Adrian groaned against my throat, rocking with me, breath hot and uneven. “I’m never getting enough of you.”
“Never,” I gasped.
The bed shifted under us, sheets rumpled, our breaths tangled and desperate. He kissed me again—slower, savoring the moment just before the fall—and I wrapped my legs around him, pulling him down fully.
He pushed into my body with an urgent shove, desperate to get inside me. God, I felt so full, so needed. So claimed by him. My husband. Everything blurred then—heat, rhythm, breathless murmurs, the way he said my name when he came, the way I clung to him as I followed a heartbeat later. We held each other through it, shaking, laughing softly into each other’s mouths.
When we finally stilled, he stayed hovering over me, sweatyheads pressed together, chest rising and falling in sync with mine.
For a minute, all I heard was our breathing and the faint hum of crickets outside the window. Then Adrian swallowed hard—too hard for post-sex bliss.
“Adrian…”
He brushed his nose against mine. “Yeah?”
“What were you gonna ask me?” My voice came out embarrassingly breathless.
His smile tilted, wicked and soft. He stilled, pulling back just enough to look into my eyes. The vineyard lights reflected in his warm and bright, framing him in a glow that made him look both impossibly familiar and excitingly new.
He swallowed again, breath unsteady. “I love you,” he said. No hesitation. No fear. Just truth, clear as the stars starting to prick the sky.
Warmth pooled in my stomach.
“I love you,” I said back, my hands sliding up to grab his shoulders. “More than anything.”
His eyes darkened, tracing my face as if memorizing it.
He slid his fingers down my throat, lingering there over my pulse.
“I’ve been waiting for the right moment,” he said softly.
My heart kicked. “For what?”
Adrian’s lips stretched into a barely-there smile that made him look as if he was holding onto a secret. A secret I was dying to discover.
“To tell you something. Something I should’ve said a long timeago.”
His voice wobbled faintly, but I felt it like a fault line shifting beneath us. I didn’t move. Didn’t even breathe.
He held my gaze, searching my eyes. I wondered what he was looking for and hoped he found it.
“The day I married you, I was terrified. Like, dizzy with nerves and fear and what ifs. I’m a planner,” he smirked, “and marrying you was an outcome I couldn’t control or predict.” Adrian nipped my lips as I stared, confused and waiting for more. “But I shouldn’t have bothered. I’d have married you in a thousand lifetimes. Nothing has ever been more fulfilling and enjoyable. In fact, I’d marry you again tomorrow.”
He continued to stare, looking intense, waiting…
And I realized he meant…
“To-morrow?”
“Tomorrow,” Adrian confirmed. “Under the sun, surrounded by the grapes and the memories of our first time here. The memories we’ve held onto for years, through good times and bad. I arranged it with the vineyard.” He smiled shakily. “Just you and me. No audience. No pressure. I just… I want to stand in front of you again and say I’d choose you every time. Even if it’s been messy. Especially because it’s been messy.”
My throat closed around something hot and fierce that brought tears to my eyes.
He brushed a kiss to my cheek, my mouth, the corner of my jaw.
“I love our marriage,” he whispered. “I wanted us to mark how far we’ve come.”
I pulled him down and kissed him so hard he groaned into it.
