“No, no…I want to be alone.”
“And I need you to listen.” I cupped her cheeks, the rain falling harder, slipping past my lips as I spoke. “Remember when I said that death takes a piece of us every time? What you’re feeling right now is a gaping hole, and I know it feels like you have nothing left.”
“I don’t,” she cried, squeezing her eyes closed.
“That’s where you’re wrong.” My voice broke as I lifted her chin. You have me. Let me fill all the hollow pieces of your soul, baby. I’d give you my very last breath if I could. But I need you to stay…or take me with you.” Amalia cried harder and buried her face into my chest. “I love you.”
As she shuddered in my arms, terror filled my heart at the thought that my love wouldn’t be enough. But like the vows I’d made the day she became my wife, I would remain by her side, even in death.
40
One month later.
“It’sbeautiful.”
I circled my arms around her waist and kissed her neck.
“I think so, too,” she said, placing her palette on the table and twisting around. “I have something else to show you.”
“Yeah?” The way her bare breasts pressed against my chest made it hard for me to concentrate on anything she was saying. The times I’d come into her studio and left without bending her over a table or getting on my knees were very few and far between. The fact she was always naked made for easier access which led to many fun times and filthy fucking sex.
“You’ve been asking what I’ve been working on the times I’ve locked you out,” she said, idly pretending to play with a button on my shirt. “Well, I’m finally satisfied with how it turned out. So, close your eyes.”
Trusting her completely, I didn’t hesitate to do what she asked. This secret project of hers was important, and that was allthat mattered to me. As she slipped away, I tugged her back at the last second by her throat and kissed her. The little moan she released inside my mouth had my cock at full attention.
“Hold that thought,” she whispered over my lips while also giving my dick a squeeze.
I heard her hurried footsteps moving to a far corner of the studio, then back at a slower pace now that her hands were occupied. There was more rustling, and things shifted and slid around until I almost couldn’t take the waiting any longer.
“Don’t you dare peek,” she said, as if reading my thoughts, though I was sure the way I was tapping my thighs gave away my impatience. A grueling moment later, I finally heard, “Okay, open them!”
Blinking several times, I opened my eyes to a large canvas. Amalia was a brilliant artist, and the painting was stunning, as strange as it was seeing a portrait of my face staring back at me. She perfectly captured every detail, from the small scar below my left eyebrow to the stubble and facial hair.
“If I say it’s beautiful, does that make me conceited?”
She laughed and threw her arms around me, rising to her toes and beckoning for a kiss. “You have every right to be.”
I dipped my head, forehead resting on hers. “I would have posed for you. All you had to do was ask.”
Laughing, she slowly traced my lips with her finger. “It wasn’t necessary”—kiss—“because I’ve memorized”—kiss—“every piece of you, Kai.” Tears had gathered in her lashes as her eyes locked onto mine. “I love you.”
I thought I’d waited two months to hear her say those words, but as they fell from her lips and melted into my soul, filling every crevice, I realized I had waited my entire life for her.
Framing her face, I went in for another kiss, but she pulled away.
“What’s wrong? That’s not exactly the way I expected this moment to go.”
She reached for some documents on the table I hadn’t noticed. I assumed she’d placed them there while my eyes had been closed.
“I’ve thought a lot about this, and it just feels like the perfect time.”
The black words against the stark white paper drew my immediate attention, sending cold chills through my body.
DECLARATION FOR DIVORCE DECREE
“Divorce?”
She nodded with a heavy breath. “Kai, I know what this looks like—”
