AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"Of course there's a beach. Why would we live near the ocean if there was no beach? We work hard but we play harder, you know. Yeah, there’s a private beach."
"Of course there is," she grins. “Starla is going to lose her mind.”
And then I realize what Eden said to me a minute ago. "Wait. You told me that your sister’s situated with the other girls."
"And twelve armed men," Mario adds.
"Right." I turn to Eden again. "So you're here alone? Of your own accord? With no sister to worry about, no job tonight because it's your night off, and nothing to worry about except”—I take her chin in my hand and hold her gaze— “How to please your dom…"
Her cheeks flush pink.
Mario groans. "Okay, so that's my cue to hightail it out of here. Serg, do you want me to talk to my mother?”
I nod. "Please."
"Done. You kids have fun. I'm outta here." He snickers. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
As he leaves, I shake my head. God, it's so good to see him feeling better.
I turn my attention back to Eden. She will never dress like the other women here. A seductive outfit for her means a skirt that’s slightly above the knee and maybe a top that shows just the barest hint of the base of her neck.
“I love you.”
She stares at me with widened eyes that grow soft like falling stars as she clasps my hands in hers.
"Marry me, Eden. I want to marry you. I don't want there to be a single doubt in your mind that you belong to me. I want you to take my name, I want you to live with me. I don't want even the smallest shred of guilt between us anymore. Marry me. Please."
“You want to marryme?”
I nod, my tone desperate. “More than anything in the world.”
“I—told myself for a very long time that I was not worthy of love, Sergio. But I'm doing my best to put all of those lies behind me. Because…everyone deserves love. And I love you."
I tug a lock of her long hair. "Is that a yes, or a no?"
"Of course it's a yes. Yes, yes,yes. Let's get married. Let's make it official. We’ll have to take care of my sister, though, for a while?”
"Of course we will. Mario knows a guy that can make it legal. We’ll have to be her legal guardians, at least for the next two years."
"Did you tell Timeo that?”
I mutter under my breath, “Not yet.”
His attention has absolutely been caught by Starla, and he's pissed that anyone would hurt her. But she’s a minor, and he has years before anything else will change.
We're not good people, we've never pretended to be anything else, but there's no way Timeo is coming anywhere near her.
"All the more reason for us to be her legal guardians."
Eden grins at me. "Now, sir. I didn't just come here so that we could talk about business."
I wrap my arms around her. I hold her to my chest, savoring the way she fits there, safe and secure. It’s an intimacy I didn't know I needed until I had it.
"And I have no intention of sitting here all night chatting." I told her that I had a whole world to show her. And I meant every single word.
“Heart check, Eden."
She lets out a breath and smiles to herself. "My heart has never been better. I don't know what else to say, except that I didn't know this kind of happiness could exist."
