I’d earned them.
I would wear them with pride, even if it meant having wild sex with Eleanor would tax every last power I had left.
“We’re at my old villa.” Eleanor glanced up as we slowly made our way down the sandy laneway. Thanks to everyone leaving during our wedding kiss, we had no transportation. Even Pika and Skittles had abandoned us.
Not that the short walk from the beach to Jinx’s old villa was an issue. It was an honour to walk beside her as birds roosted and the shadows of bats flickered just out of sight. I hadn’t intended to return to Nirvana tonight.
I’d...done something.
I’d gambled on a new recipe Peter Beck had been working on and set up a surprise for Eleanor. I had no clue how she’d take it.
“Let’s go inside,” I said, digging my cane into the sugary sand and doing my best not to lean too heavily on her. If I couldn’t walk unassisted, then I’d married her under false pretences, and that would be blasphemy.
She was my wife.
She’s my wife.
Fuck, I’d never get tired of that.
Slinking out from under my arm, she dashed to the door and pushed it open. Waiting for me over the threshold, she laughed suddenly, eyeing up my slow, steady stroll. “You broke so many wedding traditions today, I’m wondering if I should break one of my own.”
“Oh? Which one?”
“I think the bride should carry the groom over the threshold.” She ducked out of my reach as I swiped for her.
“Say such things again and I’ll have to punish you for trying to emasculate me. That kiss before almost ensured I fucked you right on the beach—with or without an audience. I can’t control myself around you, and I definitely don’t need you carrying my ass across a stupid doorway.”
She winked and darted inside. “Ah well, plenty of time for you to sweep me off my feet and complete that particular tradition later.”
“I’ve already swept you off your feet.” I grinned, closing the door behind me and wiping at the heat on my nape. “I’d say I was pretty successful at it, seeing as my ring is now upon your finger.”
She held up her hand, catching the Hawk diamonds in the sconces around the villa. They glittered with every promise and pledge I’d given. “They’re stunning, Sully. I love that Pika and Skittles are included.” She wrinkled her nose. “Where are those birds anyway?”
I shrugged, moving slowly but steadfast into the living room. “Getting drunk on hibiscus probably.” From here, I could see the surprise laid out on Eleanor’s bed. Familiar black boxes with purple orchids stencilled on the top.
For the past three weeks, I’d worked fairly hard, emails and theories, new concepts and trials. I’d achieved a few things during my work hours that I hadn’t divulged to Eleanor.
One, there were hints of a pandemic brewing that required swift vaccines and expensive research to inoculate mass populations. I’d tasked the scientists on Monyet to deconstruct the current viruses on hand to hopefully provide at least some immunity, if and when that pandemic spread.
I wasn’t opposed for Mother Nature to kill off the parasites of mankind, but I also couldn’t stand by if it was in my power to protect someone’s loved one.
Not now.
After falling for Eleanor, she’d ensured I had a deeper well of empathy. Too fucking much really. I couldn’t stop putting myself in other husband’s shoes, watching their wife succumb to infection and disease, knowing I had the resources to at least give a fighting chance for improving people’s odds.
Two, thanks to Eleanor’s flippant remark about using Goddess Isles for couples with marriage problems, I’d asked Cal and Jess to look into how employing a few psychiatrists and counsellors could work and offer a sexual vacation away from the strain of arguments, domestication, and mistakes. I wasn’t interested in opening my shores just yet but possibly in the future.
Euphoria could once again be used. A program redesigned to provide a safe space for couples to unleash their anger and hopefully remember why they loved each other in a virtual reality program away from any stress of reality.
Three, the destruction of elixir in Geneva meant no more of the overly potent, potentially suicidal drug now existed. However, I had been dabbling with another panacea in a flurry of emails with Peter Beck. I still used the aphrodisiac extract from purple orchids but had requested it be mixed with a different formulation.
Peter had finalised the sample batch and finished the initial round of paid testing. Each person who’d taken it—carefully monitored for heart palpitations or overloading of the nervous system—had categorically claimed it was the best stimuli on the market.
I’d tentatively called it Cinta—Indo word for love. I supposed, in a way, I was still trying to rectify my wrongs. Previously, I’d bottled nafsu (lust), but now, I wanted to do the impossible and see if I could use a less potent drug that had the power to cause happiness instead of pain.
All those things had kept my mind busy while my body healed, but I’d kept them a secret for a reason.
I didn’t want Eleanor to think I hadn’t changed or that I still expected certain things from a wife who was no longer a goddess, but...we’d both enjoyed the fantasies. Taking her in that cave and fucking her as I removed my masks had both been highly memorable events.
I didn’t need VR to keep our marriage bed exciting, but I wouldn’t say no to fucking her with wings or chasing her across a prehistoric plain to pin her on all fours and mount.
Eleanor’s breath caught as she noticed the Euphoria boxes laid neatly on the pressed white sheets of her bed. Giving me a quick glance, she darted into the bedroom and picked up the eye lenses. Spinning in place, she held up the box. “I thought Drake took all your supplies to Geneva?”
“Elixir, yes, but not the sensors.
