“Yes,shedoes.”
I smiled to myself. I wasn’t sure how I ever thought we’d be spending the night apart. But first we needed to find our way out of this warehouse maze.
Seduction - Chapter 28
Saturday
“Baby.”
I slowly opened my eyes to see James staring at me. I smiled at him. “Good morning, handsome.”
He smiled. “I want to lie here with you all day…but we have to go.”
I nodded but didn’t move. And he didn’t move either. We just stared at each other as the morning sun rays slowly filtered into the room.
I felt…off.
And I knew he could tell. It’s why neither of us moved an inch.
My chest ached. It was almost like I was reliving the morning of our wedding. And that filled me with so much happiness, but also with fear. Our wedding day had been the best and the worst day of my life. I hadn’t been to any weddings since ours. And I knew that Isabella wasn’t out there anymore…but there was still this sense of doom in my chest. I wondered if weddings would always feel this way to me. Hope and fear, love and death, all colliding in my head.
I pressed my lips together.
“Today is gonna be okay,” he said.
Was he thinking the same thing I was? Our wedding night was horrifying to me. But he didn’t even remember it. He’d spent the night in a coma. I felt tears slide down the side of my face and onto my pillow. “I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to go to another wedding without thinking about what happened at ours.”
“Oh, baby.” He pulled me into his arms and kissed the top of my head. “You have nothing to worry about today. Ian, Briggs, and Porter will all be there. And I hired extra security just in case. You don’t have anything to fear.”
I sniffled.
He kissed the top of my head. “We’re safe now.”
I knew that. I truly did. But I hugged him tighter anyway. I didn’t want to spend the morning away from him. Hell, I hated spending even a second away from him. “Can’t we just stay here a little while longer?”
“Of course.” He held me tighter.
We just lay there in silence, wrapped up in each other. I pressed my cheek against his chest and listened to his steady heartbeat. And I let him run his fingers slowly up and down my back, calming me. His heart was still beating. He was safe. And healthy again. I closed my eyes tight and listened to his heartbeat for a few more minutes. There was nothing I loved more than hearing his heart beating, slow and steady.
“Okay,” I said and tipped my head back so I could look up at him. “Let’s do this thing.”
He smiled down at me.
“Do you need to practice your best man speech or anything?”
He cupped my face in his hands. “No more procrastinating. If we’re lucky none of them will catch us sneaking into the hotel.”
“Easy. They were all so wasted last night.”
He laughed. “They really were.” He groaned as he sat up, stretching his neck.
“I’m sorry,” I said.
He seemed to get a stiff neck whenever I insisted that we stay intertwined all night long.
He leaned down and kissed me again. “It was worth it. Now let’s go before we get in trouble.”
***