With Everything I Am (The Three #2)(168)

And something hit him about this gesture, something he couldn’t quite put his finger on, but Sonia spoke before he could call it to mind.

Then she whispered, “You know I love you, right?”

He closed his eyes at her words, remembering the dream.

They were living part of his dream.

He and Sonia said that now, “You know I love you?” It had become their way.

He hadn’t recognized it as being from the dream before.

Now he did.

His arm about her tightened and his other hand came across his chest to slide into the soft, golden hair at the side of her head. It was thick and gleamed in the firelight and, studying it, he knew his next thoughts but he had them anyway.

How could he ever not have fancied blondes?

Because, he knew, they were never her.

“I know, honey.”

“You’ll never forget?” she was still whispering.

His lungs burned and his neck arched slightly as the living grief tore through him but he forced his body to relax.

“I’ll never forget.”

She cuddled close and her hand slid across his chest to wrap around him tight. “I want you to promise to be happy but I don’t want you ever to forget.”

“I won’t forget.”

“Promise to be happy?”

To live the perfect dream with the perfect woman what amounts to a blink in your long life only to have it swept pitilessly away and then find a way to be happy for eternity?

Impossible, Callum thought.

“I promise,” Callum said.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

“I love you, baby doll.”

“I know,” she said on a fluttering sigh and his chest got so tight, Callum found it hard to breathe.

She lifted up, pressed deeper into him and he watched as she reached out to his nightstand and grabbed the wedding band he’d taken off earlier in preparation for transforming. She settled back beside him, her fingers curled around his wrist and she unwound his arm from her body, lifting his hand toward her face.

Then she slid his ring on his finger and lifted his hand to her mouth. With her eyes soft with adoration never leaving his, she kissed the band.

She linked her fingers with his and whispered, “If you don’t want to, you don’t have to wear this forever.”

He clenched his teeth and gripped her hand tightly.

When he could speak, he said low, “I’ll always wear it.”

“You don’t –” Sonia started.

Callum cut her off. “Always.”

She closed her eyes and Callum watched a single tear trail down her cheek.

At the sight, it took everything he had not to howl with grief and fury.

She opened her eyes and repeated, again on a whisper, “Thank you.”

He was pleased he’d not dreamed this part.

That was, fortunately, the only thought he had time to have. Sonia slid up and onto his body, her fingers gliding into his hair at the side of his head and she leaned in to kiss him.

He rolled her and kissed her first.

That time he had her, he went slow.

He took his time and he committed to memory his mate’s skin, her smell, her touch, the taste of her and the beautiful, sexy sounds she made.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Changes

“We could try,” Sonia, sitting beside Callum in the SUV, snapped.

“Baby doll, we’re not talking about this,” Callum replied, trying to keep hold of his temper and stay calm.

They were on their way to Titium and his men’s trial, which had been the source of their first disagreement that morning. They’d had three.

Callum forbid Sonia to go.

Sonia didn’t feel like being forbidden.

They had words. The words turned into a tussle. The tussle turned into play and, before Callum knew what he was doing, he was agreeing to let her attend the trial with him.

“All right, you can go,” he’d gritted while fending off her hands, legs and mouth which were pushing, kicking and biting intermittently with caressing, clutching and licking. He’d had enough. He could smell her excitement, hear her panting and, at that point, he wanted nothing but to bury himself inside her and he’d say just about anything to get what he wanted.

She’d grinned, stopped her struggles instantly and lifted her head, running her tongue along his neck.

He’d taken a moment to memorize that sweet sensation before he flipped her, grasped her h*ps and pulled her up to her knees, positioned himself between them and took her. Hard. Her reward for winning which was his reward too.

Christ, but she was the most sexually voracious human he’d ever met. He’d had her twice only six hours before.

And once already that morning.

Though, he wasn’t complaining.

Now, he didn’t even know what she was on about. Their second argument, God help him, about which boots he was going to f**king wear (another argument he lost, this time purposefully because it was so bloody ridiculous) had segued into a third and he wasn’t paying attention.

He had a number of things on his mind, chiefly the unpleasant business of the trial and further, what Sonia’s reaction would be to it. Not to mention their Mating which was scheduled for the next day, his secret plans and what Sonia’s reaction would be to that, something, he hoped, which would be far more pleasant for the both of them.