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He wrapped a curl around his forefinger and smiled.
“Your love makes me the richest man on the planet.”
I held him tighter and whispered with all the fervent hope in my heart. “I hope so.”
In answer, he flexed his hips, rubbing his hardening cock against my core.
“Mm, Viking, what you do to me…”
Barrett
On the drive to Rhys and Bex’s place, she was quiet as she usually was in the car. He held her hand on the seat between them.
He couldn’t deny that things were going well. Maybe too well. Willa appeared to be happy and settling into their relationship, but he had noticed a long time ago that she kept herself busy, unnecessarily so at times it seemed. He suspected it was her way of disengaging.
Her schedule these past few weeks had tightened up, with her working more hours at both the shelter for the fundraiser, as well as at her own business.
Things between them were progressing but he did not fool himself into believing they were done dealing with her demons.
Chapter 31
Perfectly Imperfect
Willa
Bex and Rhys’s place was a dream house.
Literally.
Rhys had bought it before he met Bex. Old and outdated, he painstakingly restored it and redesigned the inside to better suit his family, even putting in a custom workroom for Bex. I smiled to myself in remembrance. He did that when they were still separated, determined that they would be together.
Bex came scarily close to losing him. It reminded me of the fragility of some relationships. It utterly chilled me how one misstep, a simple misunderstanding, or having certain issues, could interfere and tear things apart. If there was one thing I had, it was issues.
Not to say I hadn’t done more than my share of therapy. Intellectually, I knew that I was the scapegoat for my mother’s issues, and while Mara had an abundance of compassion for our mother, I did not. I scraped and pulled myself out of that hole she lay me in as an infant, and I was not ever going back there.
However, I knew equally well that my upbringing and trauma often skewed my emotional reactions to things. I shuddered as I thought back to that day Barrett left in anger. The day he heard her message on the machine. The day of his promise to never leave in anger again.
“You all right?”
Barrett squeezed my hand as we walked up to the door, looking at me with concern. I shook off the dark thoughts and smiled up at him.
“I’m good. Looking forward to today. A bit nervous about seeing your parents since we’ve become official. They know, right?”
He squeezed my hand again, answering, “They know and they’re happy for us. My mom knew how I felt about you a long time ago.”
I felt suddenly anxious.
“Oh, God, she’s going to think I was holding out on you!”
He smiled at me, his eyes teasing. “You were holding out on me.”
I glared at him. “Not on purpose!”
“Really? All those conversations about ‘best friends don’t fuck’ were by accident?”
I laughed. “Oh my gosh, Viking! I don’t want her to think I thought I was too good for you!”
He stopped on the path and pulled me into his arms, his face back to its habitually serious expression. He stared into my eyes intently, his hand cradling the back of my head.
