“Eventually. I’d like to have them, yes. What about you?”
“I honestly haven’t thought about it. It just seems so far off in the future, you know? Like some distant thing I don’t have to really think about.”
“Like your sister?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, she just decided one day she wanted a baby.”
“Maybe I’ll do it when I’m ready.IfI’m ready, with or without a partner. I’m nothing if not independent.”
He chuckled. “You’re telling me.”
“Hey, you never said you wanted a subservient wife.”
“Oh, I don’t. I just want you.”
The tension in the room grew thick as his gaze fell to my lips, and I caught the flexing of his hand out of the corner of my eye.
“Do you want me, Taylor? Really?”
“You know I do.”
“I don’t think I do. All I know is that we’re skirting this line, and it’s making it hard for me to tell what’s fantasy and what’s reality. Where is the lie? And where’s the truth?”
“There’s never been a lie on my part, or if there has been, the only lie you believe is that I want this to end.”
“What are you talking about?” My heart fluttered, this erratic frantic thing in my chest.
“I want it all. I want you. I want us. I don’t want it to be pretend. I fell for you the moment I saw you on the ferry. And I think you fell for me too. But I scared you.”
Every word that fell from his lips was true. I never stopped thinking about Taylor Savage even when I pretended I hated him.
“So you want to really...”
“Aye, I want to do this with you. We can go as fast or as slow as you want, but I need to know you're mine. Not just in name. I need you to give me every part of you because I’m laying my broken pieces at your feet, hoping you’ll help me put them back together.”
I was terrified, but at the same time, I had already married him. I’d fallen into his web the moment I agreed to this arrangement. What would the harm be in letting him wrap me up and keep me?
“Promise me something.”
“Of course. All you have to do is ask.”
“Don’t break my heart, Taylor.”
“I’d sooner break every bone in my body, wife.” He stepped closer, reaching out and cupping my face. “From this moment forward, I belong to you and you me. Are we clear?”
I nodded, never breaking contact with his gaze. “There’s no one else for me. It’s you.”
With his free hand, he took my left and brought the knuckles up to his lips, then kissed my wedding ring. “My wife.”
I pressed my palm over his heart. “My...” I hesitated before I could get the word out. “Husband.” Then he shifted his hand from my cheek to cup the back of my head as he pulled me against his body and lowered his face until his lips were an inch away from mine. I could hear his ragged breaths. Feel the hammering of his heartbeat under my palm. Sense the need crying for release.
“Becca,” he whispered.
A loud banging on the door startled us both. “Bloody hell. What the fuck do you want?” he barked, making me giggle, even as frustration worked its way through my veins.
“I’m sorry, Mr. McCullough.”