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“It is not the sort of place with a menu,” he said.
She didn’t know what that meant. But she was excited to find out. And find out she did, they were given a selection of the chef’s favorites, the freshest foods that had been available today at the market, and turned into culinary masterpieces on the fly.
She felt drunk on food alone by the time they left the restaurant, walked down the street to another nondescript building which turned out to be what amounted to a speakeasy.
And for the first time since she had opened her eyes and seen him, he pulled her into his arms there on the dance floor. And her entire body was suffused with heat.
Held up against his strong body she...yes, she knew why she had gone back with him moments after meeting him. And the only reason they were waiting now was because of her amnesia, she knew that. He was concerned about her. And that was the only reason. Because otherwise they would have... This was undeniable. But suddenly she felt afraid.
She’d had a child since they’d last been together, and she had a scar on her stomach that hadn’t been there before.
Maybe she wasn’t as beautiful now. Maybe it hadn’t been so much about her physical recovery, but about the fact that he didn’t want her anymore.
“You’re beautiful,” he said, as if he could read her thoughts.
“Oh,” she whispered.
“More now than ever. Riot, you are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen in my life, and it was true from the moment I saw you there at the ruins. And it is even more true now. All that you have withstood. All that you are. Beauty and strength. You have endured such cruelty from the world. And I will make it my mission to protect you from any more.”
From the dance floor he led her up to the rooftop, where he got on one knee and opened up a box with a beautiful diamond ring, as fireworks went off over the city, illuminating the Eiffel Tower. As if he had made this moment just for them. Or perhaps he had. For when a billionaire proposed to you, she imagined there were very few limits on what was possible.
“Yes,” she said. “I would marry you tonight.”
And without rising from the ground, he grabbed hold of her waist and tugged her down to him, and on a growl, his lips crashed into hers. And she went up in flames.
CHAPTER SEVEN
SHE’DSAIDYES. She was his. He would marry her as soon as possible, and she would be his. But first, he would brand her, with all of the passion that he felt in his veins. All of the desire that had been roaring in him like a beast all this time. All these months. Ever since he had first seen her.
It had never stopped. Monster, man, he did not see a difference between the two. And right now, he did not care. She’d said yes, and she would be his wife.
He held her face to his, as he kissed her deeper, his tongue sliding against hers, his need so intense he was not sure he possessed the fortitude to do anything other than strip her dress off now and have her on the rooftop.
He might’ve paid for a certain measure of privacy, but he felt as if that might be pushing it.
He consumed her, and she whimpered, arching her body against his, and he knew her. That was the unfair advantage, he supposed. He knew exactly what she liked, what she craved. He knew how to make her scream his name, how to make her beg for more. He had done it any number of times.
And yet for her this was the first.
That steadied him. Forced him to pull back, to soften the kiss, to turn it into a question rather than a command. Because for her this was the first time all over again.
He had taken her virginity once, and in many ways now he would do it again.
And what would he change? Now that he knew. Now that he knew he was the only man to ever touch her. Now that he knew he would have her forever.
His.
But had he not known that from the first moment?
The real mistake had been denying what was so apparently true. The real mistake he had made had been in believing Riot would not put him off his course.
Yes, that was the real mistake.
Now, he had corrected course. Now, he had made it so she would be his forever.
And when the years bled into years and they had been together longer than they’d been apart, the real story would be this one.
Not his mistakes.
