“To be honest, he makes me happy too,” Luka admits. “I never thought I’d say that. Sorry about all the shoes and underwear he’s destroyed so far.”
We both laugh.
Just then, he reaches for the strap of my dress. I pull back to see what caught his attention, a little shiver going through me when I realize what it is. His mother’s brooch.
He traces the starburst rays carefully, all nine of them. I’ve been wearing the brooch the entire night, but he probably didn’t notice since I had my shawl draped over my shoulders against the night breeze for most of the evening.
“I’m not done yet,” I say.
He looks at me and waits. I’m not sure how to say this, so I just start talking, hoping my words come out right.
“When Elite approached me, I was in a dark place. I wasn’t getting anywhere with my career in LA like I’d planned, and I was looking into colleges but I just felt…lost. Desperate. Like I was a complete failure. I thought I had no way out, and they offered me one. So I said I’d try. That was all I ever actually agreed to—to go to Chicago and try to get in with the agency.”
He stiffens a bit and I’m afraid he’s going to try to get up and leave, but he doesn’t.
“But once I reconnected with you, I started to have doubts about going through with the plan. The reason I never signed that contract was because it never felt right. And I regret very much that I evenconsideredtheir offer, Luka, but at the same time I wouldn’t trade meeting and marrying you for anything, even if my initial motives were suspect.
“I never expected that getting engaged to you, and then married, would account for anything beyond a business decision. But it has. When I walked down that aisle, I knew right away that I didn’t want anything to do with Elite or their plans. I’m so sorry that I hurt you.”
His hands go tighter on my hips, and he searches my face as if trying to gauge my sincerity. I want to assure him that I’m being truthful, but I feel like I’ve said all that I can.
Cupping his face in my hands, I add, “I feel so close to your family, especially after dinner tonight. They’ve welcomed me in with open arms, which I honestly never expected. Maybe everyone…I don’t know. Maybe you’re all finding a way to reconnect in a new way, without your father’s shadow.”
He’s quiet for a moment, and I let him go, worrying that I’ve overstepped.
“Should I not have said that?” I ask.
Luka breaks into a wistful smile. “I think you might be right,” he says, pulling me toward him to brush his lips gently across mine.
I don’t say it out loud, but there’s something else, too: I almost feel like that heart-wrenching interview Luka and I did with Julia was a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Leaning back, he catches my gaze. “I meant what I said earlier tonight, Brooklyn.”
My lips are tingling from the slight pressure he put on them, and I’m dying for more. So much more. I lean in, wetting my lips with my tongue. “Good,” I say. “Now show me.”
He takes my lips sweetly again, agonizingly slow. I open my mouth wide, stroking my tongue against his, giving this kiss all the time in the world to build in intensity. My head begins to swim in that perfect kiss-drunk swirl and I welcome it. It’s been so long since we’ve had a tender moment between us. My nipples are hard, aching against the whispery silk of my dress.
“Touch me,” I beg in a whisper. “I need you to.”
With a slight groan, Luka trails his fingers up my sides and down my bare arms. I moan and shiver at the contact. Then he pulls me sideways into his arms and leans over me, deepening the kiss. Threading my fingers into his hair, I rake my nails along his scalp, letting myself fall into this moment. He shifts, and suddenly I’m being carried over to the chaise lounge on the other side of the fire pit, where he lays me down on the soft cushions.
Goosebumps run down my body despite the delicious heat from the nearby flames. Reaching for him again, I melt into his searing kiss and sit up as he gently tugs my dress over my head, leaving me in nothing but my bikini bottoms. He pulls me into his lap, and the moment his hard chest connects with my bare skin, all is right again.
He trails kisses down the side of my neck, slowly and softly, and I arch into him.
“Mmm,” I moan.
The feeling is exquisite, making my whole body feel electric and alive. He continues down to the hollow in my throat and up the other side of my neck, caressing me the whole time. It’s all so soft and tender that I can feel a tumult of emotions welling up inside my chest. Luka finally urges me back onto the chaise, and I relax into it. I’m breathless with anticipation and have a hard time staying still while he slips his shorts down. Gloriously naked in the firelight, my husband smiles down at me and then crawls over my body, kneeling between my legs. His strong palms run along my thighs, his nails lightly raking my flesh.
“I’m sorry about Paris,” he says.
“Forget Paris,” I tell him, dragging him down for another kiss.
The fire crackles beside us, the sound of the waves gentle in the background. Luka puts his hands everywhere, my jaw, my throat, my breasts, squeezing my nipples until I cry out against his mouth, dipping a finger inside me and then tracing it back up around my clit in endless circles that soon have me slick and panting for him.
“I want you,” I tell him.
He teases me for a while longer, kneading between my legs until the ache is too powerful. Parting my thighs as wide as I can, I gasp as he slips two fingers inside me and begins slowly pumping in and out, groaning as he feels how wet and ready I am.
