“You’relovely,” he says and leans his forehead between my shoulderblades. “But it’s okay to grieve for the future you’ve lost. Even if I guarantee the one you’ve gained is better.” He sighs and the warm breath sends tingles skidding down to my lower back.
“Oh, it’s guaranteed, is it?”
He lifts me and positions me between his legs, leaning back against him as he plays with my hair again.
“Am I…?” I frown and try again. “Should I do something for you?”
“Do you want to?”
“I don’t want to be selfish.”
Catching my hand, he raises it to press a kiss against my knuckles. “Don’t worry. I’m perfectly capable of telling you if I need something.”
I bite my lip as I frown at the corner of the ceiling. “And what sorts of things will they be?”
“Nothing to be scared of.” He tilts my face towards his, an awkward angle. “For the next few days, we’ll just concentrate on you. I already know what I like and it’s time for you to find out the same.”
“I enjoyed that.”
“Good.” His lips curl in a teasing smile as he moves me again, twisting so we’re now side by side, facing each other. “It was hard to tell for a while there, what with all the crying and everything.”
His teasing makes me laugh before a new anxiety surfaces. “Do you mind? That I’m so inexperienced?”
His fingers curl around the back of my neck, thumb stroking the side of my face as he stares into my eyes, gently frowning. “No. I think I’m starting to like it. Besides, I wasn’t much different in age to you when I lost my virginity.”
“Really?”
The low chuckle reverberates around my ear drums like a whispered promise. “I’m flattered that you’re surprised, but yeah, I was seventeen. Late seventeen.”
He ducks his head closer, coming near enough to kiss, making my lips throb in anticipation of his touch. “Though, I should confess, I had been practicing solo for a long time before that.” When I giggle, he wraps his arms around me and nuzzles into the curve of my shoulder. “So much practice.”
“And how old are you now?”
For a second his laughter grows stronger. “We missed a couple of steps in there, didn’t we? My birthday is January twenty-fourth and I’m twenty-six years old.”
“Aquarius, huh?”
“I honestly have no idea.”
“Is this… did you…?”
“Hm?”
My tongue refuses to cooperate long enough for me to just ask the question. The one I want a straight answer to. The one curious about why he targeted his brother’s girlfriend for a bride.
Instead, it only lets me obfuscate. “I just don’t understand how you went from not searching for a wife to asking my dad if you could marry me in the space of an hour.”
He might have said he was drawn to my family name, but given the tensions that exist up here, logically he should run away from it. From what I’ve seen, his wealth easily equals my father’s so that’s not the reason either.
Micah links his fingers through mine, pulling my hand in close enough to kiss. The touch is so gentle it takes my breath away. “My mother always told me, when you know, you know.”
The answer leaves me puzzled in more ways than one. “I thought she wasn’t married. Or is she just not married to your father?”
“No, she never married.”
His eyes meet mine and I finally see they’re the deepest blue. His limbal ring is so dark, it might as well be black. “Not much of a recommendation, then.”
“She never did, but she was right. I met you and just knew.” His eyes cut away at the end of his statement, leaving me feeling hollow.
