Page 7 of Tales of Obsession Epilogue
Initially, Rose suggested we adopt Brynne, but I vetoed the idea after seeing how much of her attention the kid had pulled away from me. Enzo was a loner and stayed holed up in his room while Brynne followed Rose around. It wouldn’t do, and after meeting potential families, Rose had finally given the thumbs-up to a couple who had never been able to conceive. The adoption had been a hurdle in wedding planning.
While Rose didn’t remember much about her previous life, she wanted a traditional Indian wedding. Getting the hotel to agree to an open fire had been the biggest challenge thus far.
Our families protested the union, of course. But it helped that Rose didn’t remember much about her family and wasn’t supremely concerned about offending them. When they realized she didn’t care whether they attended, they dropped the charade to be a part of today’s festivities. Moving forward, we planned to maintain minimal contact with her family other than Poppy and Piya. I wouldn’t let anyone get between us again. I endured a private hell when she convinced me that she loved someone else, and I refused to revisit that dark place.
The bitterness took a nosedive when Rose appeared in the ballroom, escorted by a few of her cousins.
My chest seized as if gripped by a vise. The marble floor gleamed under each step Rose took toward me. My gaze burned a path from the gold-embroidered hem of her lehenga, past the rich crimson fabric draped perfectly around her hips, the delicate cinch of her waist adorned with jewels, to the flush spreading beneath the intricate henna on her hands. The little skin she showed made me feral with both need and possessiveness.
I wanted to screamminein the middle of our wedding.
When our eyes finally locked through her veil, the depth of them hit me with the force of a monsoon. Those same eyes had haunted my dreams since we met on that roof and we savedeach other’s lives. Her lips parted in that smile I’d kill for, the one that started hesitant before blooming into something fierce and certain. That smile had brought me to my knees even before I understood what it meant to want someone this completely. It had been more than ten years since we met. Ten fucking years since it became apparent that I was only human for one person in this world.
That was the thing about Rose; not only was she my salvation, but she was also my sanctuary. My home. The beginning to my end.
She was everything.
And now the world would know the same truth I had known for far too long. Rose belonged to me as much as I belonged to her.
Rose sat next to me under the red-and-gold tapestry-adorned mandap. Her father, Dev, adjusted the dupatta over her head before placing her hand over mine. He was so relieved that Rose was okay after she disappeared from the hospital that he didn’t throw a fit over our engagement. Not that he had a moral high ground after kidnapping my twin. It helped that Damon didn’t call the authorities, and now, Dev was doing everything in his power to suck up to us. Giving Rose his blessing was a good start, but I had ammunition against him if he stood in my way.
The moment Dev was out of earshot, I whispered, “Fuck, baby. You clean up nice. All I can think about is ripping that lehenga off you. How long before this thing is over?”
Her smile remained shy beneath her veil, but those eyes, I was obsessed with seeing my reflection in them. Today, of all days, I needed to see myself in her eyes, but Rose was distracted.
“The kids clean up nicely, too,” she whispered.
I stared at Rose instead of following her gaze to Enzo and Brynne.
When I didn’t respond, she gave me a blank look. “What?”
“The kids clean up nice?” I fit myself into a fuckingsherwanifor her.
She laughed softly under the see-through veil. “You look incredible. There’s something incredibly hot about a white guy wearing a sherwani.”
Once more, I glared at her.
And yet again, the infuriating woman chuckled. “I meant, you’re the only white guy that looks hot in a sherwani. Happy?”
I smiled, squeezing her hand while the priest babbled on. The sindoor I would soon place in the part of her hair waited between us like a promise.
“Is this real life?” she leaned over to whisper. “A few weeks ago, I had nothing. And now—” Her eyes swept across the ballroom from Enzo, Brynne, Piya, and Zane in the front row to her father, Poppy, and Damon at the mandap next to us. Finally, her gaze settled on my face.
I smirked. “And now?”
“And now, I have everything.”
I smiled because she was right.
I had everything, too.
Because I had her.
The Holidays
Chapter
Four
