“This really was a marriage of inconvenience, wasn’t it?” she murmurs against my pec, voice small, broken, but just as prim as it was when she walked into my living room, binder in her hand, determined to get me to agree to a year.
I huff out a dark laugh, stroking her wet hair. “What do you mean?”
“Well, you just had to dispose of a body for me.”
“Oh, love…”. Pulling away from her, I tip her chin up, forcing her to meet my eyes. “You know damn well that wasn’t my first.”
She blinks. I can see it in her expression. She didn’tknow… she guessed, of course, and now she has confirmation. I wait to see if her body language changes. If fear will return to her eyes the same way that Eric Ward left it there earlier.
I hold my breath, then add, “And I’d dispose of a hundred bodies if I had to for you.”
A weak, incredulous sound escapes her throat. My heart jumps. I know that sound. It’s not because she’s frightened. It’s more like she doesn’t believe I could love her enough to actually do that.
“I’m serious,” I insist. “You’ve met Adrian. That man knows where all the bodies are in Harmony Heights, figurativelyandliterally. And Dallas… before he was King, he was an enforcer. He’s responsible for his fair share.”
Her brows lift slowly. Hesitantly. “And you?”
“I hated being called in for Order jobs,” I admit. “But when one of my brothers needs backup, I’ll answer the phone every damn time.”
She swallows.
“And you,” I add softly, “could’ve called me. I hope you know that there isn’t anything I won’t do for you, Annaliese.”
She looks down into our laps. With a jerk, I think she just realized that she’s completely naked and I… I’m not. With a quick shake of her head, sending water droplets everywhere, she tells me, “I didn’t know what to do when he let himself in… or after I stabbed him and stabbed him and just… I couldn’t fuckingstop.”
“No binder for first-degree murder?” I tease gently.
“That was self-defense,” she whispers as the shower spray falls around us.
“Exactly.” I smile, feeling a fierce wave of pride. “You know it. I know it. So don’t even think about it. He’s not worth a second of your pity.”
Her head snaps up. A hint of fury—real and bright—shines through her expression. At the same time, relief shudders through me becauseyes.
That’s my girl. Mywife. She’s not broken. No ruined. Okay, maybe she’s in shock, but she’ll be fine.
Because she’smine.
I bury my hands in the soaked strands, angling her head up so that I can kiss her. We get water in our mouths at the same time, but I couldn’t care less. Annaliese is responding. She’s kissing me back. She’s climbing even further into my lap, clinging to me before she pulls back enough so that she can whisper against my lips:
“He wanted me to choose him. To annul our marriage, claim fraud or some shit. I told him to get the fuck off of me when he grabbed my arm.” A whisper of a laugh. “He didn’t like that I cursed at him. He liked it even less that I told him that I belonged to you.”
I shut my eyes, jaw clenching. It doesn’t matter. I can still see the ring around her neck. “That’s why he… yeah. I figured it was something like that.”
Her hands slide up my chest, tentative but sure. “I didn’t even get the chance to tell him that I love you.”
My heart fuckingstops. A second later, my eyes pop open.
Her smile could have me killing athousandmen for her.
“What did you say?”
She scoots closer to me, legs wrapping around my waist as she looks me dead in the face. “That I love you.”
It’s my turn to drop my head as I bury my face in her tits. “Fuckingfinally.”
And when she lowers her hands, reaching for my button to help me get out of my wet jeans so that she can prove to me just how much she loves, I let her do that, too.
I’ll let her doanything.
