Page 104 of Best Kept Vows

I wrinkled my nose playfully.

"Come dance with me." He pulled me to the dance floor.

As the music played, I melted into Sebastian. The room around us faded, and everything else became background noise as the steady rhythm of my husband’s heart beat against my cheek.

We swayed, his hands warm on my back, mine clasped behind his neck. “So, let me get this straight,” he murmured near my ear. “You think older women are wild in bed?”

I smirked, my fingers playing with the short hairs at the nape of his neck. “You tell me.”

His chuckle was dark and full of promise. “How would I know? I have a saucy, sexy woman in my bed, and I’d fuck up anyone who called her old.”

I laughed.

The song shifted to a slow, sultry tune—a smooth jazz melody that wrapped around us like silk. People danced in small pockets around us, but I only had eyes for this man—my husband, who had fought for me…for us.

Sebastian studied me in the way he often did now, assessing, affectionate, affirming.

I loved him before, but Iadoredhim now.

The weight of the past had lifted, and all that remainedwas the two of us, standing in the glow of everything we were rebuilding.

“You know what I was thinking about today?” His voice was low, thoughtful.

I shook my head, waiting.

“How far we’ve come.” His thumb brushed the curve of my hip as he pulled me closer. “I used to think I had everything figured out. I thought success was about legacy, about proving myself to my father and the world. Turns out, success is dancing with my wife, feeling like the luckiest son of a bitch alive.”

Tears burned the backs of my eyes, but I didn’t let them fall. Instead, I rose on my toes and brushed my lips over his. “This isn’t just luck, Sebastian. You worked for this. For us.”

His arms tightened around me. “Damn right, I did.”

We danced like that until one song faded into another, and then another.

Eventually, Sebastian dipped his head, his lips brushing against the shell of my ear. “Let’s go home.”

A delicious shiver ran down my spine.

Home.

And just like that, I realized we had one. It wasn’t about where we lived—the big house, the apartment, or anywhere else. It was us.Wewerehome.

Trigger warning

The upcoming chapter includes the loss of a parent and explores themes of grief.

Reader discretion is advised.

CHAPTER 35

Sebastian

Iwatched as Lia, lost in thought, swirled the pinot noir in her glass, the red liquid dancing slowly in graceful loops.

We were having dinner at home. I’d cooked steak with parsnip puree, and spicy collard greens.

It was ironic how my idea of home had transformed.

That once-grand house—an opulent sanctuary that I had spent years striving to preserve at any cost—had become nothing more than a distant memory, a relic of a life I had easily left behind.