She was almost afraid to say it. “He loves you.”
“I love him too.”
The words slashed her heart to ribbons, even though she was almost certain they were talking about different kinds of love. “But are you in love with him, Brian?”
“Huh?”
“Nothing,” she said, afraid that by discussing it, Brian might realize he was in love with Trey. She couldn’t lose Brian. Not now. Not when she’d finally given him her heart. It would destroy her.
Brian was quiet for a long moment. “Do you think he’s actually in love with me?”
She bit her lip and nodded. “I know he is,” she said, mortified when her voice cracked.
Brian’s arm tightened around her, but he didn’t say anything. She was almost in tears by the time she found the courage to say, “I’m so afraid he’ll end up coming between us, and I feel so bad for feeling that way—especially now that he’s hurt—but I can’t help it. I don’t want to lose you, Brian. I can’t lose you. I just can’t.”
There. Her greatest fear was now out in the open. A hot tear leaked from the corner of her eye, and she dashed it away angrily.
“You won’t lose me, baby, and Trey won’t ever come between us. I’m in love with you. I was never in love with him. It was just sex, Myrna. Even when Trey and I fooled around as teens, it was just sex.”
For Brian maybe, but she was sure it had meant a lot more than that to Trey. “I know,” she said, though her heart was still clouded with doubt. “I just… It makes me jealous to share you with him. Don’t you get jealous when he touches me?”
“No, I get a raging hard-on when he touches you.”
Yeah, and that wasn’t normal.
“But when Sed touches me—”
Brian stiffened. “Did he fucking touch you? I’ll break his goddamned fingers.”
Myrna slapped his belly. “No, he didn’t. Why are you so jealous of Sed, but not Trey? I don’t understand.”
“Because… Because he’s Trey.”
As if that explained anything. “And?”
“Well… I trust him implicitly with every aspect of my life. Even with you.” He tipped his head to kiss the top of hers.
And yet Brian claimed not to be in love with the man.
“But if you’re not comfortable allowing him into our bed—”
“I’m not,” she said hurriedly.
“That’s fine. We’ll find something else to give us pleasure.”
She snuggled closer to her husband’s chest, her heart swelling with affection. She believed what Brian said. He wasn’t in love with Trey. She had nothing to fear but her own insecurity.
“All I want is you, Mr. Sinclair.”
“You have me, Mrs. Sinclair. Always. If there ever comes a time when I feel Trey might threaten our happiness, I won’t hesitate to set him straight.”
“Promise?” she said, feeling a bit juvenile for asking, but she needed him to say it.
“I promise. I’m yours, Myrna. Only yours.”
She was counting on that. And counting on Brian to never break her heart. She knew if he did, she’d never take a chance on love again.
“And I’m yours, Brian,” she whispered. “Always.”
Sweet Love of Mine
Epilogue to Wicked Beat
A Sinners on Tour Encore
by Olivia Cunning
Chapter One
Sitting at a red light, Eric banged his head to the music blaring from the speakers and drummed his fingers on the steering wheel of his beloved ’67 Corvette. He followed the song’s drum progression around the circle with his improvised drumsticks and reached over to the passenger seat to tap his cymbal—Rebekah’s pert nose. His most beloved giggled, which warmed him far more than the California sunshine streaming in through the car’s open convertible top. It also prompted him to use her thigh as his cowbell and her nose as his cymbal again.
“You’re in a good mood,” she said, smiling crookedly at the dashboard.
Well, what did she expect? He was in love. He paused his live in-traffic performance to look at her. Really look at her. His Rebekah. His heart.
She couldn’t possibly love him with the same all-encompassing intensity with which he loved her, but he was okay with that. He was used to being unloved. And Rebekah hadn’t done anything to make him doubt her feelings. On the contrary, she did things to remind him of her devotion on a regular basis. He just had a hard time wrapping his head around the idea that someone could love him. Correction: that someone did love him. Perhaps if he stared at her long enough, his head would catch up with what his heart already knew.
A breeze caught her chin-length blond hair—accented with splotches of purple dye—and blew it against her adorable face. She pushed the silky strands aside impatiently and tucked them behind her small ears. Everything about her was tiny. Except her heart. And her sexual appetite. Two characteristics he happened to hold in high regard. When Rebekah realized he was staring, she turned her head to him and he immediately got lost in her sky-blue eyes.
Eric released a contented sigh, certain that he had a loopy expression on his face, but he didn’t care who knew he was one hundred percent invested in this woman. He saw forever in those eyes. He could scarcely believe she was his, really his. He hadn’t had to kidnap her or drug her or anything. He lifted a hand to touch her face and make sure he wasn’t just imagining her gazing at him with adoration. But that loving look really was directed toward him. He wanted her to look at him just like that forever.
Only forever would do.
When they’d been waiting for her biopsy results at the hospital that morning, he’d thought his world might end then and there. Her oncologist’s concern of metastasis had been a false alarm, so Eric had decided he wanted to celebrate her clean bill of health by marrying her. Immediately. Our forever starts now, baby. But as they made their way across town toward the courthouse to make it official, he thought perhaps he’d been a bit hasty. He wasn’t sure if Rebekah was as keen on the idea as he was. He hadn’t consulted her, after all. He had just assumed that she was as ready to be legally wed as he was.
The car behind Eric’s honked obnoxiously, reminding him that he was supposed to punch the gas pedal as soon as the light turned green. Normally he’d have sent the impatient jackass a one-fingered salute, but nothing could put a damper on his spirits today. Not when the woman beside him was alive and healthy and his.
“I love you,” he said before he dropped his hand to the gearshift, slammed it in gear, popped the clutch, and took off with an impressive squeal of tires.
“I love you too!” Rebekah yelled, clinging to the dashboard as the car fishtailed slightly, found its grip, and jetted forward.
Unfortunately, traffic was too thick to have any real fun and Eric had to stop at the next light. And wait. God, he was sick of waiting. While he drummed his overabundance of energy into his steering wheel—again—a faded wooden sign hanging over a storefront on the next block caught his attention: Malachi’s Costume Emporium.
His pulse surged with excitement, and he glanced at Rebekah. Would she go for it? A regular courthouse wedding was a bit too normal for the two of them, but perhaps…
“I have an idea,” he said.
She stiffened and peeked at him from under her long lashes. She was usually gung-ho for any crazy idea that crossed his mind, so he wondered about her uncharacteristic hesitation.
“What kind of an idea?” she squeaked.
“Maybe we should get married in costumes.”
“Costumes?”
“Yeah, costumes!” The idea was really catching on with him. “Wouldn’t that be fun?”
“I’m not sure,” she said and worried her small hands together.