I reach out and cup her chin, tilting her face up toward the light so I can get a better look at her injuries. My thumb traces the edge of the bruise on her cheekbone, my touch gentler than I’ve ever been with anybody else.
“I’m gonna be honest with you,” I say slowly, looking her in the eye. “I never thought I’d say this. Never thought I’d admit it out loud anyway. But I’m so damn happy to see you, Simone. I’m thanking my lucky fucking stars that tonight went the way it did.”
Her expression softens, a flicker of vulnerability in it. She’s quiet for a second, like she’s wrestling with her own confession.
“Would it surprise you if I said the feeling’s mutual?” she asks finally. She releases a breath as if still grappling with what she’s been through. “When things were getting dark… when I didn’t know if I was going to survive... I thought about you.”
I wait for her to go on, though my pulse ticks up in anticipation.
“I thought about the promise you made to protect me,” she continues, swallowing hard. “I realized... I believed you. I knew you would keep it. Then you came through for me. You really did.”
I sit down beside her and cup the back of her head, my fingers threading through her tangled hair, and draw her face close to mine. Our brows are almost touching, our breath warm in the small space between us.
It would be so easy to close the gap and capture her lips in a kiss. Lose myself in her the way I’ve been wanting to since the moment we’ve been reunited.
But it’s not the time yet. Not ’til I say what else is on my mind.
“I’ll always be there,” I confess out of earnestness. “No matter what happens, princess. No matter who comes for you or me, you’ll always be the priority. Because you’re my wife, and I...”
I trail off as the next few words catch in my throat and a storm of emotions I’m not used to feeling hits me all at once.
I’m in love with her. The same woman who was arranged to be my wife for circumstances outside my control.
After all the enemies talk and vows of hatred and never being real—I’ve fallen in love with her and have refused to realize that I have.
More startling yet, I don’t think I can pretend otherwise anymore. I’m not even sure it’d be worth it to.
But I’m still not ready to say it. It’s so damn heavy and jarring that I can’t get the words out. I’m too shocked by my own revelation.
Though from the way she’s peering back at me, her eyes shining with warmth, I suspect she already senses that I do.
“I regret how I treated you,” I say instead. “All the suspicion and accusations. Not trusting you when I should’ve. This whole ordeal taught me that I can trust you. That I should’ve trusted you from the start.”
Simone reaches up and places her hand over mine, the one still cupping her face. Her touch is soft and warm.
“You made a vow to protect me. I made some vows too. One of those was to be loyal to you. I meant it, Ronan. I will always be loyal to you.” She pauses, a small smile playing at her lips. “We’re our own team now. You realize that, right? That’s what being husband and wife means. I got your back, and you’ve got mine.”
Our own team.
I grin at that, the first real smile I’ve cracked in what feels like forever.
She’s right. We’re not just two people thrown together by our families anymore. We’re life partners. Allies through thick and thin and life and death. A united front against whatever the fuck the world throws at us.
“We are,” I say. “There’s no going back. We’re for life.”
I close the gap between us with a kiss to her lips.
It’s different from many of our previous kisses. The reluctant and borderline revolted kiss we shared at the altar. The many heated, angry kisses fueled by our hatred and passion mixing into one.
Instead, this kiss is about relief and acknowledgment. It’s us on the same page as we finally admit the truth.
We’re not playing husband and wife anymore nor are we pretending to hate each other. We’ve moved past that into what’s real.
TWENTY-EIGHT
Simone
For the firsttime since I married Ronan Callahan, I actually feel like his wife.