I just stared at her, my chest hammering, my jaw tight. Then I leaned in and pressed my mouth to hers, slow and desperate, tasting the salt of the tears we’d both spilled.
As I drew back I pressed my forehead gently to hers. “You’re not just someone I give a paycheck to keep around. You’re my wife. The woman I adore. Maybe I shouldn’t have spoken to you like that, but it killed me, seeing you worn down, giving everything to everyone until there’s nothing left for yourself. I didn’t want to lose you to the same shit that’s swallowed me my whole life.”
Her gaze burned through me, fierce and tender all at once. “Then stop trying to act like you have to own me. I’m here because I love you. I don’t need anything more from you.”
I closed my eyes, breathing her in because there was no way in hell I was ever losing this woman.
Chapter 61
Tyler
By the timeJuly came around, the flat was full of wedding chaos. Suit fittings, menu approvals, Gwen on the phone every hour like a general leading troops. Somehow, in the middle of all that, Travis decided that what I really needed before marrying the love of my life was one last guys’ night.
At the Taylors’ house, ??Orla was curled up on the sofa with Noah in her arms, Kate was on the other side with a bump showing and pizza menus were spread out on the coffee table between them. It was the kind of picture that made me want to ditch the night out completely. Tonight was supposed to be my bachelor party, the one Trav insisted I couldn’t skip, smack in the middle of the busiest time of the year in tennis. A few years ago I’d have been counting down the minutes. I’d played Wimbledon with a hangover more than once and worn it like a badge of honor. Now, I was standing there wondering how fast I could bail without disappointing my brother.
I was checking my wallet in my back pocket when I heard Jordan bounding down the stairs. “Right, I’m ready. Where’s my little man?” He scooped Noah straight out of Orla’s arms and kissed his cheek, making the kid squeal with laughter. “Be a goodboy for the ladies, mister.” He handed him back to Orla, who instantly tickled him into another fit of giggles.
“And you, little miss, be good for your mum,” he said, bending to press a kiss to Kate’s rounded belly.
God. He had no idea how jealous I was of him right then. The guy had it all.
Jordan straightened up, grinning as Kate swatted at him. “You two have fun,” she said, though her tone was more a warning to behave than blessing.
Orla’s eyes found mine over Noah’s dark curls, a sly little grin tugging at her mouth. “Try not to get arrested, Reed. I don’t fancy visiting my husband in a holding cell before the wedding.”
I smirked, leaning down to kiss the crown of her head. “You wound me, O. I’m a changed man.”
“Uh-huh,” she said, not buying it for a second.
Behind me, Jordan clapped me on the shoulder. “You look nervous, mate. It’s just a night out, not a firing squad.”
Easy for him to say. He had everything he wanted right here in this living room: wife, baby, another on the way. Me? I had a loud crew of guys who’d never grown up waiting at some London club that felt a hell of a lot further away from this than the twenty-minute drive it would take to get there. ??I’d been to enough bachelor parties to know they didn’t end well. Mainly because I was usually the one at the epicenter of the trouble. Cheap shots, bad decisions, someone else’s fiancée crying down the phone at three in the morning, it was all too familiar.
Walking into the club, the déjà vu hit me square in the chest—same pounding bass rattling the walls, same dark corners full of sharp heels and hungry eyes that would have inevitably ended with some strange woman’s mouth around my dick. It should’ve felt like home, but instead, all I could think about was Orla’s laugh floating from Kate’s living room and Noah’s tiny fists curled around her finger. ??As soon as the guys spotted us,the loudness started. There were already bottles sweating on the table, half-empty glasses scattered like confetti.
“Hey, finally, both got let off your leash tonight, then?” Aaron, one of the younger, up and coming players I got along with boomed over the music, raising his glass.
I just shook my head and slid into the booth next to Travis, who’d flown in just for this. To be honest, I don’t know why he’d insisted on coming; he looked like he wanted to be here even less than I did. His shirt was still wrinkled from the flight, eyes rimmed with the kind of exhaustion that only a newborn could give you. My niece Elsie was barely a month old, and I’d bet my life Eve would guilt-trip him for the next year for bailing on her tonight.
One of the Cali guys shoved a tumbler toward him, amber liquid sloshing over the rim. “Come on, Trav, first night off from diaper duty. Let’s go!”
He raised his hands, already shaking his head. “I’m good, man. Just a Coke for now.”
The guys groaned, but I caught the relief on my brother’s face as he leaned back in the booth. Maybe we were both wondering the same thing: why the hell had we agreed to this in the first place? Travis had set it up months ago, back when he thought he’d be gagging for a night off. Now, with a newborn at home, he looked like a man seriously regretting his life choices.
As soon as we slid into the booth, the noise level doubled. Bottles were already cracked open, glasses half full.
“Look at that, the domesticated ones are out past bedtime,” someone called, laughing.
Jordan smirked, leaning back in his seat, in his signature easygoing style. “Mate, trust me. I’d rather be at home with my wife and kid. This is Trav’s idea of fun, not mine.”
The table groaned. Another guy, a cocky kid I’d seen around the circuit, grinned and said, “Fair play, though. Your wife’s hot as hell, man.”
Jordan’s smile didn’t slip, but his eyes cut sharp across the table. “Yeah. She is. And that’s exactly why I don’t fuck around. You’d understand if you’d ever been with someone worth going home to.”
Silence fell for a beat before my brother barked out a laugh. “Jesus, straight sets, no tie-break.”
?The music was getting louder, the lights sharper, the crowd pressing in closer to our table. Laughter spilled out of us in bursts, but underneath it I could feel the edge creeping in with the kind of energy that always made nights like this go sideways.
