Page 37 of Oliver (The Golden Team #7)

Oliver

T he vineyard was quiet. Olly was asleep in the guest house where we were staying, exhausted from chasing bees and trying to name every grapevine.

The team had conducted a security sweep.

The wine barrels were stacked, the lights were strung, and Emery was mine—just one more night before she became my wife.

She stood on the porch in a white cotton nightgown, barefoot, hair loose, glowing like she belonged in this place.

“You keep looking at me like that,” she murmured, “you’re going to cause a scene.”

I stepped closer, cupping her jaw. “It’s just us here, sweetheart. I want to cause one.”

She smiled, slow and soft. “You nervous?”

I shook my head. “No. I’m just... full, and so damn happy. Of you. Of this. Of knowing I get to wake up tomorrow and call you my wife.”

Tears welled in her eyes. “I never thought I’d make it this far.”

“You didn’t make it,” I whispered, pressing my forehead to hers. “We did.”

Her lips met mine with a kind of reverence.

Not rushed. Not frantic. Just... everything.

I lifted her in my arms and carried her inside the small vineyard cottage we were staying in.

The candles flickered, the night outside wrapped around us, and the only thing that mattered was the woman in my arms.

She reached for me as I laid her down. “Love me like I’m already yours.”

“You are already mine. I’m going to have you screaming for more, all night.”

I kissed my way down her neck, the strap of her nightgown slipping from her shoulder. Her skin was soft beneath my hands, her breaths growing shallow as I tasted the hollow of her collarbone.

Clothes fell away like petals. Skin to skin, hearts pressed tight.

She wrapped her legs around me, drawing me deep inside her with a gasp that echoed in the silence. I moved slow, savoring her, grounding us in this moment that belonged to no one else.

We whispered promises. I love you. Forever.

She trembled beneath me, her head thrown back, voice breaking on my name like it was the only one she’d ever known. And when we fell together—hearts racing, breaths tangled—I kissed her temple and held her like I’d never let go.

“I’ll never stop choosing you,” I whispered against her skin.

She smiled through the tears. “Good. Because I’m never letting you go.”