Page 195 of King of Ruin

"I thought it would look good on you," he said quickly, fastening it around her wrist before she could stop him. "You wear things like this better than anyone."

His fingers lingered for a moment before he added, almost immediately,

"And I'll kiss your wrist every day."

Elise tried to pull her hand back, but he held on, not letting her reject it.

"Xavier..."

"No, wait." He pointed toward the bags behind him, his expression suddenly serious. "There's more."

He turned slightly, looking through them.

"That bag there. You liked that color. A few months ago, you showed it to me and said you liked it. I remembered." He looked back at her. "I bought it."

Then he pointed again.

"This one has the rings."

Elise froze.

"Our marriage rings," he said, as if correcting something obvious. "The ones we're going to wear when we get married."

His finger moved to another bag.

"This one has the necklace you'll wear when we get married."

Another.

"And this one has the dress."

He looked at her with complete certainty.

"The dress you'll wear when you and I go on our first date after our marriage."

Elise stared at him with her mouth slightly open, completely unable to understand what was happening.

"Are you drunk again?" she asked, a deep frown forming on her face.

Xavier didn't answer.

Instead, he simply turned around, grabbed the mountain of gift bags scattered across the hallway, and started carrying them into the living room as if her question hadn't even reached him. He moved with the stubborn determination of a man who had already made up his mind and wasn't interested in hearing an argument.

Once he had placed the bags down, he walked straight back toward her.

Elise barely had time to process what he was doing before Xavier suddenly bent down and lifted her into his arms.

"Wait. What the hell are you doing?"

Her eyes widened as she instinctively grabbed onto him.

Still wearing a nightdress, she found herself being carried out of her own apartment like she weighed nothing.

"Xavier—"

The apartment door shut behind them with a loud click, automatically locking as he carried her toward the elevator.

The moment they stepped inside, Elise started struggling in his arms.