Too bad I had only fully realized it while I was losing her. But I had to at least try, didn’t I?
“I have something more to confess to you,” I said quietly and watched as her eyes widened.
More? I could pretty much guess she was thinking. What else was I going to drop on her now? “David, please,” she whispered, and I could feel her small body shaking. I didn’t let her go, though. I pulled her closer to me, gazing down into her beautiful face. Our bodies were so close that I could feel the heat radiating off of hers.
“Please,” I echoed her. “Just hear me out. If you still want to go when I’m done talking, I won’t stop you.”
I wouldn’t. It was definitely her right. I’d certainly put her through enough—she didn’t owe me even this much of her time.
She glanced down at my hand on her wrist, then took a step back. She didn’t actually pull her wrist away, though, so I kept my grip on it. This might be the last time I ever got to touch her, after all.
“Okay,” she allowed, and I took a deep breath. Against all odds, she was giving me this chance to explain myself.
I didn’t deserve it, and I knew it, but I was going to make the best of the opportunity. “I love you,” I started. It seemed the best place to start—the best base to build my argument from. I saw the skepticism in her eyes and knew I deserved it, but I kept going. “I have almost from the beginning. Since before our wedding. From the very first time we were intimate, or maybe before that.”
“David, please.” Kaye was very pale as she looked at me. “Stop it. You don’t have to do any of this.”
I shook my head. This was my chance to get out, to walk away with all of the money, and to not have to deal with the wife I hadn’t wanted in the first place. Only, now, I did want her. More than the money. More than anything.
I just had to make her see that.
“Look, Kaye, I know you have no reason to trust me, but I mean it. I have no reason to lie to you now. I love you. You’ve already said you’d give me all the money. I could just walk away, but I can’t do it. I need you. I’d burn the money in a huge bonfire right here and now if it would make you listen to me.”
I looked at her, and she just looked back at me. I didn’t see belief in her face, not yet, but I saw something that made me think she might be on the right track. She was still listening. I couldn’t give up.
Not until there was no hope left at all.
“David …” she tried to say more, but I put my finger to her lips to make her stop talking. She couldn’t say another word until she’d heard what I had to say.
“Kaye, if you leave—if you walk out of here—I don’t think I can handle it. I will sign whatever papers you want. Take everything from me. I don’t care about any of that stuff. I just care about you. Just you.”
“David,” she whispered, looking at me, and this time I was sure of it. There was something like hope in her eyes. She still loved me. For some reason, she still loved me, and she wanted to believe what I said.
My heart took the first hard beat it had since she told me she was leaving me. The smallest spark of hope formed and it spurred me on. “I want to be with you. I’ve never loved anyone as much as I love you. I can tell you this truthfully—my life will never be the same if our marriage ends. And I’m not talking about money. I am talking about love. I’m talking about actually living. I’m talking about moving forward. I haven’t been my true self with you since our wedding. The stupid plan got in the way. I’m not actually such a workaholic. I’m not actually a moody man. And I’m not actually against starting our family. If you want to start a family with me, I want that too.”
It was so strange, saying those words out loud, but I meant them. I had wanted all of those things before, though I hadn’t admitted it to her, or even myself really. “I’m sorry. If you try to forgive me, I swear to you that I will spend the rest of my life making it up to you. Please, Kaye. I want to be married to you. To really be with you.”
Kaye took a deep breath, and I could see her struggling with herself. I could see she wanted to believe me, but for obvious reasons, she was having a hard time with it. “You don’t have to offer me a baby to get me to stay,” Kaye whispered. “I don’t want to be bribed into it. I only want to have a family with someone who really, really wants to have one with me.”
“I want a baby,” I said bluntly. “I have since the moment you brought it up. I don’t know how I even managed to keep saying no to you.” I gazed at her and there was no longer any doubt at all. She wanted to do this. She wanted to continue our marriage. My heart took another hard, thumping beat.
“Keep talking,” Kaye murmured, and I nodded. There were a few things I still had to say.
“I love you, I need you, and I’m sorry,” I whispered. “Part of me is glad Brent told you. I wanted out of this whole lie, I wanted to be with you, and I just didn’t know how to tell you. I wish I had. I know this may sound like a lie, but I was actually about to confess to you this morning.”
“Please, David,” the sound of her voice spoke to how hurt she was.
I shook my head, not ready to let her talk yet. “I was going to tell you the horrible truth and tell you I want to have a baby with you—lots of babies with you and only you. I really was about to do just that. Even as early as last night, after we made love better than we ever had before. I was. I promise you that. But, in all honesty, I never expect you to fully believe that, even though it is true. I truly love you. I do. If you believe nothing else, please, I am begging you to believe that. I love you, Kaye Black.”
“I love you too,” Kaye sobbed, rubbing at her eyes with the back of her free hand. I still held the other tightly, jealously guarding it and refusing to let go. “I love you too, David, and all I want is for things to go back to how they were before. How I thought they were.” She took a deep, shuddering breath. “I want you back, but the you I thought I married … does that man even exist?”
“He does,” I promised. “I’m right here, and I will be the man you deserve. I swear to you. Just give me a chance.”
I had never meant anything more in my life and I tried to put that sincerity not only into my words, but my face as well. I could see how she was looking at me, and maybe she was crying, but she was shrewd and her trust in me had been tarnished. She was watching me closely.
Whatever she saw must have satisfied her. She suddenly smiled and launched herself at me. I released her wrist finally so she could wrap her arms around me, and then her slender, soft, sweetly curved body was pressed against me and she was hugging me tightly.
“I’ll stay,” she whispered, and I could feel her heart hammering in her chest, that’s how closely we were pressed together. She clung to me, and I could tell by how eagerly she came into my arms that she had never wanted to leave.
She just thought she had to. Well, now it was my job not to give her any reason to leave me. Not ever again.
“I love you, Kaye,” I murmured tenderly, gazing down into her flushed face, my arms still wrapped firmly around her.
“I love you too, David. We’ll work this out,” she vowed, and I believed her. One thing I had learned about this woman was not to underestimate her. She was sweet, yes, and kind, but she had a will of steel under all that softness.
If she said we would work it out, I had every reason to believe we would.
Just like that, she stretched up on her tiptoes and pressed her lips against mine. I wouldn’t have thought it even possible for me to hold her closer, but somehow I managed.
The kiss we shared then was a promise—an acknowledgment of the past as well as a commitment for the future. Our wedding had been months ago, but in a very real way, this was the start of our marriage.
“No more secrets,” Kaye whispered, and I nodded, in full agreement. “No more lies. Promise me that and you have me forever.”
“I promise.” It was a very easy promise to make. I’d seen what happened when I did lie to her and tried to keep t
hings from her. I was supremely uninterested in having a relationship based on falseness.
We kissed again, and it was strange at first, like we were both testing it out. Slowly, we relaxed into it, and I knew then for sure I had been forgiven. I didn’t deserve it, but I would spend the rest of my life trying to make sure she never regretted it.
“Good,” Kaye said, beaming at me through her tears, but there was no more misery in her eyes. Her whole face was lit up with joy and this beautiful woman was mine.
All mine, and I would never lose her again. I would never do anything to risk what we had. It had taken me a stupidly long time, but I had thoroughly learned my lesson and from here on out it would be honesty and consideration from me. Nothing less would be accepted by me or my wife, and I was great with that.
Hold me accountable, Kaye Black.
I had thought I couldn’t trust a woman—any woman—but I’d let my very real pain at losing my mother make me act like a dick. No more. I had been such an idiot.
Without any further hesitation, I swept her up into my arms and held her bridal style. It seemed fitting, since this was, after all, the first day of the rest of our lives together. She might as well be my bride all over again.
“Let’s go back to bed,” I murmured, and I knew from the slightly wicked smile on her face that she understood. She knew what I wanted and was ready to fully cooperate.
“To bed, husband,” she whispered, her arms going around my neck and her weight nestled perfectly in my arms.
“Thank you.” I meant it with all of my heart. She had no reason to give me another chance, but she had.
She just gave me an enigmatic little smile, one that made both my heart and my cock throb, and without further ado, I swept her up the stairs and to our bedroom.
All of the shit was over, it seemed. All of the ugliness was done, and our real marriage could begin.
I had never felt more optimistic in my entire life about anything.
Lesson learned—don’t think you can have a revenge marriage without falling in love in the process.
The End.
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Vengeful Seduction Extended Epilogue
David
Even after five years of marriage, Kaye was so damn beautiful, and I wanted her so much it hurt.
That was a little bit of a problem, considering we were supposed to be paying pretty strict attention to something else.
“David,” she hissed at me, though there was a smile on her face that made me think she not only knew what I wanted to do to her, but she fully approved. We had always matched in our desire for each other. “Stop looking at me like that.”
I grinned at her and had to admit that I wasn’t particularly repentant. I scanned her up and down, enjoying the way her pretty, green, formal maid of honor dress skimmed over her slender body, emphasizing her small waist and the fullness of her breasts.
“No,” I murmured, and then glanced downward when a little hand pushed its way into mine. Small fingers wrapped around mine and my eyes met the hazel ones of our daughter.
Sophia was only three-and-a-half years old, but she was already the perfect little copy of her mother, except for her eyes. They were the mix of brown and green, which showed clearly just who her parents were. Well, and I would swear there was a hint of me in the shape of the child’s lips.
“Daddy, when do we get to go?” Sophia asked. We were standing at the church, just outside the sanctuary. Our little daughter was the flower girl, dressed all in white and clutching her basket of petals as she looked up at me, completely trusting I would know the answer.
It had taken me awhile to get used to the whole thing. Sophia not only relied on me and Kaye, but she also adored us. It had grown on me pretty fast, though, and I knelt down in my suit to hug her. I just couldn’t resist.
“Soon,” I promised my daughter. Just then, we were given the signal by the priest to walk in.
Sophia went first, beaming with pride and scattering petals around with a sort of solemn joy. She took her job seriously, obviously.
The bridesmaids, all of my wife’s friends from her former job, walked in next, escorted by the ushers, who were friends of mine from work. Then, it was my turn, and I offered my gorgeous wife my arm.
It had taken four-and-a-half years for Brent to convince Angela he was good husband material, but it had been inevitable. Perhaps almost as much as Kaye and I belonging together.
Almost.
As we walked down the aisle together, I couldn’t help but remember that day five years ago when we had had our own wedding. This one was much bigger, but I still felt nostalgic as I walked Kaye down to the alter before we took our places to wait for the bride to step out onto the red carpet.
“You still act like you’re newlyweds,” Brent whispered to me, and I grinned. I couldn’t help but admit it was true, but part of me was never going to get over the fact that I still had Kaye. She’d chosen to stay with me, and God knew I’d given her every reason to give up on me.
I would never forget it and I would never give her any reason to doubt me again. Whenever I realized how much I loved and needed her, I let her know, right then and there.
I was pretty sure she had forgiven me long ago. Still, I wasn’t taking any chances. I’d almost lost her once, and I just flat out refused to let it happen ever again.
“You and Angela will be the same way,” I predicted, smiling over at my best friend. Things had gotten pretty crazy there with us for a while, and it had taken a bit for us to make friends again, but we were closer than ever.
Of course, it had helped when he fell for Angela and his interest in my wife had ebbed down to a nice, comfortable friendship. I knew it was a relief for Kaye, too, who had never wanted him to be interested in her in the first place.
The bride appeared then, cutting off whatever smartass comment he had been intending to shoot back at me. Angela was beautiful. I was completely in love with my wife, of course, but the bride did seem to glow, dressed all in white.
Even so, I couldn’t help but shift my gaze back over to my gorgeous wife and saw her looking right back at me, a fond look on her face.
It continued for the whole ceremony. We tried to be good—we really did—but I found my eyes drawn back to her time and time again. Each time, I saw her looking right back at me, her gaze warm.
I had to keep my breathing slow and regular, because even after all the time we had been together, I knew I could get an erection far too easily, just by looking at her looking at me.
The reception was lovely, and I really was happy for our friends on their wedding day. Truly, I was. It had been a long time coming, and all I wanted was for everyone to be as happy as I was. So, yes, I was thrilled for them.
I also wanted to get out of there as soon as possible.
It wasn’t just that the twins were tired, either, though that was a factor. They weren’t even one yet and it had definitely been a long day for them. Even Sophia was nodding off, though she tried to fight it off with everything in her. Three sleepy children under the age of four seemed like a bad idea, though.
So, yes, part of it was wanting to a good father. There was also a not-so-secret desire on my part to get my incredibly sexy wife into bed as soon as possible. Seeing this wedding had made me remember more than ever how much I loved her, and I always wanted to express that love physically.
Still, Kaye was fun to watch, chatting animatedly as she held our son, Braden, and cradling him as he nestled sleepily in her arms. She was talking to Joan and Angela, and I couldn’t help but smile at how happy she looked.
I gazed down at Brody, the other half of the twin set, who I held in my arms. Twins. It was hard to believe sometimes. I’d ended up not just with my wife and one child, but now we had three.
Howev
er, Sophie was past the slightly whiny point and had actually found a corner to curl up in. She looked like a little angel with her black hair coming down from its ponytail and surrounding her face like a soft cloud. Her white dress poofed around her, and I couldn’t help but smile.
“Kaye, love, we have to go,” I whispered. “We have three very tired children to get to bed.”
“Of course,” Kaye smiled, looking around as if surprised to see how much time had passed. She had left her job when Sophie was born, and I knew it was mostly a relief to her. She was the most maternal person in the world and she was a great mother to her kids.
I knew she missed her friends sometimes, though. I made a mental note to throw some sort of party or watch our kids after work so she could go out. I knew I would have to convince her to go, though, or she would want to spend every second with our children.
No mother could be more devoted, and I knew how lucky I was—and how lucky Sophie and the boys were. As we left, I had no hands to touch her with. One arm was filled with the baby and I held Sophie’s hand in my own, so I made sure to give her a warm, affectionate look so she knew I was thinking about her.
“David Black.” Brent said, coming up to me with his arm wrapped around his radiant bride. “I never would have thought to see you with three kids.” He was teasing a little, but just a little, and he softened it by admitting, “It suits you.”
“Thanks,” I replied, smiling at both of them. “Enjoy your honeymoon.”
“We will,” Angela smirked a bit at me and gave her husband quite the fond look, her head resting on his broad shoulder.
“And maybe in nine months or so,” Brent added. “We’ll provide your kids with a friend.”
“Oh, that would be wonderful.” Kaye smiled, her delight obviously completely unfeigned. “We could have playdates.”
No Promises: A Bad Boy Billionaire Romance Page 44