“Woman, I have an entire evening planned. Don’t tempt me.” He turned her around, swatting her ass lightly. He hoped he could keep his dick in check long enough to make it through dinner.
“Wow. I thought for sure you’d offer to give me dessert first,” Jinx said, hurrying away from him. She giggled a lighthearted sound that made him want to toss her over his shoulder.
“I’ll give you all the dessert you want, later.” He knew his voice came out gruff as he placed a hand on her waist the moment he caught up with her.
She gasped as they entered the space set up for their candlelit dinner. Rose petals led the way, making it clear where she should walk. He didn’t need to see her face to know she liked the setup. Flashing green eyes in a heart-shaped face, he would adore forever looked back at him.
“How did you do all of this?” Blair asked, spinning in a circle, and jumping into his arms.
He caught her, taking her weight easily as she wrapped her legs around his hips. “I had help by way of Cosmo and his staff.”
“Does he stay here often?” Her eyes widened as she looked at the large space filled with expensive furniture and décor.
“Whenever he wants to feel the sand beneath his toes and fuck his wife with the sound of the beach crashing against the rocks, he says. Dai Tai says it’s not often enough. He’s one of the wealthiest men on the East Coast, probably in America, but you’d never know by looking at him. He’s very humble.”
She snorted. “I can definitely tell Cosmo comes from money. It’s in the way he carries himself. Mind you, he has all the swagger the rest of you do, but there’s a refinement that overlays his badassery. You have it too, just not quite as much.”
He helped her take a seat at the table.
“I’d be offended if it weren’t true. You have that same richness oozing from your pores, rich girl.” He settled into the seat across from her.
She was shaking her head. “I guess you’re kind of correct. I left that life behind when I was just a child. I don’t think of myself as rich.”
He held his hand up, palm open. “We’re not only the blood that runs through our veins, Vakker. That’s purely DNA. Look at you. You’re nothing like the ones who gave you life.” Viking took a slow, deep breath. “Your mother’s and Benjamin’s bodies were found along with the car. The vehicle, along with what remained of them both, was,” he hesitated, unsure how she’d react.
She covered his hand with her own. “I saw the news reports this morning. Do you think they’ll be able to find out how Benjamin died?”
“Do you mean will they see he was stabbed by his own knife and gutted? No, Baby, they won’t. He was incinerated completely, as was your mother before their vehicle was lit up. Then the vehicle went into the water. It’s been in the salty ocean with high and low tide beating it to hell and back. There’s no evidence to trace back to any of us.” He tried to reassure her.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Jinx wanted to leap over the table. Viking kept trying to soothe her like he thought she was going to fall apart. She didn’t know how to break it to the stubborn man, but hearing they’d found her mother’s body, along with Benjamin’s, relieved her.
“Viking, you don't need to worry about me. Honestly, I’m going to sleep like a baby—I mean, I’m not going to lose a single second of sleep knowing the two of them are finally found. If you say all is good, I trust you.”
She swallowed, her throat getting tight when he didn’t say anything. Jinx pulled her hand away from his. “Shit, you don’t have to say anything. I’m a woman who tried to kill her own brother, and here I am telling you I’m happy they’re dead. You’re probably thinking of ways you can leave me without...”
“Jinx, if I were interested in people who hadn’t lived and died a few times, I wouldn’t be surrounded by the people I am. There’s absolutely nothing about what you said that would make me think of leaving you.”
“What are you saying, Viking? Are you trying to tell me you like my dark past and all the bags they cause under my eyes?” she laughed.
“Baby girl, there aren’t any damn bags that I can see. Sure, you’ve got scars, inside and out. We all do. I love every part of you. I love the way you get up in the morning, ready to fight the world. I want to stand by you, ready to help when you need me. When you stumble, I’ll already be there pushing you back up, making sure you can stand, and if you can’t, then you've got me to handle shit until you can.”
“You’re the best kind of friend and lover, Viking. The one who doesn’t need you to always be fun, to love you. You show up, all quiet like. You don’t drain, even when you might not be feeling like yourself, and you still make space for others. A real friend doesn’t measure your worth by how entertaining or easy you are. They don’t expect you to hide the parts of yourself that feel heavy. I love how you simply let me exist beside you without expecting me to perform.” She wiped her face, wrecking her expertly applied makeup.
Viking got up, moved around the elegant table. He went down on one knee next to her. “I was goingto wait until after we ate to take you on a sunset stroll. I had it all planned out to get you out under the sky with the moon behind you, so you’d be all mushy and too in the moment to refuse me. Blair, you are the only woman I see myself growing old with. I want to create beautiful memories and take you to meet my daughter.” He wiped his eyes with the sleeve of his arm. “I never thought I’d ever find myself looking forward to a future. Life had been one endless form of torture until I stumbled into a bar and found my heart. There is no way on God’s green Earth I’m going to let it, or you, go.”
“Good, because I don’t want to go. I love you, Bekkett. I have since you rescued me outside of Taps.”
She felt her stomach dip and heart turn over as he pulled out a little velvet box. “Will you marry me, Blair? Will you be my forever, Jinx?”
Jinx nodded. “Yes. I hope you don’t mind I come as a package deal, though.” He slid the ring on her finger. A gorgeous princess-cut diamond surrounded by smaller diamonds on a platinum band, encrusted with diamonds.
His brow furrowed. She placed his palm over her still flat stomach. “I’m pregnant.”
Viking’s eyes went to their hands, then up to her face. “You’re having my baby?”
“Yes,” she choked out. Everything seemed to come to a standstill. He fell onto both knees, pulling her to the edge of the seat. His arms slid around her as his face buried in her lap.
