Ocean held my gaze as he abandoned his food and slowly sat back in his chair. I realized with a phantom kick to the gut that I may have just thrown down some kind of gauntlet. At least that’s how it would seem to a man like Ocean. “Is that right?”
I swallowed back the urge to take it all back and squared my shoulders instead. Hunter was the other half of my soul. I wasn’t whole without her. We were good and evil. The sky and the ground. We were light and darkness. The sun and the moon. One could not exist without the other.
But it didn’t mean we were fated either.
Because Hunter and I were loss and love too. One could not exist without the other.
We could never be separated, but we could never truly be together either.
“Yes,” I said, the word tasting like ash and doom on my tongue. I plucked my wine glass from the table and took a healthy gulp to wash it all away.
“Aight then. You think she’d want to live with us?”
The glass slipped from my fingers. The remaining wine quickly stained the crisp white tablecloth as the goblet hit the table with a thud, rolled, and disappeared over the edge. “Wh-what?”
Before he could answer, one of the staff appeared out of thin air and cleared away the broken glass before disappearing into the shadows again.
“We’ve got plenty of room,” Ocean went on as if nothing had happened. “But if she prefers her own space, it ain’t nothing forme to set her up in one of the apartments in the building.” He shrugged.
Oh. I thought…
It didn’t matter.
I waited for my heart to slow to a normal rate before I spoke. “She’d probably like that. I’d have to talk to her first,” I said, unable to keep the hope that I’d see her again from my voice. “Get her to accept our marriage.”
“Is there an alternative?” Ocean asked me with an arched brow and an edge to his tone that told me to tread carefully.
Yes. She kills you.
If it were anyone else, I wouldn’t believe they could kill Ocean. But Hunter could—even if it killed her too. Obviously, I didn’t want to lose either of them so handling thisdelicatelywas imperative. Ocean was already so possessive of me, and that shit wouldn’t go well with Hunter at all. And he was already off to the worst start in history. Turning this around would take a miracle, but I would find a way because I couldn’t be without Ocean either. Hunter was my soulmate, but Ocean had the key to my heart, and I wasn’t about to rescue it from him anytime soon.
“No,” I answered finally. “There’s no alternative.” I sighed. “Look, Hunter won’t
It felt like a betrayal of my best friend to admit that I wouldn’t let Hunter run him away—not this one, not this time. But if I were being real, I knew damn well Ocean would never allow himself to be run off either. Ocean wouldn’t back down, but neither would Hunter.
Suddenly, I had this premonition that shit was about to get real fucking messy.
After dinner, Ocean took me to my room, kissed me, and told me goodnight before leaving. I soaked in a steaming bath until my skin started to prune, then got ready for bed before slipping my feet into the giant, fluffy slippers that made me smile as I leftthe room and went downstairs. I was feeling too restless to sleep, so I made myself chamomile tea before wandering around the lower level and eventually finding myself standing in front of the grand piano by one of the many windows.
Was it for show, or did he really play?
I used the question as an excuse to seek out Ocean. His room was on the same floor as my library, so I stopped in there to grab a book—the same one that had fallen to the floor after I came harder than I ever had. And when I closed my eyes, I could still feel his mouth on me.
Hence, the restlessness.
Ocean was asleep on his back when I let myself inside his room. I felt nervous treading where I hadn’t been invited, but it didn’t stop me from tiptoeing forward until I stood by his bed. Setting my book on the nightstand, I freed my feet from my slippers and climbed onto the bed. Ocean stirred as I threw a leg over his torso before settling my weight on his lap.
“Coby,” he mumbled with his eyes closed. His hands had no trouble finding my hips, though. “What are you doing?”
“I can’t sleep.” I sipped my tea loudly as I admired the way his dark lashes framed the top of his cheeks. His chest was bare, but I couldn’t see what he was wearing underneath the blanket.
“Why can’t you sleep?”
Setting my tea on the nightstand, I slid off Ocean’s body until I was lying half on the bed and half on him. “I don’t know. I’m just worried,” I said as I lay my cheek on his chest. His strong arms immediately wrapped around my back and nearly swallowed me whole. Ocean’s chest was so damn warm, I felt like kicking the unnecessary covers away as I melted into his warmth.
“Worried about what?”
“That you’re love bombing me.”
