“Pretending.”
I placed my hand on his, gaze holding his.“I don’t want to go back.”
He thrust into me, fingers lacing with mine, and the world didn’t just spin away—it faded completely.My eyes focused on the adorable wrinkles on Wyatt’s forehead as he slowly eased out of me before pushing back in.Pleasure and relief flooded his features, and it didn’t just feel like home.It felt like two lost puzzle pieces finding their way back to the grand picture.Fitting perfectly into their parts of the whole that made each other one.
He stilled, dropping his forehead to mine, and it wasn’t the rush that undid me.No.It was the way he smiled, like he couldn’t believe we found our way back to each other again.
If only he knew my heart had never left.Eleven years ago, he had branded it with his name, claimed it as his.So while it was always mine, I was more of its keeper, like a painting on loan at a museum.I was the vessel that held it, but it belonged to Wyatt.
Hot moisture pressed against my eyes at the heartache I’d caused us all for a piece of paper to tell us we belonged together.I didn’t need that piece of paper.Paper was fragile, destructible.The love I had for Wyatt defied the laws of physics.It was infinite, imperishable.It was the greatest gift he could ever give me.
Fuck the ring.I didn’t need it.Not anymore.
“I love you.”The words fell effortlessly from my lips as if they’d been teetering on the edge, waiting for their time.
Wyatt didn’t hesitate.
“I love you, too,” he said like it was the easiest truth he’d ever spoken.His hands framed my face, thumbs brushing away the tears I hadn’t even realized had fallen.“I never stopped.”
“Me either.I just lost my way for a minute.”
Emotion swelled in my chest, and Wyatt lowered his head, capturing my lips in a sweet, tender kiss.He started to move again, slow, toe-curling strokes that had me whimpering his name.
His fingers wrapped around my hip, his strokes quickened, and my slick walls tightened with each thrust, but his lips never left mine.
“You feel so fucking good,” he said.“God, I missed you.”
“I missed you, too.”
His tongue traced the curve of my bottom lip, slow and familiar as if he were relearning my mouth.He sank into the kiss, not rushed or hungry, just filled with everything we hadn’t said out loud.
I cherished the moment, relished every touch and kiss, knowing the secret I held could be the one thing that finally broke us.
Giddy energy surged through me as I stood at the altar and watched my friend say I do to his beautiful bride, but my eyes kept drifting to Rose, who sat a few rows back.Her hair was swept into a loose updo with tendrils falling around her face.The pale pink dress cut low, showcasing her beautiful tits.The spaghetti straps were the only thing in my way of getting her naked.
And I would get her naked.
We had a lot of time to catch up on.I inhaled deeply, the sound of the pastor blurring as my focus remained on Rose.My sweet, beautiful Rose.
I had wanted so desperately to win her back and was willing to give it my all today.I did not expect her to drop her towel and confess she needed me.God, those words were like the most beautiful song, filling my soul and giving me my life back.
Still, we hadn’t actually talked.
The chemistry that pulled us together, our bodies syncing, was never the problem.
And the problems that led us to this moment still existed.She wanted to be standing up here with me one day in front of our friends.She wore a dress that could never outdo her beauty but would complement it.She wanted me to slide a ring on her finger and declare in front of our friends and family that I would honor and obey her.Love her through sickness and in health.
Didn’t she understand?
I’d do all of those things, and we didn’t need a piece of metal gliding over her knuckle to prove that.Even if she realized, she wanted me more than she wanted this elaborate display, who was to say she wouldn’t one day slip back into wanting what I just couldn’t give her?
I exhaled, my shoulders slumping forward as the pastor announced the happy couple, husband and wife.Chris dipped Cynthia, and cheers erupted.I threw my fist in the air to join the celebration, but the happiness I had felt only moments ago had already fled.
I had Rose back, but for how long?
We definitely needed to talk.But for now, we partied.
I followed the wedding party down the aisle, waving to Rose, then hooking arms with the bride’s cousin, whom I had been paired with.Lori was forty-one, a gynecologist by day and a wife and mom at all times with not one, not two, but three kids.She also told me she could drink me under the table and beat me in a dance-off.
