“And have a lot of sex in the meantime.”
Émile smirks. “Well, that’s a given.”
I smile and kiss him again, and again. The man who proved to me that I can be loved wholly, unconditionally, and that just because I don’t have the family I was born with, doesn’t mean I don’t have one at all. He’s there when I need him, completely unruffled by my mishaps, and loving me in spite of them.
I don’t care if things are early.
I don’t care if we’ve done everything the wrong way.
Because all of those wrongs gave me the biggest right of my life.
Him.
And I’ll hold on to him forever.
Chapter 35
Émile
The complete freedom is messing with my head, but it’s not like I can say it’s a bad thing. Every day I wake up, convinced it will be another day of playing a part, but then I roll over and Christian’s there, and every good thing comes crashing down on me again.
Gran tried to nullify the will by scaring our family into saying they didn’t attend my wedding, but even ruling with terror doesn’t guarantee you the win and in the end, both Mom and Elle signed off on their attendance. Even if they hadn’t, it wouldn’t have mattered. Thanks to Seven, we had plenty of photo evidence.
I haven’t heard from any of them since.
Unlike me, Christian has been catching up with his cousin every week. At first I was standoffish, worried she was the same as the rest of them, but she’s grown on me. It certainly helps that she’s been putting the homophobes in her family in their place.
Christian rolls over and throws his arm across my chest. “Happy money day, now please don’t divorce me,” he says, still half asleep.
I chuckle and kiss his shoulder. “I suppose I can keep you.”
“Huh?” His head jerks up, eyes blinking into consciousness before his expression relaxes. “Good morning.” He yawns. “Did you say something?”
“Yes, I was answering you but apparently you were sleep talking.”
“Uh-oh. What did I say?”
“You begged me to stay with you forever and ever. It was pathetic, really. Turned me completely off.”
“Which is why you want to keep me, then?”
Should have known he heard me. “Turns out needy and clingy does something to me.”
“Explains so much.”
I bop his nose. “You know, I’ve been thinking about what I could do with my inheritance.”
“And you know that you’re not obligated to do anything, right? You want to do good, and I know you will, but you have time to figure that out.”
“Well, yes, but …”
The arm across my chest tightens. “You know I don’t care whatever you decide.”
I do know. When we got married, I truly thought Christian was going to be someone special, but I highly underestimated how much. He says I’m his rock, but he’s that and more for me. Without him in my corner, I doubt I’d be able to think anywhere near as many impossible thoughts as I do when I’m with him.
“I’m paying off your loans—”
“Émile—”