Anneke.
Anneke.
Anneke.
“I’ll never let you go again.” He spoke the words in a raw voice, and they were a warning, a threat, and a promise all in one. He wouldn’t have been surprised if the words ended up scaring her, but instead his wife only laughed shakily.
“Oh Marcus.” And more tears began to wet the side of his neck. “Even if you did let go of me, I’ll just come after you.”
He pulled back to look down into her beautiful blue eyes, asking in a husky, teasing voice, “Who would’ve thought love would make an innocent like you so terrifyingly aggressive?”
Her smile wobbly but bright, she returned softly, “And who would’ve thought love could make a playboy like you turn so shockingly coy?”
For one moment, the words stunned him.Him, coy?But then he remembered the way he had first refused her every overture, and he realized it was true. As he threw his head back with a laugh, his wife laughed with him, even as she implored half-teasingly, half-seriously, “Please promise me this is the last time you’ll play hard to get whenever we fight?”
Epilogue
It was Marcus and Anneke’sfirst wedding anniversary, and they had celebrated it with a bang. Invitations had been sent out to over a thousand people, with the party held in the biggest ballroom in Queen Wilhemina’s palace. And after, the couple retreated into the palace’s private wing, walking hand in hand to the suite that had been specially prepared for them.
So many things had changed in the past year, and they were all for the better. To say that she was happy would be the biggest understatement in the world, and more often than not Anneke was tempted to pinch herself to make sure she wasn’t dreaming it all up.
Glancing at his wife, Marcus caught a familiar look in Anneke’s brilliant blue eyes, and the Italian billionaire sighed. “Adorable as your insecurities sometimes make you—-”
“Who says I’m insecure?” Anneke muttered, automatically defensive.
“They have no place in your mind tonight of all nights,bambina.”
“I told you, I’m not—-”
“Accept that you are the happiest and luckiest woman in the world because you have a husband like me.”
A laugh escaped her. “Cocky doesn’t even cover it—-oh!” Marcus had suddenly swept her up in his arms.
“I thought I should carry you over the threshold since it’s our anniversary.”
Oh!It was terribly thoughtful and wonderfully sweet of him. How could this man be so perfect? Be so—-