Accidental Shield (Marriage Mistake #6)(37)

She nods slowly, seemingly satisfied, and sits down on a bar stool, glancing at her hand. Then her mouth drops open.

Damn, what now?

“Oh, nooo. Don’t tell me...I didn’t...did I lose my wedding ring in the accident?” Her face snaps up, worried gold-specked eyes searching mine. “Flint?”

The sweat pools on the back of my neck.

Yeah, I’m gonna have a one-way ticket to hell when this is done. No way around it. But this time I don’t say anything.

I just walk around the island to the end where a shelf holds several cookbooks. A firm tug opens the cover door that the shelves hide, revealing the metal safe inside.

“What’s that?” She leans over, watching me.

Punching in the code, I peel back the heavy door with a grunt. I’ve got a plan.

I hadn’t planned on buying a ring the day I’d visited an island jeweler on Maui last year, looking for a Christmas gift for my ma, but I’d ended up leaving with one. But Ma wanted pearl earrings instead, and by the time I got them ordered and rushed, I’d forgotten to even give her the ring.

Honestly, I forgot the frigging thing even existed. Until now.

Reaching in, I pull out the blue velvet box. One thing I’ll say, this design beckoned me to buy it.

Call it a premonition. Or a side effect of becoming so rich you sometimes just make weird, impulsive purchases. I’m not a heavy shopper, hardly for jewelry, but something about the ring caught my eye and said buy.

Giving in to that urge was completely out of character. It’s like a part of me just knew I’d need it someday.

Well, today’s the day.

I close the safe, the shelf’s wooden cover door, and then hold the box out to her, opening the lid. “Here you go. Safe and sound. You always liked keeping it locked up when you were in the thick of tour season with so much turnover, scared you’d lose it. The only ring you lost was the cheap silver substitute you were wearing.”

“Oh, dear, sweet Lord.” She presses a hand to her chest as she steps off the stool and moves closer to me. “It’s...holy crap.”

She looks up at me, her eyes so huge and sparkly I just laugh.

The large, perfect black pearl shimmers in the light. So do the diamonds surrounding it in a halo of raised white gold. It cost a pretty penny, but right now, all I can think is that I hope to fuck it fits her.

Please let something go right. I send up a silent prayer.

Then I lift the ring out of its box and hold out my other hand. “At least I don’t have to get down on one knee again.”

She smiles, laying her left hand on top of my palm.

I grasp her finger and slide it on. Sweet relief washes over me when it fits perfectly snug. “Home again. I think it’s happy. You were so scared you’d lose it.”

Staring down, she wiggles her fingers and whispers, “Um, yeah. I can see why.” She looks up at me. “Real black pearls are extremely rare.”

“Exactly why I bought it,” I growl, squeezing her fingers. “You’re a rare bird, Val. And you’re mine.”

“Oh, Flint,” she whispers.

Fuuuuck.

Do they make tongue-sized tasers? Because right now, I really need somebody to kick down the door and shock my stupid, lying ass.

Believe me, I know the mistake I’ve just made, but all the voltage in the world still couldn’t stop what happens next. This curvy, grateful, and totally clueless slip of a woman just tumbles into my arms.

Not kissing her seems impossible.

Every rough bit of frustration I’ve experienced the past two days flows into our lips colliding.

Then it’s just heat and desire and...connection. Something deeper than I mean, even when I give the hell in and I’m pushing her butt gently against the island, stealing her breath, leaving her weak-kneed and in awe.

She tastes even sweeter than she did on the beach.

No idea how that works, but it whacks me upside the head. I have to pull her closer, into my arms, just so neither one of us goes crashing down from the shock, the fire, the passion.

It’s like I’m dying of thirst, drinking her in. I can’t get enough, can’t get close to enough of her, until I’ve had my fill. I pull her tightly against me as her arms loop behind my neck.

Her lips part wider as she urges me back, her little hands pulling at my shoulders. I let my tongue roam wild, fully tasting her, taking this forbidden kiss to the very limit.

She holds nothing back. If I want, I could toss her back on the island, spread her legs, and take her right now.

But I’ve still got a shred of humanity left. Barely.

The buttons on the shirt she’s wearing are undone, her scantily covered tits pressed too tight against my bare chest. I can feel her nipples on my skin, begging to be teased, pinched, sucked.

Snarling, I give my hands a few seconds of freedom, letting them explore.

Her back, her sides, down to her hips.

That lush ass spills into my hands, so real I can just picture her bent over. For a runaway second, I squeeze her ass cheek. Hard.

But a voice growls up in the back of my mind. What the fuck are you doing?

Naturally, it sounds too much like Cash.

Before the brink of no return, I break the kiss and pull back. “We shouldn’t do this. Not yet, I mean.”

She frowns. “Do what? We’re married, Flint.”