I laugh softly beside her, rubbing my thumb slowly at the back of her neck as she groans into her hands. “Don’t worry,” I tell her. “I told him I’m deeply and madly in love with you.” The words leave my mouth effortlessly, like they’ve been waiting there for weeks.
Silence falls instantly around the table. Wynter’s head snaps towards me so fast her hair brushes my arm. And only then do I realise what I’ve actually said out loud.
Alec’s brows lift slightly and Wynter just continues stares at me wide-eyed and breathless.
I should probably panic but instead, I laugh quietly. “What?” I ask lightly. “Have I not said it yet?”
Her lips part slightly, but no sound comes out. And somehow seeing Wynter speechless is the most satisfying thing I’ve experienced in years.
Lucy appears beside the table then, rubbing her hands together dramatically.
“It’s bloody freezing out there,” she mutters. “Thank God the house is only across the road.” She pauses, looking between us suspiciously. “Why does it suddenly feel weird over here?”
Alec grins into his pint. “Wynter’s temporarily lost the ability to speak.”
Lucy gasps theatrically. “Should we call somebody?”
But I barely hear any of it, because my eyes are locked onto Wynter’s. And she’s still staring at me like the world’s tilted slightly off its axis. Her cheeks are flushed more now, her breathing shallow.
I lean closer slowly, the noise of the pub fading into the background completely until it feels like there’s only me and her.
“I do, yah know,” I murmur quietly against her ear. She shivers softly beside me. “Love you.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
WYNTER
I wake wrapped in warmth and immediately smile to myself. It took at least twenty minutes of arguing to convince Ray he didn’t need to sleep on the couch. Until I told him Lucy would absolutely mock him for sleeping downstairs, and there was barely enough room on the sofa for one fully-grown man never mind six-foot-whatever-he-is of grumpy billionaire.
Eventually, he gave in.
And now? Now, I’m curled against his chest with one of his arms wrapped possessively around my waist beneath the duvet, his warmth surrounding me completely.
Contentment settles heavily through me. The kind I haven’t felt in a very long time. My mind drifts back to last night in the pub. The way he looked at me when he said it. Like loving me wasn’t something terrifying to admit anymore.
The memory alone makes my smile widen against the pillow.
And being here—away from London, away from the casino and endless phones ringing—has changed him somehow. Or maybeit’s just revealed parts of him that were always there beneath the pressure.
He’s lighter here. Less tense. He hasn’t checked his phone every ten minutes and hasn’t disappeared into work.
Slowly, I twist slightly in his arms until I can look up at him properly. My heart picks up a beat. He’s beautiful when he sleeps. All the sharpness leaves his face completely, and there’s no tension in his jaw.
Just peace.
His dark hair falls messily across his forehead, and his lashes rest against his cheeks while the soft morning light slips through the curtains around him.I don’t think anyone’s ever looked after him properly. The thought arrives suddenly and painfully.
My fingers drift lightly over his arm beneath the duvet before I can stop myself. His grip tightens instinctively around my waist in response. Ray shifts slightly beside me, his brows pulling together faintly before his eyes slowly open. The second they land on me, something softens in them instantly.
“Good morning,” he murmurs sleepily, voice rough from sleep.
Warmth rushes straight to my cheeks. “Morning.”
He stares at me for another second before his hand slides slowly up my back beneath my shirt. “You’ve been watching me sleep again, haven’t you?”
I gasp dramatically. “That’s a strong accusation.”
“You look guilty.”