Page 142 of Forbidden Billionaires: Vol. 2

"We don't need to pretend it's our wedding night. Tonight is our wedding night." He pushed open the doors.

A single guitarist was in the ballroom, playing Hands Down the way that we had first heard it together in Central Park. The lights dimmed as I stepped into the room. It was like I was transported back in time to when we visited New York back when I was James' student.

James lightly touched my wrist, sending shivers up my arm. "Penny, may I have this dance?"

I turned around and smiled up at him. "Of course." I clasped my hands behind his neck. "How did you plan all this?"

But he silenced me with a kiss as he pulled me closer toward him. His hands slid down my back stopping right above my ass.

The song ended and the lights cut off, but he didn't stop kissing me. I couldn't see him, I could only feel his hands on me, his lips on me, him pressed against me.

He groaned as I leaned into him and his hands slipped to my ass.

I needed him. He was right, we didn't have to pretend. We had never had our wedding night together. This was it. "Do we have a room here?" I said breathlessly.

"We do. Or we can go home. Or we can go to the airport and go on our honeymoon. Anywhere you want to go. I just want to be with you."

"Let's go upstairs."

"I was hoping you'd say that."

I could feel his smile against my lips. He grabbed my hand and we walked as quickly as we could toward the elevators.

The concierge looked up as we passed. "Mr. Hunter, do you need..."

"We're good," James said as we stepped onto the elevator. As soon as the doors closed he pressed my back against the side of the elevator. "We're so good." He lifted my hands above my head and kissed me hard. He kissed me like he had that very first time in the pouring rain, pressed against his car.

I'd never get enough of this passion. Or this overwhelming feeling of finally being his. When we first met, I had this feeling that this was something big and scary and perfect. I knew it all along. But I never thought I'd be this lucky. I never thought I'd really be his. And I certainly never thought that he'd be mine.

The doors dinged open and he pulled me into the hall, stopping in front of the same room we had gotten almost three years ago. I grabbed the keycard from him and slipped it into the door.

"Wait," he said before I could open the door. He lifted me up into his arms.

"James!" I laughed. "You're not supposed to be lifting anything."

"I'm carrying my new bride through the threshold."

I saw the strain on his face. And the effort he was putting in was admirable, but completely unnecessary. "Put me down. You're going to pull your stitches out again."

"It's tradition, Penny," he said through a clenched jaw as he kicked the door open with his foot. He was breathing heavily as he placed me down on the bed.

"James, sit down."

He didn't protest as he sat down next to me on the bed. "I'm sorry. I wanted tonight to be perfect." He coughed into his hand.

"It is perfect." I straddled him on the bed. "Just take a minute to catch your breath." I put my hands on his shoulders and watched him as his breathing became more steady again. "Why did you bring me here?" I glanced over to the window. I remembered him fucking me against it. I remembered him saying he wanted the whole city to know I was his. The memory sent goosebumps up my legs. I needed him to catch his breath, but all I wanted was for him to do that to me again.

"I was thinking about what you said about Mason and Bee. About how he should propose to her on top of the Empire State Building because it means something to them. And, well, this place means something to me."

"Yeah?" It meant something to me too. That day we had come here was the first time I got to really see him as more than my professor. It somehow made this love seem bigger than us. "What does it mean to you?"

He ran his hand down my back. "Remember the last time we were in this room? You chose a ten dollar comedy show and a walk in Central Park."

"I remember." I somehow knew what he was going to say next and my eyes were already teary.

"It was in that moment that I realized just how good you truly were for me. How much you really cared about me for me. For the first time in forever, I wasn't depressed in New York. Because I had you by my side. And I knew that we could go anywhere in the world and be happy as long as we were together. And I knew I could never let you go. I knew that I needed you in my life forever. You're my light, Penny. You've always been the light to my darkness."

"James, your soul is brighter than you realize."