She sits up, and moisture clings to her cheeks. "Is that why you came out today, to bid him goodbye?"
"That’s what I was doing as you walked up." I nod.
"That’s why you left me a note with details of how to find you? You knew I’d come in search of you?"
"I hoped." I tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. "I didn’t want any more secrets between us. I wanted to tell you everything."
"Even though it meant you’d lose your friend for good?"
The ball in my throat grows bigger, until it seems to fill my chest and twist my stomach and turn my guts into a seething mass of hurt. I nod, then swallow to dislodge it. "I need to move forward. You make me want to move forward. To move toward you. I cannot lose you again. If I did, there’d be no coming back from that. I have to let go of Adam because you are my life."
She cups my cheek. "So, all this time when you said you went running with Adam, you were—"
"Running alone, sometimes with Tiny. And Adam would join me. We’d talk, I’d reassure him I’d do everything possible to adopt his daughter and ensure his wife was cared for. Of course, he’d also give me advice about us—" I nod at the space between us.
"Wait, you told him about us?" she cries.
"Of course I did. There are no secrets between us, and now"—I place my palm over the one she has on my cheek—"there’re none between us, either."
Another tear squeezes out from the corner of her eye. I bend and lick it up because it’s too precious to be wasted. "Don’t cry for me, baby. I knew I had to deal with what I was going through. I knew I had to face up to what happened to me. I was waiting for the right time. I was waiting for now."
"I’m sorry for your loss, Sir, truly."
"All I need is you." I kiss her forehead. "Your beauty, which gentles my soul. Your love, which fills all the emptiness inside me. Your sunny nature, your joie-de-vivre, which gives me life. Your heart, which speaks to me and tells me I’m yours."
"You’re mine." She stares between my eyes. "Mine."
"Mine." I place a kiss over one eye, then the other, then on each cheek, and brush my lips over hers. "I love you, Penny. My Little Dove. My savior. My redeemer. You threw me a lifeline. And while it took me a long time to admit how much I needed it, I’m glad I latched onto it."
"I love you, Sir," she whispers against my mouth. "You were an asshole—still are an asshole—but you’re my asshole."
"I do prefer alphahole," I drawl.
She chuckles. "Promise me you’ll never change how you fuck me. Promise me you’ll never hide anything from me again. Promise me you’ll always love me."
I wrap my fingers around the nape of her neck and haul her close enough that our eyelashes entwine. "I love you. I adore you. I’m nothing without you."
Her breath hitches.
"I love you a million times over, and I’ll never apologize for it."
"Oh." Her pupils dilate.
"I will die before I let anything happen to you."
Her lips tremble. "Promise me you’ll live."
"I live to see the light in your eyes, to hear you sass me and defy me, and to drive me a little crazy with your rambling thoughts, and your chatter, and your laughter. I live… for you, only you."
She half laughs. "And I thought you didn’t have a romantic bone in your body."
"Including this one?" I lower my hands to her hips and fit her snugly over that ever-excited part of me that tends to stand up whenever she is around.
"Technically, that’s a muscle."
"Technically, you could call that my third leg, but whatever."
She makes a gagging sound. "That was terrible."
"Some parts of me are never going to change, but I hope they won’t deter you from what I’m going to ask you for next."
She swallows, and the pulse at the base of her neck speeds up. "What is it?"
I slide my hand into my pocket, pull out her wedding ring, then take her left hand in mine. "Will you be my wife, to love and love and love and love and love some more? To worship with my soul. To cherish with every cell in my body. So not even death may part us."
"You took some liberties with those vows, huh?"
"I did." I try to smile, but my lips refuse to cooperate. My heart drops down to my feet, then bounces up and into my throat. I hold her gaze. "What do you say, Little Dove? Will you give me another chance?"
71
Penny’s bucket list
Type at 250 words a minute （done!）
Have 5 O’s in the course of 1 night （I’ll settle for 1 tbh） => Almost made this one last night when he gave 4 orgasms. OMG 4 freakin’ orgasms!
Learn to cook a gourmet meal. => I wasn’t very good at it, but it’s the spirit that counts, right?
Act in a movie or a play—I’ll take a street act => It didn’t go down that well. :（
See the London Ice Kings play a game.
Swim with dolphins.
See the Northern Lights.
Climb Uluru in Australia.
Eat a chocolate croissant in a sidewalk café in Paris.
Be dominated. （Uh, maybe this should go up to the top?）
Find a man who cares for my mother as much as I do.
Be proposed to by the man I love.
Explore anal. （I’m chicken so this is right at the bottom—pun intended. Hahahaha!）
72
Penny
Abby strides up the corridor; her footsteps echo around the almost empty building.
It’s seven p.m. and most people have gone home. But not me. I have a demanding boss who’s obsessed with taking his company to new heights. Especially now that his father has handed over the full charge of the company to him. If you thought that’d slow down Knight, you thought wrong. Now that he has full control of the destiny of this corporation, he’s in a hurry to shape it into the vision he has. One he’s shared with the entire company at the "town hall" he held this morning.
The employees were energized after the meeting—it might also have to do with the fact that he announced a twenty percent increase in salary, across the board. And that he’s setting up a café on one of the lower floors where the food will always be free. That, combined with the childcare and the pet-sitting facilities, is sure to make his company one of the most sought-after to work for in this part of the world. It’s resulted in tons of positive media coverage that Abby shared with me.
So, I’m taken aback when she stomps over and slaps her palm on the desk in front of me. "You could have told me."
"What are you talking about?"
"Knight told me. And I’m glad my brother feels he’s close enough to share things with me, but you’re one of my closest friends. I’d have preferred to hear it from you."
Did he tell her about Adam? That isn’t mine to share anyway. Also, considering how things have shaped up between us since, it’s not something I’m comfortable talking about with anyone else.
I lean back in my chair. "I really don’t know what you’re referring to."
She walks around my table, then leans a hip against it. "Don’t pretend you don’t know."