“Yeah.” She pushed away from him, and he released her. Taking two big steps into a cresting wave that reached over her bikini bottoms, she tugged off her wedding band. “I have to,” she said, her tone steely, “get rid of this meaningless bit of metal.” She pulled back her arm, and with all her strength, she hurled the ring into the blue of the sky. It glinted as it spun, then hit the surface with barely a splash.
Gone.
Forever.
“You okay?” Jayden asked.
“Yeah.” She turned to him, hands on hips, chest puffed up. A new sense of freedom filled her lungs the way the sea breeze did. It felt good.
“You sure you’re okay?” he asked.
“Never better. If we’re gonna go in there and … make love, I don’t want to feel married to someone else.”
“Make love?” He bit on his bottom lip as if holding in a smirk.
“Wasn’t that what you meant?” Her confidence wobbledjust a fraction. “Just now…”
“Well, I was gonna suggest we fuck, but making love sounds more fun.”
“Don’t mock me, I … oh!”
He’d scooped her up again, this time against his chest as if she were some damsel in distress. She kicked her legs. “Jayden!”
“You know you looked like a real biker chick just then, full of sassy attitude and sexy as hell in that hard-on-inducing bikini.”
“Biker chick?” She laughed. “As if.”
“You’ve got the makings. Just need to curse a bit more, but I’ve got a few ideas on how I might make you do that.” He laughed and strode from the water, heading up the beach.
“Are you trying to be a bad influence on me?”
“Hell yeah. I wanna see just how good you are at being bad.”
The glint in his eyes sent a sexy shiver over her skin.
What have I let myself in for?
She didn’t know, but she was going to find out … soon.
He set her down on the sand so she could slide her feet into her thongs, then hand-in-hand, they crossed the road. After stepping into the house, he shut the door and slipped the bolt.
Silence wrapped around her, and she concentrated on the sound of her pulse. Clenched her fists so hard her nails dug into her palms.
“Hey.” He reached for her and slipped his arms around her waist. “Don’t look so worried.”
“I’m not.”
He kissed her brow, then the tip of her nose. “I want you so bad, have for goddamn weeks, but you say stop, we stop, okay?”
“I won’t say stop.”
“But I need you to know I will stop, if you want me to.”
“I trust you, Jayden. I trust you more than I’ve ever trusted anyone.”
“Damn, it’s sexy hearing you say that.”
She smiled and stroked her finger over his inked wolf.