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“And she was right,” she went on. “Part of the reason I was adamant that she stop stringing you along was because I wanted to treat you the way I was dying inside to treat you. I would have respected it if you two had gotten back together, but God…I knew I could be so good to you. All I wanted was a chance. I wanted a chance before hurt and pain changed you, and we need people like you in the world. I needed you in mine.”
His hands shook.
She swiped at her face.
“Thank you,” he said.
“For what?”
“Fighting for me.”
“But it was selfish.”
“How?” He kissed her nose. “You saw something good in me. You saw something worthy of being appreciated. You saw it before I saw it in myself. Eesh, I do not hate Syd. I will never regret my marriage to Syd. But I would have been pissed at you if you never gave me a chance to fall in love with you. You, sweetheart, are the love of my fucking life.”
They could have stayed downstairs; she would have willingly made love to him on the sofa. But as he crept over her on the bed they shared and slowly undressed her, eyes never leaving hers, it was perfect this way.
In between undressing her, his mouth ravaged hers. Those large hands of his swept her skin. He sucked on her nipples while he stroked her with his fingers until she climaxed with his name on her lips. When that wasn’t enough, he brought her to a second orgasm using his tongue. Then he brought her to a third, using both.
Joints wiry, she climbed onto all fours.
He grabbed her hips and entered her, unhurried, growing thicker as each ridged inch disappeared inside her body. Their bodies slapped together while she gripped the sheets and cried for a reason that had nothing to do with heartache.
Each crash of their bodies yanked a moan from his throat, the sound vibrating deeper and deeper until he had no choice but to draw her back to his chest and press his forehead against her shoulder.
And he came.
Filled her.
His fingers created craters in her hips, and his groans scattered the warmth of his breath down the middle of her back.
She wanted to say something, tell him again that she loved him. Tell him how sure she was that he was the man she wanted to be with even if the world burned and crashed to its fiery end the next morning.
He collapsed onto the bed, dragging her down with him. She lay sprawled across his chest, the heat of his body mingling with hers, and looked at the ring on her finger. Seeing something different wasn’t as shocking as she’d initially thought it would be, but this was the only man she’d ever dreamed of changing that for.
She’d worn Curtis’ ring everywhere, needing his love and protection in the only form he could have provided. Now, he funneled it through the man underneath her.
“Joel, the ring.” She pushed up, her palms on his chest. “I think it’s the ring.”
He looked at her through sleepy eyelids. “Hmm?”
“When you had it redesigned, did they find anything inside? Like any small devices? A tracker? A speaker?”
“Not that the jeweler mentioned, but,” he yawned, “I wouldn’t be surprised if he found something and thought one of us put it in there.”
“Do you think Adrían did something to it? That’s why he knew all those details and where to find me?”
It took a moment for it to sink in, his post-coitus fatigue strong. “It would make sense thatthat’show he knew about Mr. Veeny.”
“Joel?” Dread burned through the last vestiges of her orgasm. “Who’s Mr.Veeny?”
CHAPTER26
Ayesha’s foot slipped on a step, and she lazily reached for the staircase railing before continuing. Behind her, she heard Joel’s voice, and it sounded like he was either calling her name, telling her to stop, or both, but there was something wrong with her ears. There was something wrong with the world around her.
Things looked warped.
Fuzzy.
