“Getting married is something I’ve dreamed of since I was a little girl. I know you probably think that’s stupid, but I couldn’t help it. And in all of my daydreams about falling in love and getting married, my father has always walked me down the aisle. My mother has always done my hair for me. She’s always been there, crying in the pews. And my sister has always been my maid of honor. We fight like cat and dog, and we rarely see eye to eye, but I love her. I’ve always known I’d ask her to be there for me when the time came. And now, my father’s being held hostage and my mom and sister think I’m dead. I can’t get married without them, Jamie, I just can’t.”
He cups my face in his hands. “Okay, then. We won’t get married unless your family can be there. I can agree to that.” He kisses me lightly, his mouth finding mine, his tongue skating between his lips to graze against me, and a deep, penetrating wave of fear rises inside me. I’ve never been a what-if person, but there are so many of the cursed things hounding me right now. What if we can’t get Julio to help us? What if Hector kills my father? What if I have to hand myself over to the cartel in order to save him? But worse still, what if we do manage to free my father but he wants nothing to do with me anymore? What if he never wants to lay eyes on me again, let alone give me away to the man who technically kidnapped me and refused to set me free?
Jamie brushes his fingers along my jawbone, humming softly at the back of his throat. “I know what you’re thinking, sugar, and there’s no sense in worrying about that at the moment. I know it’s going to work out. I know I’m going to hear you say ‘I do.’ I know it deep down in my bones. So please…let me put this ring on your finger? Let me hear you say the words. I’m going to lose my fucking mind if you don’t.”
I hold my breath, wishing I was as certain as he is. I trust him, though. The past six months has been a cat and mouse game where I try to pretend I don’t trust him and I know better, but the truth is I’d happily place my own life in his hands if he said he knew I’d be safe. God, I must be certifiable. I release the breath I’m holding, trying not to shake. “Okay. Okay, Louis James Aubertin the third. I’ll wear your ring. I’ll marry you.”
Jamie smiles, and it’s the kind of smile you don’t see very often. It’s like sunlight breaking through clouds. His eyes are shining brightly as he holds up the ring he’s been hiding while we speak, and I can’t seem to form words. It’s lovely. A princess cut diamond, not too big and not too small. Simply set on a white gold band. It’s not an ostentatious, gaudy thing. It’s pretty and feminine. I love it as soon as I lay eyes on it.
“Jamie…” I whisper.
“You like it?”
I nod, trying not to get teary, though that seems pretty much impossible as he slides the ring onto my finger. “It’s so beautiful. It’s perfect.”
Jamie smiles down at my hand, sadness creeping into his expression. “It was my mother’s. I knew it would fit you.”
For some reason, the knowledge that he’s giving me his mother’s ring makes my throat feel like it’s swelling shut. It’s a monumental act on his part. He has so little left from his mother. Being given her engagement ring feels like an honor I don’t deserve somehow.
“Are you sure? Are you sure you want me to wear this?”
He dips down and kisses the ring on my finger, grinning at me. “Are you kidding me? I never want you to take it off.” He picks me up and carries me to one of the queen beds, raining kisses down onto my face, my neck and my collarbone as he does so. “Close your eyes,” he tells me. “I don’t want this to be the place where we have sex for the first time as an engaged couple.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” I laugh, clinging onto him tightly, while he nips at my bottom lip.
“Close your eyes. You’ll see.”
“Fine.” I squeal as he throws me down onto the bed, landing on top of me. The weight of him feels good, heavy but also reassuring in a way. He brackets my head with his arms, supporting himself over me as he brushes his fingertips over my face, skating them over my forehead, my temples, over my cheekbones and down the bridge of my nose. He rubs the pad of one of his fingers against my lips until I part them for him, and then he slides it inside my mouth, wetting it against my tongue, pressing it against my teeth, his breathing growing quicker as he trails it over my lips, wetting them too.
“You’re so fucking beautiful,” he whispers into my mouth, his breath hot, sending shivers all over my body. My skin breaks out into goose bumps, so sensitive as he shifts on top of me. I can feel the ache building between my legs already, and I know that soon it will be undeniable—a demanding pressure that will have to be sated otherwise I’ll go mad. Jamie teases my lower lip with his finger again; he licks at it, then licks over my bottom teeth, tracing the ridge of them with the tip of his tongue, applying enough force to make himself groan. “You mouth is so perfect. Are you going to let me fuck it, Sophia? I love feeling your lips wrapping around my hard cock. It’s the most incredible thing...”
“Yes,” I say softly. “You can fuck my mouth.”
“Are you going to tease your tongue around my shaft? Are you going to lick and suck on my balls like a good girl?”
“Fuck. Yes.”
“Good. And when I’m done with your mouth?”
“You can take whatever you want,” I pant. “I’m yours. I’ll do whatever you ask me to.”