Total pages in book: 235
Estimated words: 227851 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1139(@200wpm)___ 911(@250wpm)___ 760(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 227851 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1139(@200wpm)___ 911(@250wpm)___ 760(@300wpm)
Can we? Haven’t we given enough of our time to others today? “You’re tired.” I’m tired. Fucking knackered, in fact. “Let me take you to bed, baby.”
She smiles a little, nuzzling into my face. “Dance with me.” I’m a goner. “Let’s dance.” Dance. It’s my next favorite thing to sex with Ava. I get to hold her close. Black out the world and just dance.
So I reverse my steps and carry Ava to the dance floor, hearing Elizabeth breathe out her relief. Everyone steps aside, giving the floor to us. Just us.
I put my wife down and go to the band. “Now?” the lead singer asks, and I nod. “The same track?”
“Please.” It’s perfect, now more than ever. I watch him set it up and, as soon as the intro of Chasing Cars starts, I smile to myself, facing her. She’s all on her own in the middle of the floor. A beacon of pure, beautiful light. If I join her, will I cast a shadow over that light again? My feet won’t move to take me to her. A sign? Her eyes sparkle, but tears are the cause. Emotional. So fucking emotional. At this point, given what the day has brought, I can’t conclude it’s hormones.
I walk into her body and hold her close, starting to move us slowly. The peace is instant. But my guilt is untamable. “I’m sorry, baby. I’m sorry I left you earlier.”
“Let’s leave it there.”
“The harder I try not to hurt you, the more I do.” I swallow down the ball in my throat, damning myself to hell. “I’m hopeless.” Fucking hopeless.
“Be quiet.”
I sigh, trying to smile at her order. “Okay. But I’m still sorry.” I cup the back of her head and exhale my contentment. “I can’t wait to crawl into bed with you.”
“Me neither.” Her fingers claw into my shoulders. “Tomorrow, we stay in bed all day.”
“We need to go home first,” I remind her, sensing her disappointment when she goes heavier against me.
“We go home first thing in the morning, then.”
“We do, after we’ve soaked in the bath and had breakfast with your parents.”
There are a few beats of silence, both of us contemplative. “I wish you’d have taken me away,” she whispers. “Somewhere quiet, just us.”
My heart sinks. How I wish I could change how we did this. “I wish I had too,” I admit. “But I bet your mother would’ve had something to say about it.” And isn’t the reason we’re not going on a honeymoon anytime soon because Ava can’t take the time off?
I can feel her leaning in to me more every second I turn us on the spot. “Mrs. Ward, are you falling asleep on me?” She hums as others start to join us on the floor. “I love you,” I whisper. “I love you so fucking much.”
“I know.” She finds it in herself to drag her head off my shoulder, giving me her mouth, and I read her message, kissing her as I lift her from her feet. “Mr. Ward,” she mumbles, sleepy, her lips still on my mouth. “You’re drawing attention.”
“Fuck them. Wherever, whenever, baby. You know that. Let me see those eyes.”
She looks at me, curious and drowsy, and with the mildest of smiles on her face. “Why do you always demand to see them?”
That’s easy. “Because when I look into them,” I say, doing it right now—staring into their dark beauty—“I know for sure that you’re real.”
“I’m real,” she assures me, the bridge of her nose scrunching.
“I’m so glad.” Because I hate to think where my life would be now if she wasn’t. “I didn’t tell you how beautiful you look.” I kiss her, literally holding her up now, still moving us both. “I thought it, but my beautiful girl renders me stupid every time I lay my eyes on her. It’s like I’m looking at her for the first time all over again.” She’s so fucking magnificent. “You keep my heart beating, baby,” I say quietly. “And it will only ever beat for you. Understand?”
“Just for me.” She feels through my hair, hardly able to keep her eyes open. “I need you to take me to bed.”
“Will my delightful mother-in-law allow that?”
“I don’t care. I just want you to myself. Take me to bed.”
“Deal.” I place her down and steal a quick kiss. “You don’t have to ask me twice, Mrs. Ward.” Fuck, that sounds so good. I might sacrifice my preferred lady for her official title.
“I just did.”
She did? “That’s your fucking mother’s fault.” I scan the room for Elizabeth as I turn Ava around and move her onward by her shoulders, bracing myself for her intervention.
“Oh, look at Clive and Cathy,” Ava says as I follow her pointed hand to our resident concierge and my housekeeper. The rascal. He’s had his eye on Cathy from the moment she returned from Ireland. I chuckle as they move awkwardly in a circle, but my amusement dies the second I see Dan across the floor, his attention on Kate and Sam. Fucking hell. I’m happy to see Sam and Kate together for the first time today, naturally, but Dan’s face? I glance at Ava to see if she’s noticed them, or even felt the atmosphere, because it’s thick.