Pink petal smile only on me.
We were on the cover of every magazine—Grayson, Sonnet, and I. It was strange, remembering how just months ago newspapers were plastered with A NEW ERA OF CROWNE.
This felt like the real beginning.
As if he knew what I was thinking, he slowly got back up, sitting on the other seat. His tongue pushed against a crooked smile—a cocky, arrogant, Grayson Crowne smile. No matter how many times I saw it, I’d never get used to it.
“What are you thinking?” I asked softly.
Eyes still locked on me, he pressed the button for the partition behind him. It rose slowly, before locking us into quiet.
“That tonight, when I fuck you, you’ll be my wife.”
I looked away on a smile, pressing a hand to my hot cheek. I really liked the sound of that.
I heard shifting, and when I looked back, Grayson was on the black velvet floor of the limo, on his knees, hands on my thighs.
Grayson Crowne on his knees before me, I would never get used to that sight.
“You’re mine, little wife. You’re officially Mrs. Crowne.”
The white satin and tulle of my wedding dress swallowed him. He dug his hands into the fabric, into my thighs, sliding up my body, pressing me back into the leather.
Until he caged me.
Until his lips were hot on my ear.
Until goose bumps slid up my spine, and I couldn’t breathe anything but Grayson.
“You are always, forever mine.”
I sighed at his reverent tone. I could feel it bleed into my heart, and I melted into him. Boneless.
“I was always yours,” I groaned.
The car came to a stop and the door opened, ushering in bright sun. Grayson didn’t even flinch. His throat bobbed with a jagged swallow, hand burning through the fabric.
It wasn’t perfect, as he’d said months ago when we’d proposed to each other. Though many had resonated with my confession, others still saw me as the girl who broke up his marriage, or saw him as the guy who left his pregnant wife for his mistress.
On the inside…I was finally with my soulmate and Lottie was finally free to find hers.
Grayson encased his teeth around my ring finger, tongue swirling around the flesh, eyes locked on mine. Heart jackhammering at the heat of his mouth, his hot lips.
Why couldn’t my heart get used to him, even now?
With so much trust, love, so much everything. It pounded like a jackhammer with the predatory way he watched me and the smile he had.
Slowly, he pulled my chin to his, and our eyes collided.
“Hey. Right now I’m just…” he trailed off, then the biggest Grayson Crowne smile graced his lips. “I’m just your husband.”
“And I’m just your wife.”
He fell forward into my neck on a groan.
When he came up, the playful look in his eyes had vanished into heat. “Say it again.”
“Wife,” I said softly.