“Uh huh.” I sit up on my elbows and kick my legs behind me. The silk sheets feel cool and smooth against my nudity. “You sure are one suave bastard.”
“You saying you’ve never felt that way about me?”
“Why, Mr. Alison.” I spare him a coy look. “I feel that way about you every single day. I should hope you can feel it in my actions. Maybe hear it in my words.”
He pulls me into his arms, surrounding me with his sturdy body. “You may have demanded an annulment, but you’ll be my wife in my heart.” The way his voice trails off says that he hopes to hear the same thing from me. He will never ask for it, though. He thinks that by planting it in my head as my idea that I will be more likely to vocalize it. I am on to you, Ian. I don’t know what your father told you about women, but that’s not how it works.
“You are many things in my heart.” I kiss his cheek. “Let’s take the legal stuff a bit slower, though.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Oh, good, we’re on the same page already.”
He lies back on the bed, hands behind his head. “I may be open to some ideas. Depends on what you’re peddling.”
The thought of having sex again tonight makes me want to fall asleep. So I curl my arm around his chest and feel content enough to doze on his warm skin. “Maybe tomorrow. I want to stay like this for now.”
Ian doesn’t say anything. His arm is firm around me, protecting me from the world around us. I may not need actual protection in this day and age, but I’m not going to lie—it feels really, really good to have a man who is so ready to act as my protector should I ever need it.
The idea that such a man is my husband, even if it’s only in my heart... well, that makes it even better. I’m ready to fall asleep, feeling safe and loved. I don’t even think of what happened this morning. Or this week. Or any other time. There is only us and what we give one another.
Isn’t that what truly matters?
Ian
Our final morning in Vegas is spent packing, drinking our breakfasts, and arguing with my mother over whether or not we should take the same plane. She finally convinces me that it’s the economical and ecological thing to do. Usually I don’t care so much about that kind of thing, but I am a guilty-ass son who feels terrible about everything I’ve put the women I love through this past week. So even though Kathryn rolls her eyes to find out we’re taking the same small private plane back to the east coast together... eh, she’ll live.
To be honest, I need to reassert some of my authority in this relationship after last night. I won’t go into graphic detail, but let’s say my girlfriend/wife brought a helluva cock ring on this trip, and, uh, some other naughty things that made me feel so wiped out last night that I feel like I have a hangover right now. As the heavens intended.
So now we’re on our way home from the local airport. Well, we haven’t boarded the plane yet. We’re sitting in the lobby waiting for the captain to come out and tell us it’s good to board. Until then, I’m sitting between Kathryn and my mother, trying to not look too interested to talk about...
“Anyway, what are you two going to do when we get home?” My mother is way too perky for ten in the morning. I don’t care how sunny it is outside. I want to barf from my headache. In fact, I woke up so groggy today I had to check my phone to make sure I didn’t get married again. Because I would have, and probably not to Kathryn, because for all the times she calls me a dumbass, sometimes she’s right. “I’ve been inspired to host a small garden party on my terrace sometime this next month. If you wouldn’t mind...”
I have got to cut this off before it gets worse. “I think we’re going shopping.”
“Shopping?”
Kathryn looks at me through a pair of thick, black sunglasses. If she didn’t brush her hair so well, I would think she has a hangover too. “Shopping?”
“Yes, dear, remember? You said you wanted to get a new living room set because the old one is so drab.”
“I did?”
“Oh, furniture shopping?” As I suspected, my mother perks up with a ridiculous smile on her lips. “I love furniture shopping! Last month I bought a new bedroom set because I was ready to throw the old one out the window... instead I gave it to my housekeeper...”
“Yup. Kathryn said it’s high time she improves some things around her apartment.”
“I did, huh?”
“Uh huh. Remember what you said? You want leather.”
“Leather...”
“Leather with lots and lots of buckles and loops.”