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My insides coiled into an icy knot as a torrent of delusional thoughts raced through my mind. Her hand should be on my arm. I should be the one sitting across the table from her. I should be the one taking her home, waking up next to her. Reading what she was reading. Yelling at the evil cat. It should be me in her life.
“How’s your date going?” I asked acidly. “Great. Thanks for asking,” she snarled. “You’re welcome. I’m so fucking happy for you,” I shot back. “I’m surprised you didn’t bring your parade of women out with you tonight.” “Jealous?” I asked, hoping. “You’re the one who cornered me outside the bathroom while I’m on a date with a sweet, smart, hot guy who is excited about starting a family, Lucifer.” “Come over tonight,” I said, hating myself even as I said the words. “Gee, I can’t. I’m busy having the case of whiplash you caused,” she snapped.
Get this through your mercurial head, Lucifer. I want a husband, a family, a man I can count on to be there, especially when things get tough. I’m not ever going to settle for someone who runs just when things are getting good.”
“I missed touching you,”
“Let me touch you. Let me taste you,”
She was so fucking beautiful when she was being diabolical.
“I’m fully aware of how good the sex was. It was everything else that was subpar. I’m not settling for being someone’s weekend fuck buddy anymore. And I’m sure as hell not allowing some overgrown man-child to cast me aside like I’m nothing because he can’t deal with feelings. I’m out of your league, Lucifer. This was your last freebie.”
“The second you think you’re as good as or better than your woman is the second it all starts goin’ to hell,” Knox said.
I sighed. “On paper, he’s perfect. Hell, in person, he’s perfect. But there’s no…” Engulfing flames of desire? All-consuming need to tear his pants off? Off-the-charts chemical reaction? “Spark?” Mom supplied. Spark seemed too tame in comparison to what I’d experienced with Lucian.
“You love me, and yet you’re content to never try. That’s not sad. That’s pathetic.”
He didn’t understand. No one did. When things turned to ruins, Sloane and I were there for each other. Always. It was time we both remembered that. Because I wasn’t walking away. Not this time. Not ever again.
She paused, staring at the mound of pillows I’d arranged in a U. “You remembered,” she said softly. “I remember every second of us.”
“You need to understand something,” I told her calmly. “I’m not going anywhere, and you are my business because we’re together.”
Mom looked like she was happy enough to shoot rainbows out of her eyes and her butt.
“That’s my girl,” he muttered. “You’re so fucking beautiful when you come.”
I left them and crossed the room to her. She looked up at me as I crouched down. “You have that line between your eyebrows you get when you’re concentrating,” I observed, running my finger over the spot in question. “You should get some sleep.” “And miss all the fun?” “When this is over, I’m taking you to a private island where we can drink piña coladas naked on a beach so I can teach you what fun is,” I decided.
“I’m trying to integrate our lives both here and in Knockemout, and Sloane is refusing to participate. The woman repacks her toiletries after every shower!” Lucian bellowed. Emry looked as if he were trying very hard not to laugh as he poured three glasses of wine. “I see.” I got out of my chair and stalked toward Lucian, interrupting his pacing. “And I told you, you don’t just get to order me into a relationship. A couple of drawers are not going to make me feel secure enough to even entertain the idea of dating you.” “We’re not dating,” Lucian said. “We’re living together. We’re having sex.
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“I read all your book club picks,” I told her. “But why?” “Why? Jesus, Sloane. Why do you think? Because I love you. I’m in love with you. I’ve had the last twenty-some years to obsess over you from afar.”
I took a deep breath. “Loving you has been a touchstone for more than half my life. But being loved by you? That’s a fucking miracle. You, Pixie, are my fucking miracle.”
“You heard me. I’d get down on one knee, but I don’t know if I’d be able to get back up right now. Marry me. Be my wife. Remind me every day that I’m better than I think I am. Show me what it’s like to be loved by you. Because that’s all I ever wanted. To be good enough for you.”
“Sloane Walton, I have loved you for so long I don’t remember what my life was like before my heart was yours. It’s changed over the years. But I’ve loved you as a friend, an enemy, a lover. It would be my greatest honor in this lifetime if you would let me love you as my wife.”
“I love you, Lucian. Even if you wear suits to bed and are snooty about peanut butter brands.” “And I love you, Sloane. Even if you drive me absolutely insane twenty-four hours a day for the rest of my life.”
My hair was done in a high, flirty ponytail that I gleefully knew my fiancé, Lucian Freaking Rollins, would wrap around his fist before the night was over.
“I want to set a date. For our wedding.” He glanced around us at the chaotic merriment. “I don’t want to wait. I already wasted enough time. And watching you walk down that aisle today, knowing it’s for someone else, is driving me insane.”
Lucian “Lucifer” Rollins was going to be my husband. And I was going to be his wife. We were going to spend the rest of our lives building a family…and driving each other absolutely insane.
“Tell me what you need,” he said, a faint smile curving his lips. “I need one of your insulting pep talks. Don’t hold back,” I insisted, gesturing for him to bring it on.
