Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 99960 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 500(@200wpm)___ 400(@250wpm)___ 333(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99960 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 500(@200wpm)___ 400(@250wpm)___ 333(@300wpm)
“What is it?”
Not wanting to fuck things up with Allegra, I answered honestly.
“Oh.” She stared at my phone with an unreadable expression. “You should check it out.”
I tapped on the text message.
Was just calling to check in. In a new flat now. Doing well. Hope you and Allegra are well. x
I showed Allegra the text message.
Her expression softened. “She seems nice.”
“She is.” I placed the phone down on the bedside table.
“You’re not going to text her back?”
“Would it bother you if I did?”
Allegra shrugged. “No.”
Laughing, I gave her a look. “You are shit at lying. No wonder no one believed us about the marriage at first.”
She smacked my shoulder. “I’m not lying!”
I gave her a disbelieving smirk.
Rolling her eyes, she huffed. “Okay. I am trying not to be bothered by the idea of Sorcha being your friend. She was in your life, she’s your friend. It’s just the ‘was your lover’ part that I am trying to get over. But I am trying. I don’t want to be a jealous wife.” She made a comical face and shuddered. “Nope, nope, nope. Don’t wanna.”
Shaking with amusement, I shrugged. “Jealousy is natural. We’re territorial beings.”
“Have you ever been jealous over a woman?” Allegra challenged.
I studied her, expression serious. “Aye. One.”
She waited like she didn’t know it was her.
“You, Allegra. I’ve been jealous over you.”
Delight she couldn’t quite hide glittered in her dark eyes. “Jealous of who?”
“Any man who’s had you like this.”
In answer, she reached for the tray and set it off the bed, the cutlery and plates clattering unsteadily as she did. Then she pulled back the covers and straddled me.
Excitement flushed through me in an instant as I gripped her slim hips. She wore a short, strappy silk nightie thing. She probably had one in every color, and I couldn’t say I didn’t love that part of her wardrobe.
She rested her hands on my shoulders as she kissed me, a barely there touch of her lips to mine. “No man has ever had me like this.”
Triumph and possessiveness flooded my blood with scorching heat. My grip on her hips tightened as I pulled her down over my erection.
“No woman has ever had me like this,” I promised.
“Not even Sorcha?”
The insecurity in that question killed me. “Not Sorcha. Not anyone. Just you.”
“Why?” Allegra cupped my face in her hands. “She seems like a good person. Why couldn’t you give her this?”
I wrapped my arms around her, pulling her tight to me as I sat up. I held her gaze, pouring every ounce of sincerity into that look as I said, “Because it’s meant for you. All for you. Only for you.”
Words I hadn’t said to anyone but family bubbled on my tongue, threatening to jump loose, but before they could, my wife kissed me. She kissed me with such intensity that all thought but that of being inside her, sinking underneath her skin until I was all she could feel and smell and see, disappeared, consumed by insatiable hunger.
Thirty-One
Allegra
“Whoa, Aunt Ally, you look hot!”
Jared chuckled at my side, his palm pressing deeper into my lower back as we entered Sloane and Walker’s living room.
Callie, who had been sitting on Lewis Adair’s knee, sprung off him to bounce across the room toward me. Her pretty face was lit with excitement. “You all look like you’re going to the Oscars.” She glanced back at Lewis who stood up to greet us. “Don’t they?”
Lewis, at sixteen, was already taller than his dad, Thane Adair. When relaying every detail about her boyfriend that she could, Callie had told me Lewis was six two and on his way to being his Uncle Lachlan’s height of six four. He was also broad of shoulder and had completely skipped that gangly stage most teens went through. With his messy “I’m in a band” chin-length dark hair and piercing blue eyes, Lewis Adair was exactly the kind of boy that teen me would have crushed on.
As he wrapped a casual arm around Callie, pulling her into his side to press a tender kiss to her temple, I swooned for her.
Callie didn’t stand a chance.
“What?” Callie cocked her head at me.
I realized I was staring. “Nothing.”
She narrowed her eyes but when they dropped to my feet, she gaped. “Are those Muaddis?”
“You know your designers.” I was impressed. I was, in fact, wearing a pair of Amina Muaddi sandals. They were adorable rose-pink metallic mule heels with an open toe, a funky pedestal heel, and a little embellished bow accent on top. I’d thought them perfect for Ardnoch Estate’s end-of-summer party. The D&G black-and-white polka-dot dress I’d paired them with made the shoes pop. It also made me look curvier than I was, designed to accentuate the hips and bust. Jared had almost ripped me out of the dress when he saw me descend the staircase earlier.