Not that he’d given me much choice when I walked in on him making out with one of the receptionists while one of the maids was on her knees.”
“Motherfucker.”
“So, I ended it right there. And he… he didn’t like that.” Her gaze fell and it ripped my heart in two. “He threatened me that he’d make sure I’d never get another position in hospitality on the east coast.”
“What else?” I could sense it. I could practically taste the last piece of this story would be the most poisonous.
“He told me I could walk away from our engagement… but it would be better if I ran because without losing my extra pounds, it was the only proposal I’d ever get.”
There was rage. And then there was what I felt at that moment that made rage look like an ant I’d stepped on.
“I’ve never been a violent man, Carrie, but I swear to God, it’s taking everything in me to not want to end him in any and every way possible,” I bit out roughly.
Her soft eyes rose to mine, her strength shadowed with the painful memory. “He’s not worth it, James. I just learned the hard way.”
“Your warm smile… your easy laugh… I’ve been a lot of places, Carrie Bishop, but you are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met.” My head dipped close to hers. “And if the number of cold showers I’ve had to take are any indication, just the thought of your body… in my hands… against my mouth… around my cock… is enough to drive a man insane.”
I loved when my words made her cheeks pink. I’d love it even more if I could trace the pink with my tongue down onto her tits.
“James…” She filled her lungs again, focusing on the end of her tale. “When I left New Jersey, I swore I wouldn’t put myself in that situation ever again—where my character, my abilities are questioned… and where my heart is left vulnerable.”
“So, if I fire you, then it will be okay?”
She shifted. “You can’t fire me. I’m your wife.”
My jaw tightened. “Let me get this straight, I can’t have you because I’m your boss, but I can’t fire you because you’re my wife?”
Her head barely moved in a nod.
“Christ, if that isn’t one hell of a catch-twenty-two, I don’t know what is,” I grunted and then shook my head. “No. Fuck. I don’t—I won’t accept that.”
Her lips parted.
“I wanted you before I knew who you were before I knew you worked for me,” I told her. “And I’m sorry that I ended up being your boss, but I would never do to you what that piece of shit did.”
“I know that,” she surprised me by saying.
“You… do?”
“I just… there are parts of me that are still bruised from what happened and from everything that I gave up in order to start over. I don’t want to do that again, and I’m afraid to risk how far I’ve come after one night in Vegas of all places…”
Now, her admission was softer, and if it wasn’t for my desperate need to hear every syllable she uttered, it might’ve been drowned out by the waterfall in the background.
“So many things in life are a gamble, and just like the kinds made in a casino, you can walk in play steadily for years, maybe even win steadily for years. And then, sometimes, you walk in, make a play on one machine, and you hit the jackpot,” I said roughly. “And that’s how I feel. Like I walked into the casino that night, made a single bet saving a beautiful girl at a Blackjack table, and ended up winning more than I ever thought possible.”
Her eyes widened up at me, water drops falling from her long lashes.
“Carrie, I could promise you so many things right now—how much I want this, how much I want to bury the asshole who hurt you, how sure I am that what we have is worth the risk,” I told her, rubbing my thumbs over the wetted skin of her cheeks. “But I’d rather prove them to you.”
Her hand on my chest curled in my wet shirt, the other one rising to join it as she pulled herself tighter to me and murmured, “I don’t want to fight it anymore. I can’t. I want you too, James.” She shuddered. “And I’d rather you prove them to me, too.”
Her lips angled for mine, my groan of relief feeling more powerful than the falls behind her