She lowers her voice to a whisper. “I don’t think I fit in very well with your family’s friends.”
I chuckle, dipping my head to kiss the spot below her ear. “Well, that’s good because I don’t fit in well with them either.” I pause, bringing my face back in line with hers. “You fit with me, and that’s all I care about.”
The small, white bulbs overhead glitter in her gray-blue eyes. “You’re right. And that’s all I care about, too.”
We sway in silence for a few beats as the breeze swishes around us, picking up a strand of her hair and draping it across her face. Using one finger, I stroke it away, and that resounding pang stabs me in the chest again, and I know I’m not going to get a more perfect moment than this.
“I love you, Natalia.”
The words glide off my tongue with such natural ease that I can’t even be bothered by the slight widening of her eyes and the pulse of her throat.
“I know it’s soon,” I add. “I know we’re still getting to know each other. I know you’re probably not quite there yet, and that’s okay.” I stroke her hair back again and cup the line of her jaw with my palm. “I just wanted you to know.”
She gives me a closed-lip smile, but it reaches way up to her eyes. “I’m glad you told me that. It is soon. I do need a little time.” She lifts up higher on her toes so she can meet her forehead to mine. “But not much.”
Something about the fact that she doesn’t reciprocate the words right then makes me feel better. That tells me that she’s being honest and genuine, and not just parroting my words to keep this moment from being awkward. And it’s the furthest thing from awkward.
It’s perfect.
Everything about all of this is as perfect as I could imagine anything being. And normally, I think I’d be freaking out right now because I’ve suddenly got a hell of a lot to lose. But I’m not.
I’m just happy.
Truly, earnestly, deep-in-my-guthappy, like I never thought I’d be.
“Good,” I say, and then I press a long, deep kiss to her delicious mouth before finding her ear again to growl low and playfully, “Now, can we get the fuck out of this place already?”
Natalia giggles discreetly against my collar. “Whenever you are ready,amor.”
NATALIA IS FAST ASLEEP, just as spectacular as always while she lies on her stomach with her cascades of ebony waves draping over her back, bathing in moonlight, but I’m wide awake.
Best. Day. Ever.
I’ve got a fuckingamazingwife, and Papá isproudof me,andas long as I find Natalia and me a place to live in a timely manner,he and Mamá can’t really get on my ass about anything anymore.
Win. Win.Win.
Sprawling on my back with the sheet draped across my hips, I contentedly stretch my arms over my head and let myself literallysigh.Because I feelreallyfucking good about everything right now.
I shift onto my side to look at Natalia’s serene face and stroke away a strand of her hair. She stirs, exhaling quietly while she nestles her face in the pillow, and the sight of her all peaceful like this causes that newly familiar pang of being in love to reverberate again. After such a stellar day, it’s still spliced with everything else, and the feeling suddenly reminds me of that scene in friggin’Bambi.You know, the Disney movie. The part where Bambi and his bros bump into all the lady animals, and they all start acting stupid.
Twitterpated.
That’s what the salty, old owl called it, and that’s what I am.
I laugh quietly under my breath at how much of a total choad I’m being, alltwitterpated.
But it’s okay. It’s actually kinda nice. And it’s kind of a relief because this whole situation definitely could’ve turned out way worse. In fact, this almost seems too good to be true—the whole randomly waking up married to a stranger, falling in love with her, and my father somehow beingokaywith all of it now—but I’ll take it anyway.
Between the sight of her snoozing sweetly like that and her scent of cinnamon and warm vanilla, which has become a totaltrigger, my dick is now standing at attention. He’s apparently ready for round number five or six or what-the-fuck-ever because I lost track of how many times Natalia and I fucked once I dragged her home from the party earlier. But it’s also like three in the morning, and I’m not enough of a douchebag to wake her up just for that.
So, I shift away from her and try to sleep.
When I’m somewhere in that fuzzy place between dreamland and reality, a low buzzing causes me to flinch awake again. It sounds like a phone, but mine isn’t lighting up on the nightstand and neither is hers. It definitelysoundslike a phone vibrating while someone’s calling, but I don’t know what other phone would be in my room. So, now I’m just friggin’ curious.
I slide out of bed without waking Natalia and start stepping around in the darkness while I follow the sound. It’s weird enough that there’s a random phone going off in here, but beyond that, I can’t sleep with that kind of racket.
The buzzing leads me to the opposite side of the bed, sounding like it’s on the floorboards beneath it, but when I crouch down to look, I have to stop.
