Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 93463 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 467(@200wpm)___ 374(@250wpm)___ 312(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93463 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 467(@200wpm)___ 374(@250wpm)___ 312(@300wpm)
“Do you want to open a bakery?” he repeats.
I hesitate. “I don’t know. Give me time, please.”
Because it feels like betrayal. Leaving my family. Marrying Seamus. Starting over with flour-dusted dreams and a storefront window.
I don’t say all that, just keep it tucked inside.
“You want me to open a bakery in the middle of a feud?”
He shrugs. It’s slow and deliberate.
“I’ve seen stranger things.” Then he leans back.
The light catches his jaw, the faint stubble there. He’s not smiling, not exactly, but his face is softer than I’ve ever seen. If I reached out, I think he’d welcome it.
“Did you ever want anything silly?” I ask.
He looks away, and his jaw tightens.
“Yeah,” he says. “Peace.”
That silences me. Not because it’s dramatic, but because it’s real.
So real.
“Let’s say we had children,” I continue, turning my gaze to the window. “Do you like kids, Seamus?”
“I’d like mine.”
There’s honesty there again, the kind you don’t argue with.
“You planning something, love?”
“I am.” But I don’t tell him what.
“If I had children, it’d be a union of two families, wouldn’t it?” I tease, rolling my eyes toward him. “It’s hypothetical. Humor me. What would you name a boy?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Never really thought about it. But I know a girl’s name.”
“Yeah?”
“Caitlin. After mam. Once you meet her, you’ll understand.”
“That’s beautiful.” I breathe the name. “Caitlin. You love her?”
“Of course I do. Anyone who meets her does.”
I look away then, suddenly nervous, like I’m breaking open in front of him.
“What’s the matter, Zoya?”
I don’t answer, not until he squeezes my knees, and not gently.
“Remember the rules,” he says softly. “Tell me the truth. What are you thinking, love?”
So I do. I tell him.
“What if your family doesn’t love me? What if they don’t like me? What if I don’t fit in? I’m different, you know.”
He turns to face me fully. His eyes hold mine, unwavering.
“Anybody who doesn’t love you,” he says, “is a goddamn fool.”
And I believe him.
Because it’s Seamus. Because he says it like it’s the most obvious truth in the world.
A long silence falls between us. It’s not awkward, but comfortable. Natural.
“I like this,” I whisper when he brushes his thumb across the top of my hand. His eyes flick to mine, then tilt toward the sea. He cants his head. “What’s ‘this’?” he murmurs. “The quiet? The talking? The solitude?”
I don’t answer. I just look out at the sea with him.
It’s endless and constant.
“I like this too,” he says, his voice quieter now. Thoughtful.
“I don’t want to be negative, darlin’, but I have to tell you. This quiet, it’s the calm before the storm.” His jaw tightens, and his breath catches like he already knows it too.
I nod.
“You know, I’ve got fears of my own,” he says after a long pause.
“Tell me.” The tea’s grown cold in my mug, and my belly growls with hunger.
“I want to keep you.”
He looks away. Then looks back.
“I know,” I tell him with a shrug. “But what’s wrong with that?”
“I don’t know how to keep something safe unless I’m holding it so tight it might suffocate.”
I reach out and touch his hand.
“You don’t have to hold me so tight,” I whisper. “Choose me, Seamus, if you have to. Then let me choose you back.”
His fingers wrap tighter around mine, not a prison. And for the first time, he doesn’t try to answer with words. He just holds me.
“I need a shower,” he says finally. “Join me?”
Chapter 17
SEAMUS
I know my time alone with Zoya is ending. Today could be the last day I have her before my family comes for me. We’re on borrowed time.
There’s been a whole bleeding clan of bastards trying to shove me off the throne. But I’ve still got a few loyals. Real ones. And I didn’t even bother to hide her. Could’ve, if I wanted. Hell, part of me still wants to.
But I want to claim my wife. I need to.
I want Zoya in a way I’ve never wanted anyone. It’s time.
She follows me to the bedroom. She’s barely dressed, just a T-shirt and a thin pair of panties, and the way she peels them off without hesitation tells me everything I need to know.
I can’t believe she’s mine.
Her eyes are dark, heavy-lidded, watching me from the doorway like she’s already waiting to be devoured.
“Come here,” I say, crooking a finger at her.
She walks toward me slowly, lashes lowered. The perfect goddamn submissive. She’s everything I never knew I needed. When she gets to me, I lift her, and her legs wrap around my waist like we’ve done this a thousand times.
“I have so many things I want to ask you, Seamus,” she whispers, her voice hitching in her throat.
“Ask me anything, doll.”
I kiss her forehead. Her temple. Her cheek. Her jaw. Her shoulder. “I told you, I’ll answer anything you want. What is it, love?” I murmur.