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“You coming up or what?” I ask, glancing down to find her eyes crinkling at the edges with a smile.
“Always.”
Tightening her hold on me, she hoists herself up my body, legs wrapping around my waist as I grasp her arse and nip down on her lip, hoping some of her bewildering strength bleeds from her to me. With a groan, I lick into her mouth, and as always the taste of her warms through me unlike anything I’ve ever had.
“You and me, my love,” she whispers into my mouth.
Me and her. “Always, Swan.”
“Now, take me back and feed me…I know you’re dying to.” She rolls her eyes with a nudge of her nose on mine.
“Well, you need your energy.”
“For wha—” Before she can finish, I grasp her tighter to me and jump into the water. Her entire body tenses, arms and legs tightening in a vice grip around me as I kick back to the surface. The instant we break, she spits the water in her mouth over my face. “For fuck’s sake! Warning!”
“Just making sure that you really do want to keep swimming with me.”
A grin stretches over her lips. “Forever and beyond.”
“Good.” I smile at the way she leans back into the water, a dark halo of hair spanning around her as she strokes her arms through the water.
As always, she’s right. There’s nothing we can do to change what’s happened. All the lives that have been lost. All the blood that taints our hands and stains our souls. All of it has brought us here, and here is a great place to be with her. I wouldn’t want a different life; I want this one that we have together. Me and her.
Epilogue
GEORGINA
Two Months later…
The Bentley drives away with the awful tins rattling behind it. The guys outdid themselves with the Just Married sign that’s decorated with Grace’s foot and handprints. Their not-so-subtle nod to what’s next. I think Cassie might’ve actually tripped over herself when she saw it. It’s cute though.
The whole wedding has been sweet and intimate. Very much what you would expect from her and Leo. Penny is a teary mess along with Arabella, and when you add Fleur into the mix, I might as well be the only sane woman here.
“Well, it’s the two of you left.” Emily gestures between Freddie and me as she walks back inside the house. She’s barely made it to the first step when she turns around and holds out Cassie’s bouquet with a knowing smile. “Cassandra left this for you.”
“All right, Emily, it’s past your bedtime.” Freddie takes my hand as she presses the flowers to my chest, and we head back in the direction of the wedding marquee set up on the lawn overlooking the sea.
The clear structure is filled to the brim with wildflowers, and when we enter the tent, the scent takes me back to the orangery at Heather Hill. We’re spending more and more time there. Although I know that it holds a lot of sadness for him, there are some good memories worth going back for.
Taking the yellow buttercup and coral peony bouquet from me, he throws it over his shoulder with a roll of his eyes that makes me giggle when he spins me around on the spot. He’s a good dancer, even if he doesn’t much like doing it in front of everyone. But right now it’s just the two of us and the never-ending playlist that Leo and Cassie made for the evening.
A soft and slow version of “My Girl” plays in the background as Freddie pulls me flush to him and rocks me from side to side.
“We need to tell them about New York now, don’t we?” I ask Freddie as I look up to find him watching me in that intent way of his. The look on his face tells me that he’s thinking, and from personal experience, I know that it really can be a dangerous thing with him.
Threading his fingers with mine, he lifts my hand to his lips, pressing a kiss to my knuckles. “We don’t have to tell anyone anything, but it’s probably a good idea.”
“Especially seeing as I’m stealing my brother’s bestie away from him.”
“A year in New York is hardly stealing anyone away, and besides, he’s going to have his hands full with another girl shitting and screaming about the place. You’d think at the rate these lot pop kids out that there would be at least one boy in the mix by now.”
“Fuck my life, do you ever listen to yourself?” I laugh at his remark. It doesn’t matter what he says; I know that he loves spending time with Grace, and he’ll love the other girlies just as much when they’re finally here.
“Someone has to because you do everything you can to ignore me.” He pulls back before spinning me again and tugging me back to him.
“You know, girls don’t shit—they…poop…roses…petals…” Oh God. Why do we always end up having these gross conversations? “Oh, and it’s not like they’re popping them out right, left, and centre for it to be an actual rate.”
He laughs, narrowing his eyes at me as he twists me in his hold so that our arms are wrapped around me and my back is pressed to his front while he dances with me. Something he does a lot, and I honestly think that if it wasn’t for it, I might not have gone to the New York audition. Freddie has held on fast and strong, and it only makes me love him more…if that’s even possible.
