Page 112 of Tainted Love

God, I love you too, baby. I love you so much.

‘All the shit I’ve brought on you. Everything I’ve done to you and you still say that?’

She reaches up and wipes my wet cheek. ‘You’re the other half of me, Gregory. Whatever life throws at us, we’ll get through it. Together.’

‘I’m fucked up, Scarlett, and Ikeepfucking up.’

She nods and half-laughs, half-sobs. ‘Yes, you are and you do. You’re also the kindest, smartest, bravest, best man I’ve ever known. Will ever know.’

I hold her face and rest my forehead against hers. ‘I love you to Pluto and back, Scarlett Heath.’

A half-smile creeps onto her lips and those eyes sparkle.

Then I kiss her, holding my lips to hers, floating under the softness of her skin. She kisses me back and wraps her arms around my neck, pulling me to her.

‘We might have to put the wedding on hold a little while, unless you fancy standing at the altar with the Corpse Bride.’

I chuckle in her hold, my chest bursting.

This is exactly where I’m meant to be and I know, because with her by my side, I’m ten times the man I could otherwise be.

She is my everything. My reason.

‘Aurora,’ I whisper.

EPILOGUE

FIVE MONTHS LATER

‘Scarlett, we’re going to the farm for a weekend; what the hell is in these bags?’

I strap my feet into my sandals. ‘The weather might change. I need clothes for every eventuality.’

‘Baby, the only thing you need to prepare for is being naked. A lot.’

I stand from the stairs and tuck my shirt into my skinny jeans before slipping my arms around his waist. ‘In that case, I should probably take the Mercy corset out of my bag.’

A low growl escapes his chest and he bites the tip of my nose. ‘You win. The bags can stay.’

‘I thought that might change your mind.’

‘Let’s go before I take you back up those stairs for a second breakfast.’

With my lips barely touching his, I move my hand to the crotch of his jeans, feeling him harden against me. He drops my bag to the floor and pushes me back against the door of the apartment. He kisses me with urgency, his hands pulling my long, dark hair.

‘I’m going to enjoy fucking you this weekend.’ His words are full of lust.

‘I look forward to you doing so, Ryans.’

He rolls his hips against me with a wink that liquefies me on the spot. ‘Let’s go.’

His square jaw is set the whole time he’s manoeuvring our bags into the small space in the DB9 but he doesn’t say anything. I smile to myself as I sit in the car and he takes thirty seconds to cool off by the driver’s side door. His counsellor has told him when he’s frustrated, he ought to count to thirty, so I count now in my head and sure enough, when I reach thirty, he climbs into the car.

He pulls out of the Shard’s basement and clicks the music to Oasis’s ‘Roll with It.’ As we drive out of the city, far too fast, we both shout the lyrics and I move my hands, dancing, twisting.

The July sun beams down on us as we leave concrete for greenery and head up the driveway to the farm. We spend more and more time here now, our haven outside the city. Since the kidnapping, Gregory does just about anything he can to keep stress out of my life – except lighten my GJR workload, that is – despite the fact I tell him I’m fine. But this weekend is something of a celebration, too. Nick Henshaw has finally been sentenced and put where he belongs: behind bars.

As Gregory pulls up outside the house, I turn down the ridiculously loud music. Kian is by the car before I’m even out of the door. He nods to Gregory with a grin and catches the keys Gregory throws to him.