For a man who might have just lost his life’s work, his shrug was more laissez-faire than she’d expected. “It doesn’t matter. I’ve got other options in the works, and I’ll land on my feet. I didn’t stick around to sort through the details. I had something more important to do.”
Vivienne’s heart melted at the look in his steely blue eyes. The meaning behind his words, as evidenced by the fact he was here now. With her.
“How’d you find me?” The words scraped her throat.
“I hacked your phone.”
His self-effacing smile nearly sent her to her knees. God, she’d missed him so much.
“Since not tracking you was the only promise I ever made you that I kept, I thought maybe if I blew that one up too, we could start over. Try this again without all the baggage.”
Something inside her cracked open, and all the hope she’d buried so deeply when she’d fled here at twenty-two bloomed in her chest, riotous and colorful, like the bed of tiger lilies she’d planted all those years ago.
“You remember how you said we’re good at sex and bad at communication?”
Viv bit her lip, nodded.
“I didn’t catch Jesse because I outwitted him or because of my coding skills. I figured it out because of you. Because we finally talked to each other. And I am so fucking sorry I walked out after you told me what happened.”
Wes’s forehead creased slightly, as if he was searching for the right words to say. As if he didn’t understand that he’d already found them.
“If you hadn’t shared what you went through with me, he might have gotten away with it. But he didn’t. And that got me thinking about us. About what we’ve been through. I know things didn’t work out between us last time...”
He trailed off, and the silence was overwhelming. She took a step forward because she needed to be closer to him. “Last time isn’t this time.”
Wes nodded at the assessment. “Well, in that case, I’ve got a question to ask you.”
The air got thick and hard to breathe as Wes reached into his pocket and pulled out the ring. He took her left hand in his, and it was like plugging into an electrical socket. Her skin came alive. Her heart thudded against her ribs.
But that was nothing compared to the jolt of unfiltered emotion that buzzed through her when he lowered himself onto one knee in front of her.
The tears she’d held back earlier spilled freely down her cheeks now.
“Vivienne Amelie Brennan, I am desperately in love with you. Even when I’m trying really hard not to be. And if you’re up for it, I thought we could give this another try, because I want to spend the rest of my life being good at sex and good at communication with you.”
Her heart squeezed as she watched him slide the ring, her ring, back onto her finger. She looked into the eyes of the man who had seen all of her—the good and the bad—and yet he’d flown across the country anyway. Because he loved her.
“So, what do you say? Want to stay married to me?”
Viv was nodding before he’d finished the question, and he surged to his feet, catching her around the waist and lifting her up as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and whispered her answer against the soft, warm skin of his neck. “I do.”
When he finally set her back on her feet, Vivienne stared up at her husband. Having him with her, here at the Phoenix Inn, where she’d endured so much sadness, went a long way to making her heart feel whole again. “I love you so much,” she confessed through the emotion clogging her throat.
Tenderly, Wes pulled her closer and pressed a kiss to her forehead.
Vivienne stood there in his embrace, letting it all sink in. But as was often the case in Wes’s presence, it didn’t take long before the heat of him worked its way into her blood, morphing the sweet relief of having him here into the sultry desire to have him naked.
“I don’t want to alarm you,” she teased, even as she pressed closer, stoking the fire between them, “but we may have officially crossed into old married couple status.”
Wes looked down at her with sham horror. His fingers dug into her hips, and she could feel his body start to harden. “I’m not taking the blame for that. You’re the reason we’re at a bed-and-breakfast right now, instead of somewhere sexy.”
He backed her up against the railing, and the press of his growing erection against her stomach gave the porch some triple-X street cred in her books.
She slipped her hands beneath his jacket and ran her hands up his chest. “Sure, but you’re the one who sealed our true love vow with a forehead kiss.”
He pressed his lips to the edge of her jaw, and her head fell back, granting him better access. “You’re right,” he conceded, wringing a low moan from her as he worked his way down her neck with soft, openmouthed kisses.
“We’d better do something dirty, stat.” He rocked his hips against hers and her knees went weak. “Breathe a little life back into this dying relationship. Do they have an elevator?”
She shook her head with faux solemnity as she loosened his tie. “Afraid not.”
“How about a sturdy kitchen table?” he asked, as the button on her jeans went slack.
“They do, but it’s in a communal area.”
His naughty grin made her heart stutter. “Since when has that ever stopped us?”
“This is a respectable bed-and-breakfast, sir. Not some sexy West Coast taqueria where people get freaky in public.”
“Then I guess we’d better get to your room before I can’t control myself anymore.”
Vivienne shrieked with surprised laughter as he swept her off her feet and into his arms. “What are you doing?”
“Carrying you over the threshold so I can have my way with you.”
She snuggled against his chest, the ring on her
