EMERY
Golden early morning light pours through the gauzy curtains in the master bedroom.
I don’t really remember moving from the sofa to the bedroom, but that’s only because Adrik was inside of me at the time. Not exactly great for memory recall.
I can’t remember the last time I felt as good as I did last night. I’m not sure I ever have. Even now, waking up in the morning exhausted and sore, I feel a lightness tingling through me. Like I’m floating.
I stretch back into the pillows, a smile I can’t get rid of on my face.
“Someone woke up happy.”
I look over to see Adrik is watching me. His hair is a dark tangle on his head and his eyes are heavy. His voice comes out raspy with sleep.
“I’ve never seen you first thing in the morning,” I whisper, brushing my fingers through his hair. I’m ready for him to bolt at any moment, to laugh at me for even thinking of attempting a tender gesture.
But he doesn’t move.
“Few people have,” he says.
“Oh. Well, don’t I feel special?”
He snorts and rolls over, pressing a kiss to my shoulder. “As you should, my wife.”
Wife. He says it like it signifies something sacred. Like what we have here is more than an arrangement. More than a business deal. But I’m far too much of a coward to ask if he truly means that or if it’s just the fever dream of a naive, deluded little girl.
I nestle further under the covers and against his bare skin. He radiates a comforting heat. “Isabella will be up soon.”
“Good,” he says. “I have plans for today.”
“More plans that involve giving me a heart attack?”
He chuckles. “She liked being in the ocean. And I had hold of her. You had nothing to worry about.”
“You might actually be starting to convince me of that.”
“You aren’t sure yet?” Adrik rolls onto his side to face me. “What else do I need to do to convince you?”
His face is stoic, but I can hear the teasing in his voice. Adrik does love his little games.
“Hm…” I say, pursing my lips and arching my back slightly. “I could think of a few things that might work.”
Adrik’s eyes glisten. Reaching out, he drags the sheet down to reveal my bare breasts. We never bothered putting clothes back on last night. They would have only gotten in the way.
He settles himself between my thighs. He’s already hard, the tip of him pressing against my entrance.
“Then I suppose I ought to try. And if it doesn’t work the first time,” he remarks, “I’m happy to try again. As many times as it takes.”
He buries his face between my breasts and I run my fingers through his hair. “I don’t know. Even that might not be enough.”
I’m teasing, but there’s truth there, too. The more Adrik shows himself to me, the more he gives me… the more I want. I’m not sure it will ever be enough.
He passes the flat of his tongue over my nipple, drawing a tiny whimper from me. “We’ll see about that.”
I feel his hips tense, and I brace myself for him to fill me. It’s only been a few hours, but I feel hollow. I want him.
But before he can, his phone rings.
“Fuck me.”
He reaches over and silences his phone without checking it, leaving it on the nightstand. When he crawls back over me, he arches his brow.
“Remind me: where were we?”
I reach between us and wrap my hand around his throbbing cock. He hisses, his pupils dilating. I press him to my wet pussy again. “We were right about there, if I’m remembering right.”
“Ah, of course,” he breathes huskily. “I was about to—”
His phone rings again, shattering the moment. “God fucking dammit,” he growls.
“Maybe you should just answer it,” I say. “It could be important.”
“It fucking better be.” He rolls over and snatches his phone off the nightstand, pressing it to his ear. “What is so important that you had to call and interrupt—”
Adrik stops talking and sits up. I can’t hear anything on the other end, but as the seconds tick past, his entire demeanor shifts.
Since boarding the plane with him yesterday, I’d almost gotten used to seeing him smile. He has been so relaxed the last twenty-four hours. So… free.
But now, in just a matter of a minute, the Adrik I recognize from before is back. His lips are pressed into a brutal line, his jaw is clenched, and his eyes are narrowed.
He nods. “I’ll see you soon.”
I want to pounce on him for information the second he hangs up the phone, but I sit back. I wait for him to come to me.
He doesn’t.
Instead, he swings his legs over the side of the bed and stands up. I want to be distracted by the perfectly toned swell of his butt and his naked, muscular legs. But I can’t. My stomach is tied in a knot.
Something is wrong.
“I have to go,” he says finally, pulling on black boxer briefs. “Something came up.”
I pull the sheet up over myself. “Is there somewhere to go? When we flew in, I didn’t see anything else. The island seemed pretty deserted.”
“No, not on the—I have to go home,” he clarifies impatiently. “Back to the compound.”
“Wait. You’re leaving?”
He nods. “I’m going to call and get the plane readied. I’ll leave here in the next couple hours. But you and Isabella can stay.”
I shake my head. “Wait. Wait. Hold on. You’re leaving and you want us to stay behind?”
“There’s no one else here except the two of you and a few of my men,” he continues, laying out the plan. “You will be safe here. I’ll go deal with—I’ll go do what needs to be done, and then I’ll send for you both.”
He turns towards the bathroom as if the conversation is over. But it’s far from over. I toss the blankets aside, completely disregarding the fact that I’m as naked as the day I was born, and grab Adrik’s hand.
“Adrik, wait, please.”
He turns to me, his blue eyes dragging down my naked body. “You need to put some clothes on or I’ll never leave.”
“Then I’ll never put clothes on.” I grab the hem of his shirt and draw him closer. “It’s our honeymoon. I thought we were going to stay here and—”
“Things change,” he snaps as he turns away. “Duty calls. I don’t have a choice.”
“Then take us with you.”
He shakes his head. “We just got here. And Isabella wants to swim and have fun.”
“With you.”
Adrik looks down at me moodily, brows pinched together.
“She wants to do those things withyou,” I repeat. “And I know if we asked her, she’d rather us all be together than split up.”
“And what about you?” he rumbles. “What would you prefer?”
Adrik’s hand curves around my waist and then drops to my ass. Pressing my nakedness up against his clothes feels strangely vulnerable, but a sense of desperation I can’t quite explain is screaming at me to make him stay, whatever it takes.
Like, if I let him walk out that door, I’ll never see him again.
“You can’t take care of me when we aren’t even in the same hemisphere,” I whisper, my lips brushing against his chest. “Take us with you.”
He presses his hips against me, and I can feel his erection through his pants. The phone call may have interrupted things, but Adrik still wants this. Still wants me.
And I’m not ready to let go of that.
I press my lips to his neck. “Please.”