A Vow Of Forever (A Vow Of Hate Novella)

CHAPTER ONE

Julianna

The last time I walked down the aisle, I was left a broken mess.

The last time I spoke my vows to Killian, I was self-destructing.

He had left me at the altar, after whispering vows of hate in my ears and without a kiss to seal our union. Without even lifting my veil. In my path of martyrdom, I thought that was what I deserved. I pushed Killian to hate me… for my own selfish reasons.

To atone for my sins.

To seek redemption.

Forgiveness.

But I only ended leaving a trail of pain and destruction in my wake. I tormented Killian with my lies while blindly believing I was doing the right thing.

How the tables have turned.

Fate has a way of messing things up, oh well… fixing things that we are so hell bent on breaking.

Maybe it was a work of kismet, maybe it was meant all along…

I was playing with our fates, risking both our hearts in my attempt to fix our chapter.

Except our love story had already been written in stars, long before we were born. No matter how hard I tried to change it, Killian and I found our way back to each other again.

They say you never forget your first.

First love. First kiss. First touch. First everything.

And it was all true. We never forgot our firsts, but now, we wanted to rewrite our story.

Starting from the very beginning.

Our vows.

I never thought I’d walk down the aisle again or renew my wedding vows. Except Killian had other ideas.

His kisses woke me up. A kiss behind my ear and then his mouth trailed down lower. The back of my neck tingled at the soft touch of his lips. “Good morning,” Killian said in his raspy morning voice. He was spooning me from behind, his chest against my back and when I wiggled back into him, I felt his hard length probing into the curve of my ass.

“What are you doing?” I teased.

“Kissing my wife.”

I pouted even though he couldn’t see my face. “You woke me up.”

“I’m sorry for waking you up,” he said and I could feel his smirk against my flushed skin. “But I’m not sorry for kissing you. I’ve got three years of missing kisses to make up for, Princess.”

Was I swooning? Yes, a bit. My heart melted at the sound of adoration in his voice. I missed this side of Killian. The romantic side who treated me so delicately. Three years of hate and I finally had my old Killian back.

I let out an involuntary shudder when his strong arm curled around me and his hand drifted up to my chest. He cupped my breast, squeezing gently and a whimper escaped past my lips before I could stop myself.

“Sensitive?”

I gasped in response when he rolled my tight nipple between his fingers. “Yeah. More sensitive than they were yesterday.”

My husband kissed down my spine before he rolled me on my back and settled himself between my spread thighs. He cupped my tiny baby bump, barely protruding but it was there. Visible and slightly swollen with life. Killian grinned down at me and I found myself lost in his dark bedroom eyes, once again. God, he was rugged and handsome. His nose was slightly crooked, his eyebrows thick and his lashes long – I was most definitely envious of them. His lips full and that sneaky dimple under his rough stubble.

I got very lucky with this man.

“Why are you smiling like that?” he questioned, eyebrow raised.

“Why are you grinning like that?” I shot back.

His hands curled around my hips. “Because I get to hold you and kiss you every morning.”

“That was quite cheesy, Spencer.”

“I spent three years waking up alone and cold,” Killian muttered. “I’m not wasting any more moments, Mrs. Spencer.”

I didn’t think it was possible for my heart to be broken again, but this right there – his words and the torment in his eyes that he tried so hard to hide – it killed me.

“I’m so–”

His lips crashed against mine, silencing my heartbreak and swallowing my words. He slid his tongue across my bottom lip, teasing me. My lips parted for him and then his taste invaded my mouth. The kiss sent shivers through my nerves and it felt like every cell in my body was finally coming alive.

A tender kiss of apology.

A slow kiss of forgiveness.

A delicate kiss of mercy.

I drew in a staggered breath as a phantom fist squeezed my heart. I thought it’d be easy to move on, to start anew – but this was no fairy tale. My lies caused both of us indescribable pain and that hurt couldn’t just be forgotten. It was forever inked onto the pages of our story, a train wreck of a chapter before finding our happy ending.

“Marry me,” he rasped into my lips.

Confused, I pulled back. “What?”

“Marry me,” Killian repeated. “Marry me again.”