Maybe if it wasn’t gone, I could consider giving it to Rett, my husband.
I turned toward the door, watching it move inward.
A smile came to my lips as Rett stepped beyond it. His hair had lost its gelled perfection. His tuxedo coat was missing, his tie loosened, and his sleeves rolled up to below his elbows. Even though he’d shaved before our evening wedding, sprouts of dark hair growth were beginning to show on his cheeks and chiseled jaw. However, it was what was between his mussed locks and stubbly chin that had my attention.
Rett’s dark gaze came my way as his steps brought him closer.
He tugged at the opening of my robe and ran the sash through his fingers. “When I left you, this robe wasn’t present.”
My body turned toward him. In my bare feet, he was significantly taller, yet we fit together—he and I. Rett was a magnet I couldn’t repel as our hips touched. If I weren’t leaning back to see him clearer, my breasts would be against his solid chest. “When you left was a long time ago.”
His palms framed my cheeks. “I’d like to tell you that it won’t be like this, that work and fires won’t take me away.” Kisses came to my hair as he tilted my face down. When our gazes again met, he went on, “I can’t tell you that, Emma. I can’t help that there will be times I must be gone. But believe me when I say that never before have I wanted to get away from a meeting like I did tonight.” He stepped back and tugged at the sash until the tie released. A grin curled his lips as the sides hung open, revealing what I’d hidden beneath. His dark orbs came back to my eyes. “Tell me.”
“What, Rett?”
“My rule.”
I’d followed it to the letter and having him close twisted my core tighter, almost painfully so, but I was curious. “If I broke it, what would happen?”
“I’d walk away...to my suite.”
“And tell me to follow?”
“And leave you while I take care of myself in an ice-cold shower.”
“So, my punishment would be...” I left it open.
Rett lifted my chin, bringing my lips to his. “You didn’t break my rule, Emma. I see it in your beautiful eyes. I can smell your desire. It’s hanging around you like the most enticing perfume. I know that you waited. Tell me why? Were you worried about what would happen?”
My head shook. “I wasn’t. You don’t scare me, Everett Ramses.” I laid my hand on his white shirt and splayed my fingers, feeling his heartbeat. “I wasn’t worried. The truth is that I didn’t want some sort of relief. I’m your wife. You’re my husband. We have a lot to work on in this marriage, but granting sexual pleasure isn’t one of them. I waited, not because I couldn’t ease the tension on my own, but because I didn’t want that. I want what only you can give me, what only I can give you. I want it both ways. I want you, Everett Ramses, more than I’ve ever wanted any man in my life.”
His eyes closed and opened as he inhaled and exhaled.
“What?” I asked.
“I have questions I want you to answer.”
He had questions. I had a damn journal full. Instead of saying that, I swallowed my comment and nodded. “Not tonight, Rett. Tonight is us. Tonight is our wedding.” I turned toward the computer, unable to see the small numbers in the corner. “What is left of it is about us.”
My feet left the ground as he reached down, cradling me in his arms and carrying me away from my suite. It was silly, but I didn’t enter his suite when he was away. The rooms were intimidating to say the least. And yet when I was with Rett, his presence made them welcoming.
Through the dark hallway we traveled and into his dark suite.
He gently placed me on his sofa and went to the giant fireplace. With the dim light from the windows, I watched as he moved, majestic and proud. There was a grace to his step that could never be interpreted as unmanly. As he leaned down and brought the fireplace to life, I saw for a moment the man others saw, the one who commanded others and ruled with an iron fist.
Rett Ramses wasn’t the king of New Orleans simply because he took the position. There was regality in his blood that couldn’t be hidden, even in our private suites.
Flames roared to life within the giant enclosure, flickering and sizzling. It was as Rett turned in the fire’s light that I saw the same inferno within his dark eyes. This wasn’t a reflection of what he’d just started but a manifestation of what had been growing since the night at the restaurant.
That night, he’d told me I would be his wife.
He’d proclaimed it would happen, and as I peered momentarily at my left hand, I knew that the man walking toward me was more than the king of New Orleans. He was more than a prophet of fate’s demand. Everett Ramses was capable of changing my stars.
A tap of his phone and the room filled with music.
Rett’s hand was before me.
I stood; the warmth from the flames reminded me that he’d loosened my robe. I reached for the sash.