CHAPTERSIX
“She’s an addict,” Vivian whispers.
“So am I.”
“You’ve been clean longer than her.”
“She’ll get there.” -Me, standing up for Dee (Once Upon a Billionaire)
Walt
“And,” Dee continues before I can wrap my head around what she said. “I’m hoping you’re willing to start over. If it were up to me, I’d marry you tomorrow.”
She lets out a nervous laugh. I can’t think. She’d marry me tomorrow?
I purchased the house we’re parked in front of not so long ago, envisioning living in it a long time. Alone. Not because I want to be alone, but because the woman I loved was in Atlanta, Georgia. Nowhere in my playbook did I have a prepared response for her showing up, in a Santa costume, no less, and practically proposing. Then she wallops me with another big announcement.
“I love you, Walt. I’m so, so afraid that you stopped loving me. I’m afraid your life is complete now that I’m not in it. Corporate. An Audi.” She gestures a little helplessly. “You must think I’m a gold digger, come to cash in on your success.”
I laugh. She might have been gobsmacked by the wealth Nate has, and shocked when she found out I used to be an heir to my father’s billions before he was arrested, but… “First off, I’ve never believed you were a gold digger.” I tip her chin with my knuckle and lean close so she has no choice but to listen to what I say. “Second, I do well, but I’m not quite up there with Owen yet. Third, you’re too hard on yourself. You don’t have to try to be perfect for me to love you, Dee. Let’s get one thing straight. I never stopped loving you.”
Dark eyebrows lift to her forehead. The words “You didn’t?” come out strangled, as if emotions have tightened her throat.
“No, honey. Not for a second. I didn’t run out and start dating anyone after you left, either. My goal was to continue plodding along until I figured out how to win you back. When you left, you made it clear I was on your timeline.”
A tear leaks out of her eye. I catch it.
“You waited,” she says, her voice a ghost of Christmas past.
“Where else was I gonna go?”
Her plush lips meet mine as her small fist balls up the front of my coat. She tugs me so hard my hip encounters the console and the seatbelt chokes my middle. I fumble for the release. As soon as I’m free from the safety device, I unbuckle her. Her lips move against mine, slower and more intentional. She’s shaking.
“You’re cold.” I drop my forehead on hers, breathing out a tormented breath. I’m a little shaky myself. There is a console between my rock-hard dick and her gentle, understated curves. It’s past time we leave the confines of this car.
“Let’s go inside,” she says, her voice husky with want. I feel her pain.
“Before we do”—I take her hand in mine and kiss it—“know this. If you come inside with me, I’m going to make love to you. I’m going to kiss you everywhere, until I can’t stand to wait any longer. Then I’ll enter you, deep and slow, and fuck you so reverently it’ll feel like a religious experience. When you come, and make that beautiful mewling sound I’ve missed so much, angels in heaven will sing, Dee.”
Her eyes have gone molten with lust. “God. I missed the way you talk to me. The text you sent me months ago wasn’t a good substitute, but I masturbated to it anyway.”
I can’t help it. I chuckle. “What did it say?”
“You told me not to puke on the rides at the spring festival.” Another tear slips from her eye. “You care too much. Are you sure you want me? Still?”
I spear my fingers into her hair and hold on tight. “Take your ass inside, and you’ll find out.”