I laugh, a flush creeping up my cheeks as Aiden smirks.
Finn raises a glass when he greets us. I don’t know if he’s drunk or not, but he seems lucid. He smiles, and it feels genuine.
“Good luck with the crowd,” he says. Aiden takes his drink and polishes it off in one go.
I grin. “We’ll manage.”
The reception is a blur, a mix of business and pleasure as Aiden and I greet other Assembly members and guests. The night might be about Aiden and me, but everyone here is celebrating something different. I know some of them are celebrating the business arrangement. Others are celebrating the end of a struggle between families.
As the evening wears on, my eyes find Willow and Dmitri at the edge of the room. Willow is still in her pale dress, ghostly and almost nonexistent. I feel a pang of sorrow and guilt. She’s stuck where she is, and I’m here, celebrating the best version of what she could have had.
She looks so fucking sad and beaten down. I don’t know if I could even help her, but I don’t have time to wonder about that now. Someone else comes up to congratulate us, and I’m swept up in the celebration all over again.
The party lasts for hours, and through it all, Aiden never leaves my side.
CHAPTER28
Rose
It’s dark outside, the sky nearly black and the stars blinking overhead. I look out the window as we pull into the garage and wonder if the world is tilting or I am.
There wasn’t much time to eat at the reception, but there were plenty of drinks passed into my hand. I’m just tipsy enough to be pleasantly drifting, the world fuzzy and soft.
Aiden walks around the back of the car, approaching me slowly, smiling. He looks fucking good. He discarded half of his suit at some point. All that’s left now is a half-unbuttoned white shirt, tailored black pants, a thin cross on a chain around his neck. His sleeves are rolled up to his elbows, his tattoos inky black against the white shirt.
All I can think of is the last time he touched me in the dressing room at the church.
It’s almost overwhelming how much I want him, how much I want this. I’m not thinking about how I got here, how this was supposed to be business. All I can think about is how we’re going to spend the next few hours.
He grins, a half-smirk that looks good on him, and I barely have time to realize what’s happening before he picks me up, one arm under my legs and the other at my back.
“Honoring old traditions never hurt,” he says, his grin widening. “You prepared for this?”
I laugh, breathless. There’s something impossibly sexy about the way he’s holding me, and I already know what I want next.
“Yes. I’m ready.”
Aiden carries me, pausing for just a moment at the door. I feel my heart kick into overdrive as he steps over the threshold.
Once we’re inside, he sets me down, and as soon as my feet touch the floor, he turns me around to face him and kisses me. I kiss him back, my body buzzing pleasantly, and let him guide me backward into the house.
When we reach the living room, Aiden slows as I come to stand before the couch. He pulls away from me after pressing a lingering kiss to my lips.
I chase his mouth with mine, wanting just one more kiss, one more taste. But he shakes his head before settling onto the chair behind him, leaving me standing before him. He reaches for a bottle that’s been left out on the small table beside him, pouring himself a glass of whiskey and taking a sip.
With his gaze locked on me, the whiskey glass held loosely in his fingers, he lifts his chin.
“Why don’t you strip for your husband?”
My stomach flutters, heat and nerves dancing through me. Just like back at the church when he called mewife, hearing him sayhusbanddoes something to me.
I slowly undo the fastening at the back of my dress, then push it down, working it slowly over my hips.
Aiden takes another sip but he barely tips his glass, eyes fixed on me. The dress pools at my feet, and I step out, slowly unhooking my strapless bra and letting it fall to the floor.
I’m still not wearing underwear, so I’m already completely bare for him besides the necklace, my body on display for his hungry gaze.
“Touch yourself,” he commands thickly. “Spread yourself open for me. I want to see.”
