Page 72 of Ruthless Claim
“Damn it,” I reply. “When you’re right, you’re right. We passed a playground yesterday that I just know Drey would love.”
“See?” she says victoriously. “You’re thinking about our children just as much as I am!”
She emerges from the bathroom in her bikini, and I take a moment to drink in the sight of her.
“Maybe not just as much,” I murmur, looking her up and down.
She stares back at me with dark eyes, already reaching for the tie on the back of her bikini. In one easy stroke, she pulls it free, allowing the fabric to fall to the floor.
“I promise I’ll drag you back to my dungeon soon enough,” I tell her darkly. “But let’s just enjoy this moment for as long as we can.”
I pick her up and spin her around, loving the excited gasp she lets out as I carry her to our California King bed.
The next morning, I wake up alone. I look up groggily to see her sitting on the patio with her iPad open in front of her and a plateof fresh fruit sitting mostly ignored. If I know her at all, and I’d like to think I know her pretty well, she’s looking at pictures of her hotel.
The renovations are well underway, and she should be able to open in three months. That’s the plan anyway. It’s part of the reason I brought her out here for this trip. I knew if we stayed in the city, like we’ve done for our other six anniversaries, she would just spend the whole time working.
“Hey,” I call out. “You better not be doing anything productive over there.”
She looks up at me guiltily, flushing when she catches me watching her.
“I’m so sorry,” she says in mock apology. “Bryant sent me a few carpet samples because the one we wanted was discontinued.”
I roll my eyes and smile, putting her at ease. There’s nothing I would deny her, not even a few hours to work while we’re on vacation. I had no idea when I married her what a workaholic she would be, but I’m so happy that she’s finally getting to live out her dream.
She told me about this hotel the first time we met. This has been her dream from the beginning, and she thought it would take her much longer to see it become a reality. She’s only twenty-eight. Every day I get to watch her dreams get closer and closer.
“I was thinking about the opening party,” she tells me.
“Oh?” I ask, getting out of bed and coming to sit across from her. “I thought you didn’t like parties.”
“I had a bad experience at one once,” she teases. “But then it turned into the best thing that ever happened. So, maybe a party wouldn’t be such a bad thing.”
“Thank God.” I sigh. “I called Kendra weeks ago to arrange the catering.”
Her face lights up. “How do you always know what I want before I do?” she asks redundantly.
I answer her anyway. “Because I’m so in love with you,” I answer seriously. “And I’ll always make sure that you have exactly what your heart desires.”
She smiles at me and leans forward for a kiss.
When we get home, our lives will go back to being chaos. She’ll throw herself back into the renovation, and I’ll have Bratva business to attend to. In between it, we’ll do our best to be adequate parents, and we’ll probably fail spectacularly. Our kids always find a way of keeping us on our toes.
Here now, though, we just get to be us. We have no responsibilities, no worries, and no reason not to spend the entire day naked in bed.
The End
