His throat moved as he swallowed again. ‘Until very recently, it was the most profound thing to happen to me.’
‘Tell me how it felt. In that moment. Were you terrified?’
‘The smallest was easily the size of a bus so, yes, I was plenty terrified going into the water. But...all I know was that one moment my chest was pounding, then the next all I felt was...incredible, soul-quietening peace.’ The last word was gruff. ‘I don’t know why they stopped playing or why they came close the way they did.’
The picture of seven sperm whales surrounding him in a perfect circle with Jensen suspended in the middle had rocked the world. The perfect synchronicity of giant tail fins moving as one while the whales all stared at Jensen had moved millions. Thousands had believed the picture was fake. When it’d been authenticated, Jensen Scott had shot to fame, winning a clutch of awards both for the stills and for the ninety-second video he’d shot with the camera pointing up.
‘What made you leave the camera where you did?’
He exhaled. ‘That was nothing new. I always dive with multiple cameras. You never know where the perfect shot will come from. Everyone thinks there was just that one camera but there were three, set up on the ocean floor on tripods. The one I released captured the best angle.’
I gasped. ‘There are others? Can I see them?’
‘They’re in the Denmark apartment. You’ll have to come back with me next week if you want to see them.’
I leaned close and brushed my lips over his. ‘I was planning on coming with you anyway.’ We hadn’t quite worked out where or when we’d move in together. All we knew was that we were rabid about spending every spare moment together.
I leaned back again, watched his eyes fall to my breasts before darting back up to meet mine. His cock jerked inside me, and he sucked in a desperate breath.
‘How many times has your video been watched?’
‘According to my agent...two and a half billion times.’
‘God, that’s incredible.’
He made a pained sound and squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. He was almost at breaking point, just where I loved him to be.
‘Last question,’ I murmured as I passed the razor along his taut cheek, shaving the last bristled spot.
‘Ja, min elskerinde.’
‘You said it was your most profound moment until recently?’
Ice-blue eyes met mine, blazed with steel-forged love, before dropping in submissive surrender. ‘It was. At the time I thought nothing would ever equal it. Then I met you.’ His voice was hushed and solemn, reflecting everything he felt. An expression I was still finding hard to fathom belonged to me and only me. ‘Now I simply accept that it was a moment that was destined to happen just so it would bring me to you.’
I heard the razor clatter to the floor without fully taking it in. I gripped his nape, nudging his head up until I captured his gaze with mine. ‘You can’t say things like that to me.’ God, was that mess my voice?
His nostrils flared. ‘Why the hell not?’
‘Because there’s only so much room in my chest for how big my heart gets when you say things like that.’
The most dazzling smile stretched across his face, making my heart swell even bigger. ‘Will you punish me if I say I’m not sorry?’
I slowly circled my hips, biting back a moan at the scalp-tingling sensation. ‘I most definitely intend to punish you. Later. Right now I’ll reward you for sharing your beautiful story with me.’ I pressed a kiss to his lips. ‘And for loving me,’ I added in an even thicker voice.
His smile altered, weighted by emotion as he bared himself even further. ‘I intend for us to have many beautiful stories to share, min elskede,’ he vowed.
‘Then share one with me right now, Jensen. Touch your mistress. Show her how much you love her.’
The words were barely out of my mouth before he was switching his death grip from the chair to my hips, slamming me back down on his steely length.
I held on tight for a moment, then simply let go as I was swept under a torrent of love. One I was beginning to believe would stand the test of time.
An hour later, after a quick but carnally eventful shower, we stepped hand in hand out of the lift ten floors below, in the tallest building in London, which just happened to have the Mortimer name stamped on it, and into the glitzy affair that was the ice-themed party to celebrate the latest release of Mortimer Quarterly. The climate-conscious theme had resonated powerfully, with many media outlets running features off what Jensen and I had put together.
We circulated, holding on tight to one another.
A loud wolf whistle cut through the music and chatter and I turned to see Bryce, grinning, with one arm slung around Savvie, the other waving me over. Next to him, Gideon also kept his wife close, as if they were both afraid of letting the women they loved stray too far.
My fingers tightened around Jensen’s, my own possessiveness engulfing me.
‘Everything okay?’ Jensen murmured, sensing my emotions.
I swallowed the lump in my throat. ‘Yes, Jensen. Everything’s great.’
He smiled, kissed my hand again.
‘This is some shindig, Gracie,’ Gideon said when I reached him.
‘The whole thing’s amazing,’ Leonie, his wife, added, looking stunning in a green sequinned dress.
More accolades flooded in from Savvie and Bryce. Inexplicable tears prickled my eyes. Perhaps the women sensed my surfacing emotions. They excused themselves to go to the ladies’. Jensen kissed my cheek, then headed to the bar to get us drinks.
An easy silence settled between my brothers and me. Bryce broke it. ‘What the fuck is wrong with Jasper? He looks like he’s about to deck someone.’ He nodded his head towards the opposite corner of the room, where our cousin was staring daggers at his drink while ignoring the tall, stunning woman next to him.
Wren Bingham.
Daughter of the late Sheldon
