The door swung open, and I drank in the sight of the woman who was officially trying to kill me. She was wrapped in an ocean-blue dress with a skirt that barely covered her ass. The top of the dress was reminiscent of a toga, leaving one arm bare while the other was covered from neck to wrist. Fabric gathered at her waist and fell to the floor on the opposite side of her covered arm.
“You like it?” she asked as my eyes roved over every inch of her long legs, her dress, her straightened hair.
“You look stunning.” And I was going to have to keep her glued to my side the entire night if I wanted to avoid a scandal.
“You say that every time we go out.”
“And I mean it every time.” I grabbed her left hand and raised it to my lips, pressing a kiss to her fingers right beside the diamond I’d given her. “You are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen, Sunday School. Everyone else pales in comparison.”
She shook her head slightly. “I thought I looked boring and prudish. Isn’t that the point of the nickname?”
I smirked at her. “No, it’s not.”
Her brows rose. “Oh?”
“While it’s true that you did remind me of my Sunday school teacher when I saw you in your brother’s club, I picked the name because the first time I saw you, I thought you were an angel. I honestly believed I’d died and somehow ended up in Heaven. You made me interested in religion for the first time in years. I’d go to a million Sunday school classes if you were waiting for me at the end of the road.”
Danielle stared at me with a shell-shocked expression, her lips parted and her eyes wide. “I… don’t even know what to say to that.”
“Say you’ll be mine.”
“Hayden.”
“Yes, baby?”
“Did you just call me baby?”
“Possibly.”
“Why? You’ve never called me that before.”
Because in the past I was always in denial about how much I wanted her. I was trying to keep distance between us, protect my heart for when we inevitably ended. And I really had believed that ending was inevitable. I never believed in romantic love. I thought itwas just a glorified way of describing lust that would eventually fade.
But Danielle was changing everything I used to believe. I’d missed her during the eight months we’d been apart. I hated the idea of her with anyone who wasn’t me. I would chase her forever if that’s how long it took. And I’d never chased anyone in my life.
“This isn’t before,” I said softly.
“What changed?”
“I lived for eight months without you. I told myself I was fine, that I didn’t miss you, didn’t want you back. But I was lying to myself. Without you, my life is completely empty. Idowant you back, and not just for the next six months.”
She shook her head. “I don’t—”
“Shh. Don’t ruin it. Don’t make any decisions yet. I still have six months to convince you.”
“Does that mean you’ll meet my family and go on dates with me that aren’t for show?”
“Do you want me to?”
“Maybe,” she said coyly.
And fuck me, I was harder than diamond in half a second. It should be illegal for her to talk in that voice when I wasn’t allowed to touch her, taste her, claim her.
Whoever said patience was a virtue was a fucking sadist.
The gala started out as boring and painful as all the others I’d been going to since I was a teenager. I talked numbers and avoided answering questions about my personal life. I watched Miles effortlessly charm everyone and wondered for the thousandth time why Dad didn’tjust give him the CEO job. And I took every opportunity to touch my wife—a hand on her lower back or elbow, a brush of her hair behind her ear, a kiss to her cheek or palm, an arm around her waist.
I wanted to send a clear message to everyone in the room that she was taken. I was taken too, and everyone would eventually realize I only had eyes for my wife, that I was off the market and attempting to flirt with me would only be a waste of their time.
