knew exactly what I wanted and needed and delivered you to me like a gift? I look at you and feel like all my prayers have been answered.”
Oh, Hunter.
In this instant, luxuriating underneath the veil of those beautiful words, I felt undone in a way I couldn’t properly convey. My pulse fluttered fast like the beating wings of a birdtrying to free itself from a cage, and everything screamed within me to clutch this man to my person and never let him go.
“You’re obsessed with me, aren’t you?” I teased, trying to bring some light-heartedness to a moment that felt charged with enough emotions that tears stung my eyes unexpectedly.
I took it back. The thing I liked most about Hunter wasn’t his mannerisms but his honesty. It was the most handsome part of him. How he was so truthful, not a single lie woven on his tongue. He spoke from his soul and meant every word.
“Yes.” He kissed the heart-shaped earring in my lobe and I closed my eyes. “I covet you.”
It was decided. I would do anything and everything to keep him.
I no longer cared what was engraved in my palms. I would rewrite fate until he was mine forever. There was no better individual out there matched for me.
Only him.
It was an insane thought to have perhaps, when we’d known each other for such a short time, but my atoms vibrated like they’d been right next to his when the universe was created and the cosmic feeling was evidence enough for me.
Filled with the urge to turn around and witness his expression, I did as instinct called me to and confessed, “I covet you, too.”
The smile that blossomed over his face was radiant.
I wanted to feel it on my lips, so I kissed him.
He tasted like whiskey, sinful nights, and the first rays of sunshine filtering through sheer curtains, caressing your skin first thing in the morning.
“Sweetheart,” he whispered. “I’m already yours for the taking. Don’t you know?”
I did know. He once asked to be mine and now I gladly accepted. Only a fool would reject him. And I was no longer going to squander our precious time. We deserved each other.
“Yes,” I whispered back. “In case I didn’t make myself clear, I’m yours too.”
