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“Don’t be so foolish as to forget who I am, Xavier. No one gets away with threatening a Windsor. Not even you.” He rolls us over, and I fall back onto the bed, his body on top of mine. “Perhaps so, but you’re no longer a Windsor, Sierra Kingston.”
I’ve fucking missed her, missed the way she feels in my arm, the way she tastes. I didn’t even realize that I’ve felt incomplete for the last two weeks, right until this moment.
“Tell me you’re mine,” I beg, needing to hear the words. I know I don’t deserve her, but fuck, I need her. “I’m yours,” she moans. “I’m all yours, Xavier.”
“I lied,” she says, her voice breaking. She cups my face, vulnerability sparkling in her eyes. “When I told you that I wouldn’t pretend I’d stay away from Graham, I was just trying to provoke you. There has never been anything going on between Graham and me, and I never agreed to go out for dinner with him today. He truly is just a friend, and I’ve never wanted anyone but you…”
“Good girl,” he whispers, looking pleased — proud. “You can be such a good girl when you want to be.”
“You can take all of me, baby. You were made for me, Sierra.”
“You’ll be the death of me, Sierra Kingston.”
“No, you’re just very similar to Xavier. Possessive. Crazy. Hopelessly in love.”
“You look at her the way I look at your mother, Xavier. It’s okay to love her, you know? It’s okay to be happy.”
“Not even God can save you now,”
“Every goddamn inch of you is mine, Sierra Kingston,”
I would never do anything that’d make you uncomfortable, Xavier. I’d never go out for drinks with a guy that seems even remotely interested in me. I’m a lot of things, but unfaithful and disloyal don’t make that list. I’m sorry for provoking you, but I’ve learned that it’s the only way you’ll be honest with me. It took me a while to realize why I loved our rivalry so much, why I still enjoy provoking you — it’s because you put up this strange facade any other time, refusing to speak your mind or show me how you really feel. I don’t want you to be patient with me or choose your words carefully.
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I sigh as I reach for her hand and lift it to my lip, kissing the back gently, and she smiles at me like she doesn’t give a single damn that Graham is watching.
I think I know what he saw in her, even that early in their story; it’s the same thing I see in you. It’s rare to find someone who isn’t intimidated by me, but you never have been. My fears are the same as Felix’s; someday you’ll see the monster inside me, and you’ll run like everyone else does.
“I want you, Xavier Kingston. The good, the bad, and everything in between.” My hands roam over his shirt, and I smile as I begin to unbutton it. “Let me show you just how much.”
My mind is filled with nothing but thoughts of her as I walk into her home library and light the fire in our marble fireplace, before grabbing a cozy blanket and placing it over the large armchair in the corner. I look around the room and pause for a moment, deciding to add a few candles too. Just as I’ve made a hot chocolate with Sierra’s favorite white chocolate, the door opens, and I smile to myself.
That look in her eyes… it’s more than affection, more than I’d ever have dared dream of, more than I deserve.
I nod and tip my head toward the little electric coaster I asked Lex to make for her. “I got you this,” I tell her, showing it to her. “It’ll keep your drink warm. I know you hate it when your drink gets cold because you forget about it while reading, so I thought you might like it.”
THE LITTLE THINGS
“Yes,” she whispers, grinding her ass against my rock-hard cock subtly. “It’s always your face I imagine. It always has been.”
“You’re mine, Xavier,” she says, her eyes never leaving mine. “Every thought you second-guess, every word you think is misspoken. I want it all — no exceptions.”
“Maybe that girl was falling in love with you the whole time, through every battle, every prank, every single thing you did that ensured you’d be on her mind as much as she was on yours, and maybe she just didn’t realize it.”
“You’re mine, Xavier Kingston,” I tell him. “And I want the world to know it.”
I gasp and jump up in surprise when Xavier walks into my office holding a giant bouquet of pale pink Juliet roses — my favorite.
“Then what were you after?” His gaze roams over my face. “You.”
“What if I want your heart?” I thought my words would surprise him, but he merely smiles, his eyes overflowing with affection. “It’s already yours. My heart has always been yours, Sierra. I am madly in love with you, and I have been for far longer than you could possibly imagine.”
The Siren Indus Everest The Renegade Renaissance Artemis “SIERRA,” I whisper in disbelief when I recognize the pattern the first letters form.
“When I say always, I truly mean it. It’s always been you for me. I never dared tell you how I feel, especially not when I couldn’t tell you the truth about myself, and my past.”
“Let’s announce our marriage,” I tell him, my voice trembling. “I love you, Xavier. I love every single part of you, including the parts you wish never saw the light of day. Every experience, every regret, made you who you are, and I wouldn’t change a thing about you. I love you just as you are, Xavier Kingston, and I always will.”
“You genuinely don’t realize, do you?” “Realize what?” “That you’re the man of my dreams.”
“—I miss you too. Spending a week together got me hooked on you even more than I already was, baby. I’m having withdrawal symptoms for sure.”
“I tick most of those boxes, but not the last one. You see, my husband gave me a credit card that supposedly doesn’t have a limit, and I have every intention of checking if it’s true.” “Hmm, I do love the sound of that. Go spoil yourself, Kitten. I’ll be at home, waiting for you. In bed. Naked.”
“I knew you’d find me,”
“Would you like to try that again?” I ask, smiling without an ounce of amusement. “I suggest you start by addressing me by the right name. It’s Mrs. Kingston to you.”
“Fine,” I tell him. “Let’s sell the company. If you’re so busy that it’s keeping you from me, it’s not worth having. Sell it.”
“I’ll wait a million years and a day, Xavier, if that’s what it takes.”
For as long as I can remember, I’ve wondered what it’d have been like if I still had my parents, and now I no longer have to wonder. Now I know what it’s like to be consoled by a father when a boy breaks my heart, even if the boy in this scenario is his son.
She glances at the ground then, and I walk around the kitchen island to figure out what she’s doing, only to find Hannah, Raven’s older sister, on her hands and knees, a toothbrush in her hands. “You missed several spots,” Mom says, her tone much harsher than I’m used to. “Clean that up.” I watch in shock as the woman who tormented Ares and Raven for years brushes the floor with a toothbrush, and I’d be lying if I said that it didn’t make me feel a whole lot better.
“Just can’t find competent staff these days,”
“How does he have all this?” I ask, reaching for several little pieces of torn paper with hateful things written on it that we’d passed back and forth, each time we found ourselves seated next to each other at a meeting or conference throughout the years. I laugh as I read the messages, each of them from different years.
“Why would he have kept these things?” “Because for a really long time, he thought this was all he’d ever have of you, all he deserved to have.”
“I’m glad I wasn’t wrong about you,” she says, cupping his face. Xavier tenses, his eyes widening, and I frown, surprised by his reaction. “When you came to me, all but begging me to let you marry Sierra, I almost said no, since you’d thrown a wrench in my plans. If not for my grandsons telling me they stood by your decision, I would’ve sent you away.” “What?”
“Tell me this is still mine,” I whisper as I move back on top of her and reach between us, my fingers trailing over her pussy. “Always,”
I pull her close and hold her as she cries her heart out, and all the while, I wish I had the power to undo what happened — her being taken, her grandmother’s death, all of it. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do to turn back time to when she was happy.
“I will fix this,” I promise, praying to God that I can, that Sierra will give me a chance to right my wrongs. “I’ll do whatever it takes, I swear it.”
“Then I’ll be better,” he tells me, his gaze unwavering. “I’m not signing those papers. I’m never letting you go, Sierra. I’m going to show you that you’re worth fighting for, and I’m going to do everything in my power to earn your forgiveness. I’ll try, day in and day out, for a million years and a day if I need to.”
Read this before you file the papers. Forever yours, XK
It was after that very first time, when you’d nearly gotten caught spraying graffiti on the side of my brand-new office that I created the Mrs. Kingston Protocol — a security protocol that allowed you to do absolutely anything you wanted at any Kingston property, at any time.
This story… it’s one I was certain would end in the words, ‘and they lived happily ever after’, but instead, you’ll always be the one that got away. The thing is, I should’ve tried harder, should never have given up on the only woman I’ve ever loved… but what else could I do when you’d begun to look at another man the way you used to look at me? Your happiness is all I’ve ever wanted, even if it’s at the cost of mine. You deserve to be happy with the man of your own choosing, and I should never have gotten in your way. My selfishness cost you so much, and there’s nothing I can do to make that
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“The ending sucked,” she tells me, and my eyes meet hers. “So I rewrote it.” “What?”
This isn’t how The Story of Us ends. It’s just one arc of our lives, the first real hardship we had to overcome as a couple. We nearly failed, you and I. We failed to understand each other, failed to communicate despite the promises we made, but we’ll learn from it, won’t we? This book is proof of it, of how far you and I had come together, before we let our efforts go to waste. So here I am, offering you an alternate ending. Our story has veered off course, but what if we just rewrite it together? I still love you, Xavier Kingston, and you’re still the only man I’ve ever wanted, the only one
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