Page 13 of Yours, Now and Always
My thighs are sore.
My soul is floating somewhere unsupervised.
My consciousness is lying face down in a field somewhere.
And I have never been happier.
This isn’t a little happy. It’s not butterflies and sunshine happy. This is pureI-screamed-at-the-universe-and-it-finally-screamed-backhappy.
Gage’s arm tightens around me as he drops a kiss to my forehead and says, “Tell me what’s happening in that pretty brain of yours, Princess.”
I look up at him, meet those intense eyes that are mine now and forever. “I’m just over here wondering what’s next? Because I know you. And I know my files have exactly zero chance of being touched any time soon. So, should I be panic-packing for a surprise honeymoon where I have to guess the climate based on whether you’re rolling your sleeves up or not?”
His lips twitch. “No honeymoon. Your files can have you all to themselves tomorrow.”
I blink.
My brain refuses to accept that as fact.
“I don’t believe you.”
He raises one eyebrow in that dangerously unbothered Gage Black way. The one that saysyou may proceed with your delusions.
I sit up slowly. Still staring at him like he may be a deepfake.
“No. This is not you. You don’t just hold a wedding. You engineer a love event like you’re mapping a high-level op. You plan a honeymoon like you’re staging an international coup. I mean, you’re the man who ran risk assessments on a science fair.” I narrow my eyes at him. “Are you sick?”
He’s silent for a long beat.
Then he looks at me like I’ve just asked him to explain gravity.
When he finally speaks, his voice is thick with emotion. “Nothing else mattered. Not a fancy wedding. Not a honeymoon. I just needed you to bemine. On paper. In name. In law.” His eyes burn into me. “Every-fucking-thing else could wait.Thatcouldn’t.”
Holy feral love language.
I forget what air is.
I forget every reason I ever thought he might not want me.
I forget how to exist as anything other than his wife.
Because that look in his eyes?
It saysyou were never a question. You were always the answer.
I scramble onto him like a woman possessed, straddling him, grabbing his face,needinghim like my sanity depends on it.
His hands go straight to my hips.
My mouth finds his.
And I kiss him like I’m trying to breathe through him.
Like this is how I sayyou were always the answer too.
Neither of us want to stop. We come up for air in seconds, like swimmers in a storm. Desperate. Wild. Still searching for more.
And I think,God, maybe we never will stop.
