“Well, we’ll have to visit after we get home,” I murmured, brushing her hip gently as I guided us toward the front door.
“You’ll come with me?”
I paused and turned to face her, slipping my fingers beneath her jaw and tilting her chin up. “Auri, I’m gonna be your husband. Besides, we already established I’m not half-assing the spousal duties. We already agreed, we’re all in, yeah? That’s the whole bloody point of committing to forever.”
She snickered and bit her lip. “More like… committing toour line.” She surged up on her toes and kissed me. Soft. Certain. Sunlight-warm. Enough to make my stomach flip. When she pulled back, we both burst into laughter as I opened the door, her fingertips brushing mine like a promise.
“But seriously, we don’t have a choice, mon amour. I can’t let my family find out when the rest of the world does.”
We stepped into the sun, our trainers crunching the loose rocks on the pavement.
“I know, baby.”
She glanced up at me. “I also don’t want to miss the bloom.”
“To see the wild ones for yourself?”
“Something like that.”
The trailhead was just beyond the hill our villa sat atop, marked by a set of weather-worn stones and a narrow path that disappeared into sun-dappled olive trees. The sea sparkled just to the left, and the breeze carried hints of rosemary and salt.
The idea of telling her family didn’t scare me. We’d start with catching up on the small things to ease them into it. Just enough to test the waters before casually droppingby the way, we’re married now.
Because that was the thing about falling in love with someone who already knew the worst of you.
You didn’t have to justify the speed. You just had to show up. And I’d never been more sure I wanted to show up for her for the rest of my life.
I reached for her hand as we walked, our fingers tangling like it was instinct. Like we’d been doing it our whole lives.
“Once we’re back,” she said, brushing her fingers over my collar, “it’s going to hit the press immediately. You do realize that, right?”
I let out a dry laugh as I opened the door. “Oh, I can see the headlines already.Formula 1’s Most Eligible Bachelor… Taken. Forever.”
She rolled her eyes. “More like,Rookie Claims the Champion’s Title… Or His Last Name.”
“Mmm, no.Fraser Acquires Dubois. Market Closed. Asset Off-Limits.”
She snorted. “You’re not serious.”
“Deadly. Might add a line about daily dividends paid in orgasms.”
“You’re a menace.”
“I’m your menace.”
“Oui, and if you keep it up, the next headline will be,Sources Say: She Pegged Him into Early Retirement.”
That stopped me dead in my tracks. I turned to gape at her, jaw dropping. “That’s a hard no, Auri.”
Silence. She just smirked, breezing down the pebbled path toward the trailhead like she hadn’t just ended me in eight words. I wasn’t prepared for how hot it was that she said it like a challenge. Butthatwas a hard limit for me.
“I’m serious. Never in this lifetime.”
“Alright, no bloodletting either,” she chirped. “Vampire kink is where I tap out.”
I choked. “What the fuck are you reading?”
“I don’t know! Tumblr was a lawless place! And also—stupidRed Flagged and Red Lace. Apparently fictional us are intoeverything.”
