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37
Olivia
He rises to his feet and raises his glass of prosecco. I keep my gaze facing forward. I will not look at him; I will not. I tried to console him—why the hell did I do that?—and he pulled his hand out from under my palm.What the hell?Clearly, he doesn’t want my touch anymore. Hard to believe, after the way he responded to me the first time we met. Then, he was all over me, commanding me, demanding of me, asking me to dig my nails into his back so he could feel them. He claimed that it had turned him on even more. Or when he fucked me on the plane, when he wanted me to hold on to him as he hauled me up with his palms under my butt and shoved me into the wall and claimed me.
"I’d like to raise a toast to my wife." His dark voice tugs at my nerve endings. My belly flip-flops. Butterflies take flight in my chest.
"You fought well, darling, but I have you now, and I’m never going to let you go."
I huff, and refuse to glance up at him.
"The first time I saw you, I knew you were going to turn my life upside down. I just underestimated how much. If I’d known the merry chase you were going to lead me on, I might’ve walked away from you right then."
I jerk my chin up to find him smirking at me.Jerk.I glower at him, and his smile only grows wider. His gaze, though, is sharp as he watches me closely.
"Thankfully, I didn’t... And I’ll never forgive you for what came after."
I tense. Is he going to lay out the intricacies of our relationship thus far for everyone to see?
"You plowed your way into my heart and have never left. I know we’ve had our differences. I know you decided that, maybe, I wasn’t the person for you. But we’re together now, for better or for worse, in sickness and in health." He reaches over and takes my hand in his. "I promise to always take care of you, to protect you, to ensure you never want for anything. I promise to wipe away your tears, and always provide for you."
My chin trembles, and pressure builds behind my eyes.What the hell is he doing? Why is he putting on this act? Why is he pretending he genuinely has feelings for me?
"I promise, you’ll forget what life was like with your fake ex-fiancé."
A-n-d there he is.That was a direct dig at Declan. I shoot a glance in his direction, but he’s too busy staring at Solene, who’s watching the two of us with wide eyes. Fine friend he is. I asked him to stand in as my fiancé, but he seems to have acquired a legitimate future fiancée instead.
"I promise to make you so happy, you’ll never want to be anywhere else but by my side.”
"We’ll see."
Laughter rings out from those at the table.
Oops, did I say that aloud? Sorry… Not sorry.
I raise my own glass of prosecco. He clinks his with mine. I take a sip, watching him over the rim. He sits down without breaking our connection. That’s how it’s always been with us. Our eyes have always conducted their own dialogue, without either of us saying a word. Somehow, we’ve always known what the other wants, especially in bed, and outside… Well, I screwed things up by falling for him so fast and so quickly. I tried to leave him, gone so far as producing a fake fiancé as a deterrent, but that didn’t stop him. He managed to find a way to marry me, anyway. And I’m still not sure how I feel about that.
Dealing with the scar on my face is stressful enough. Add to that, the fact that I have to reinvent my career, and now, apparently, I’ve acquired a husband. It’s enough to send me straight back to bed, hoping to wake up and discover it was all a dream.
He leans over and pinches my arm.
"Hey." I pull away from him and place my prosecco flute back on the table. "What was that for?"
"To show you you’re not dreaming."
I stare at him. He couldn’t have guessed my thoughts from my face, could he?
He drags his hand down my arm and twines his fingers with mine. "I’m never letting you go,Stellina."
"Don’t call me that."
"I’ll call you what I want, when I want."
"So that’s how this is going to be, huh? I thought you said I’d be free to pursue my career."
"You are."
"I want to leave for London tomorrow."
