Tomorrow we might go back to hating one another, but after our wedding night, there were two things I knew to be true. We were a perfect match in the bedroom, and I was this woman’s husband. With both of these truths rolling around in my mind, I wrapped my arms around my passed-out, well-sated woman, and whispered right into her ear.
“I have no intention of ever letting you go.”
Episode 24
One Day at a Time
SAVANNAH
Back at the hotel, right after the wedding, I watched Dakota walk with her head held high, boots clacking on the marble floor, hand in hand with her husband. Sutton Goodall. My sister was now married to the enemy. I took a full deep breath in and let it out as the two entered the elevator.
A pair of hands rounded my shoulders from behind. I felt his warmth at my back and closed my eyes, sinking into the feeling.
“Are you okay?” Erik asked, his breath featherlight against the shell of my ear.
I nodded, not sure I could genuinely share all the feelings spinning like a tumultuous wind tunnel through my mind and body.
“Hungry?” He squeezed my shoulders and then spun me slowly around to face him.
“I could eat.” Even the thought of food was like lead in my stomach. Still, I needed to do something, anything, in order to escape the insane feelings threatening to claw their way out of my throat on a violent, ear-splitting scream .
“After all that we experienced, I don’t know about you, but I could use a drink.” He gripped my chin with his thumb and finger. “Good?” It came out sounding like “goo” in his Norwegian accent.
I couldn’t help but chuckle.
Erik smiled, and his entire face seemed to take on that golden hue that had ensnared me at the auction. “What is so funny?” He tilted his head, some of his beautiful locks falling along the side of his shoulder and chest.
I shook my head as blood raced to my cheeks with embarrassment. “Nothing… It’s just, when you said g-o-o-d, it sounded like you said goo.” I scrunched up my nose trying not to laugh again.
“And this is funny how?” he queried, his brow furrowing.
A snort slipped out and my eyes widened as mortification enflamed my cheeks. I shook my head. “No reason. It was…cute,” I settled on.
He frowned. “Cute. Hmm, I don’t think I like this word being used to describe me.” He pursed his lips. “I’d much prefer my fiancée find me handsome, engaging, and, dare I hope…sexy?” His voice lowered to a sultry timbre at that last word.
My heart pounded in my chest, and I opened and closed my mouth trying to find the right words to fix my blunder. “You are sexy,” I blurted. “I mean, look at you.” I gestured to his body and face. “Any woman would find you ridiculously attractive. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.” I rushed to apologize.
That was when Erik clutched at his stomach with one arm and fell into a full belly laugh. His head tipped back, hair falling around his shoulders, and his throat stretched with his movements. The air filled with his deep, throaty chuckles. I watched his massive chest rise and fall and I thought to myself that I’d seen many beautiful things in my time, but this man laughing heartily was quite possibly one of the most striking .
“Oh, Savannah, you amuse me greatly.” His eyes sparkled with joy. “I do believe we’re going to have a beautiful life together.”
A beautiful life.
Together.
With him. Not Jarod.
I clenched my teeth as my nose started to sting, the precursor to the deluge of tears wanting to escape.
Erik lifted his hand and cupped my jaw. “Hey, now, none of that. No sadness here. Me and you, we’re going to find a happy medium. Figure all of this out together, remember?”
I glanced away, shoving the constant ache for the man I’d left behind into a locked box deep in the recesses of my mind, which was where I wanted him to stay, at least for the next three years.
“Yep. That’s exactly what we’re going to do. You mentioned food?” I reminded him, desperate to have something else to focus on.
He held out his hand, palm up. “Shall we?”
I placed my hand within his, noting the rolling magnetic energy that moved between our palms the very moment we touched. I stared at our hands with suspicion.
Erik leaned over. “You feel it too?” he whispered.
Denying the connection would be ridiculous. Yet assigning a voice or name to it felt presumptuous. I wasn’t ready to admit anything physical or metaphysical between me and this man at this point. There were so many layers to this day. I needed to break it down, decipher internally, and determine exactly how I felt and how I wanted to deal with all the changes ahead.