By the time we reach the lobby, the truth of what it means to be with him...
The truth of who he is...
It makes me realize just how little I know about him.
I've been near him for a week and a half, and somehow I missed all of this. The first time he took me from a hotel I was unconscious. The second time I was hiding in a guest room in his house. I never saw what it was like to walk through the world on his arm.
Now I see.
A woman at the concierge desk does a double take and then pretends she didn't. Two men by the elevators stop talking when he comes into view. The doorman on duty has the door alreadyopen by the time we're three strides away, eyes fixed on a point just past Mr. Everford's shoulder so as not to make actual eye contact.
Bright sunlight hits us when we step out of the hotel, and I instinctively shade my eyes with the back of my hand. My eyes adjust after a moment, and when I lower my hand, I realize it's Montero right in front of us, and he already has the door to the backseat open.
He didn't need to be told.
But he does do one thing I'm not expecting.
His eyes flicker over my face, and they catch on my cheek. The cheek that is probably still red from where Sandy hit me. Montero's expression doesn't change much. It rarely does. But the muscle along his jaw goes tight for just a second, and his nod when he holds the door is just a fraction lower than the nod he usually gives.
He's angry on my behalf.
I don't think anyone has been angry on my behalf in twenty years.
I hesitate for a second before going in. No matter what happens, I'll always be grateful for what he's done...because it's over now.
The truth finally hits me as Montero closes the door.
I'm...no longer married.
I'm back to being me.
Just me.
And before I know it, I'm already removing my wedding ring as tears start to blur my gaze. I'm tempted to throw it out of the window, but I manage to control myself and shove it inside my purse. I think I'll just sell it, give the proceeds to charity—
"Nicole."
The roughness of his voice is like a siren's call in itself, causing me to simply look up in instinctive submission...and that's when I see it.
His head is lowering toward me, and while I have this precious half-second’s chance to turn away—
I don’t take it.
Because this...
This is the right time to let his arm curve around my waist.
The right time for him to pull me close.
This is the right time to be his, and...oh.
Ineverever let myself wonder what his lips on mine would feel like.
Taste like.
But this, oh this.
It’s beyond anything I thought possible, a kiss that has my body melting against his like it's always known that this was where I truly belong, and I can only cling to his shoulders as the kiss deepens more and more and more...until he lifts his head.