She cackles even harder at this, and then takes another long, hard look at the photo, biting her lip this time. She makes a sound of indignation as I pluck it from her distracted fingers and turn it to face me. My eyes bug out and a strangled noise escapes me before it’s drowned out by Kaia’s laughter. Fucking Rider. This is indecent! It’s obscene. Jesus Christ.
I run a hand down my face and I can feel my cheeks heating. Actually, my whole head is heating with pure embarrassment. I can’t imagine what my parents would think if they caught wind of this. It looks like I’m the male equivalent of a Playboy bunny. A Playgirl bunny if you will. I’m fucking sure there were better shots than this at that damned photo shoot.
“Oh my gosh have you gone all shy on me?” Kaia points at me before folding in half and laughing hysterically.
“Of course I am! This is, it’s, it’s, it’s indecent!”
Kaia laughs so loud and hard this time that she wilts onto the ground and there’s nothing I can do except watch her. My eyes dart back to the photograph in my hands and I cringe. There, on the silky bed, I’m posed in an almost plank-like position, except my bare ass is in the air, round cheeks shiny with the baby oil we doused ourselves in.
“Baby, you havenothingto be embarrassed or ashamed of.” Kaia says, on her feet having caught her breath. Her palm rests against my chest, as she presses a kiss over my heart. “You are fucking beautiful and sexy. And I may have used that image and the vibrations of your bike to get off on our way here.”
“What!?” I splutter. Surely she doesn't think this picture is…good?
“What?” She shrugs. “It’s fucking hot. I hope there are more where that came from because that’s going straight into my Rub Hub.”
I stare at her. “Have you always been this filthy?” She raises her brow. “Yeah, right, dumb question.”
“Now, why the hell are we here? And it better be for a good reason.”
Taking a deep breath, I slip my hand in my pocket, not only retrieving the ring I’ve bought her, but also the piece of lined notepad paper where I’ve written my vows. Taking a knee I look up at her and her breath catches.
Clearing my throat, I gaze up at my woman and marvel at how the dappled sunlight bounces off her dark skin. How the blonde in her hair glows in the sunlight. How she worries her plump bottom lip with her teeth.
“Kaia. I’ve carried this place with me for years. Not because I have good memories of this place. The opposite.” I blink away, taking in the water burbling beside us. “I didn’t mean to hurt you, and yet that day, by not listening to you, by not standing up for you, I hurt not only you, or me, but our twins too. I hurt so many people with my actions and I regret it every fucking day.” I swallow, my breath coming too quick because it fucking guts me how I broke Kaia. Broke us.
“Oh, Leo, we’ve spoken about this-”
“Please, baby, let me finish?” Kaia nods, her eyes already misty. I sniff, looking at my notes again. “That day you did whatstrong women do. You walked away. You carried our twins. You built a life. You became strong and capable and whole without me.” Kaia sniffs and I reach up, brushing a tear from her cheek. “I am inaweof you. Of what you survived. Of who you became. Of the way you love our twins and the way you forgive and loveme.”
“Oh, Leo.” Kaia cups my cheeks, before leaning forward and pressing her lips to my forehead, holding them there for a beat before straightening.
“I regret that I didn’t choose you when I should have. I regret that you had to be brave because I wasn’t.” I grip the back of Kaia’s thighs in my hands, gently, caressing. “But I have never regretted loving you.” I swallow, looking deep into Kaia’s eyes. Eyes I fell in love with when I was too young to even know what love was. “I want to marry you, Kaia. With honesty. With loyalty. With my whole heart. I want the woman who loved me first, who survived without me, and who still chose me anyway to not only be my Ol Lady, but to also be my wife. Will you marry me?”
Kaia launches herself at me, knocking me on my ass as she straddles my legs, her arms wrapped around me so fucking tight, as if she’s afraid to let go.
“Yes, Leo, yes,” she whispers against my throat as she rests her head between my collar and jaw. “A thousand fucking times, yes.”
Chapter 16
Switch
My gaze follows Joy as she moves toward the bar at our last stop before the clubhouse. Her head is held higher than I’ve ever seen it, her shoulders nowhere near her ears like they have been the whole time I’ve known her.
“She’s doing well, brother,” Tank says, slapping a hand on my shoulder and taking a seat next to mine. His eyes glued to his own woman who is flapping her hands around, a huge smile on her face as she says something to Joy.
I watch as Joy smiles at Mira, her face lighting up and I wish it was me who did that. Who caused her to glow in that way. Don’t get me wrong, I get other smiles. Shy smiles. Small smiles. But not ones quite like the one that’s just lit her up from the inside.
“Give her time,” Tank murmurs, bumping me gently with his shoulder.
“I’ll give her all the time she needs, it’s just -” I run a hand down my face. “She’s just so fucking beautiful. Not just on the outside, but inside too.”
I’ve never met anyone so gentle, so kind, so goddamn fucking pure and yet she was treated to the worst of fucking humanity when she married that douche Hitchens. She spent years under his thumb and yet she’s out here reclaiming who she once was, piece by piece and I’ve had the privilege of watching it happen. I’m a fucking asshole to wish for more, but I want the privilege of watching her become happy. To become whole.
“Yes she is, and she’s also strong and capable and not fucking blind. I don’t know whether you’ve noticed this, brother, but she looks for you. Whenever she’s uncertain she’ll seek you out. As soon as she sets eyes on your massive fucking ginger frame, she relaxes. She sees you, brother.”
I tear my gaze from Joy to look at Tank, eyes still on his woman. “When the hell did you get so wise?”
“I could bullshit you and say I’ve always been like this, but I think it’s probably all Mira and her books. Somehow that shit’s downloaded into my brain. Everywhere I look I’m seeing tropes and storylines.”
