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Sebastian smiles, and I see a mist of tears in his eyes. “I thought I could fight loving you, Estella. But you are a force that I couldn’t resist, and I’m glad that I didn’t. I would endure anything to be by your side. I will spend my entire life trying to be worthy of your choice… and I will choose you, every day, for as long as we both shall live.”

When the priest intones that Sebastian can kiss his bride, he lifts my veil, his arm going around me as he pulls me into a brief but passionate kiss, almost too passionate for the setting. Imelt into him, savoring his touch, this moment where there’s no going back… where no one can take him from me any longer.

He’s mine and I’m his, forever.

Just as we were always meant to be.

—

My father surprises me as we leave the church, stopping me just before we reach the limo. He looks at me, searching my face, and he lets out a long sigh. “Are you happy, daughter?” he asks, and I think he really, truly means it.

It catches me off guard, all the same. My father has never asked about my happiness before—it was always about duty, about the family. About tradition. Not happiness.

“Yes,” I tell him honestly. “I am. I really, really am.”

He nods, something like relief passing across his features. "Good. That's good." He reaches into his pocket and produces a small velvet box. "I have something for you. It belonged to your grandmother, and her mother before her."

Inside the box is a delicate string of pearls, with a faint patina from age, interspersed with diamonds. “I should have given you this before the wedding,” he admits. “But I will own up to the fact that I’m having a difficult time with all of this, still. But it should be yours, Estella. You are a Gallo. The last Gallo. And this belongs to you.”

It’s a bittersweet reminder of Luis’ absence, an absence that has been close to me all day. I want to think that he’s somewhere, watching, knowing that I’m happy at last.

I blink back a mist of tears as he fastens it around my neck. “Thank you,papa,” I whisper, and I see his face soften at the way I used to refer to him, as a child.

It’s the beginning of forgiveness, of reconciliation. It will take time, as all things do. But it reminds me to be open to the future, whatever that might bring.

The reception is a blur of delicious food and cake, and well-wishes. Sebastian takes my hand after the cake-cutting and leads me out onto the floor for our first dance, one hand on the small of my back and the other wrapped around mine, as we start to move across the dance floor in a slow waltz.

“We might have to cut out of this reception early,” Sebastian murmurs, bringing his lips close to my ear. A shiver runs down my spine at the sensation of his breath, warm against the shell of it. “I can’t stop thinking about taking that dress off you. It’s beautiful, but—” He pulls back slightly, his gaze holding mine. “It’s going to look much prettier on the floor of our hotel room.”

I smile mischievously, one eyebrow rising as I arch against him, ever so slightly. I can feel the beginnings of his arousal, his muscles tight against me. “Wait until you see what I have underneath it,” I purr, and I hear the low rumble of desire in the back of Sebastian’s throat as he spins me across the floor, his gaze hot on mine..

We finally make our escape well after midnight, slipping away from the reception with conspiratorial smiles. We made plans for our honeymoon to start in a week, at a villa on the Amalfi Coast. But tonight, we’re going to the Plaza Hotel together, to spend our first real night as husband and wife.

I’m desperate for his touch. We’ve slept together every night, with me sneaking down to his room and back up to mine again before sunup, but all we’ve done is sleep. Sebastian has had remarkable self-control, too worried about offending my father and breaking the fragile peace. It was wise, I know, but I’m aching for him. For everything that I know he can do to me.

The moment we’re in our room, the door closed behind us, I turn to him, curling my hand around the back of his neck andpulling him to me for a feverish kiss. Sebastian kisses me back, hard, with all the desire of a man who has been hungry for me for years. It’s as if it’s the first time all over again, his hands moving over me with urgent need, neither of us needing to be careful any longer. All of the wounds, old and new, have healed, and Sebastian picks me up, carrying me to the edge of the bed before turning me around to undo the pearl buttons down the back of my dress.

“I can’t believe this is real,” he murmurs, his breath warm against the back of my neck as his fingers slide down my spine. “You, me… our future. We’ve done it, Estella. We’ve won, despite the odds.”

“Believe it,” I whisper, twisting around to kiss him as he undoes the last of my buttons. “I’m never letting you go, now.”

I make short work of his clothes, stripping off his shirt as my silk gown pools around my feet, revealing the delicate lace bustier and panties that I wore underneath. Sebastian groans when he sees me, lifting me onto the bed with one arm around my waist before kneeling down at the edge of it. “You’re right,” he growls, dragging his mouth along the inside of my thigh. “You look even more beautiful like this than you did in that dress.”

I gasp as he spreads my legs, pulling my panties to one side as he presses his mouth between them, his tongue sliding over my most sensitive places as he devours me.

All of his restraint, all of the waiting, gives way as he hooks my legs over his shoulders, gripping my hips in his broad hands as he rolls his tongue over me in long, swift strokes that rapidly push me to the edge of pleasure. He groans as he buries his face against me, lapping and sucking, until my legs tighten around his head and I arch upward, crying out his name as I come for him for the first time tonight.

He doesn’t waste a moment, rising up over me as he guides his cock between my legs, pushing into me as I moan for him, mynails digging into his shoulders. He kisses me as my hands rove over him, touching every inch of his muscled, scarred body as he slides into me, my legs wrapped around his waist. He fucks me in long, slow strokes that have me writhing beneath him, moaning and begging for more, as he whispers how much he loves me against my skin, his hands seeking out every inch of me, too. I come for him again, shuddering as I wrap myself around him, holding him tightly to me as he groans out his own pleasure, coming deeply inside of me. I kiss him hard, feeling him hard and throbbing as I cling to him, and I whisper how much I love him, too, against his lips as we come together.

“I love you,” I whisper as Sebastian picks me up, still inside me, as he moves us further onto the bed. “I’ll love you forever.”

“And I love you.” He starts to move inside of me again, still hard, still hungry for more, as am I. “I’ll spend my life proving to you just how much.”

I let my head fall back, losing myself in him, in the pleasure that we no longer have to hide in order to have, in the love that we no longer have to fear being taken away.

This is our life, now. Our life… the one we chose, for as long as we both shall live.