Page 99 of Unleashed

I smiled, the compliment sinking in. “I wanted to make you proud. One day, the company will be yours.”

“Ours,” he corrected, brushing a strand of hair from my face. “One day the company will be ours.”

“Yours,” I insisted, my voice firm.

“Ours,” he repeated, this time more resolute. “You’re part of this too, Morgan. You’ll be part of the ownership.”

Before I could protest again, he leaned in, pressing soft kisses across my face, trailing them down my neck until his lips hovered over my pulse, the sensation making me shiver.

“You smell so good,” he murmured against my skin.

I laughed softly, swatting at him. “You need to get some new lines.”

He chuckled, pulling back to look at me with a grin. “Morgan, I’m so damn happy.”

“I’m happy too,” I whispered, though something heavy lingered in my chest, unspoken.

“You don’t understand how happy you’ve made me. I can’t wait to see you walk down the aisle in a few months,” he said, his voice tender, full of anticipation.

“I have so much to get done before then,” I sighed, the to-do list for the wedding already overwhelming me.

“That’s why we have a wedding planner,” he reminded me, his hand resting on my hip. “You can’t do it all yourself.”

“I know, but I want everything to be perfect. What if it rains?”

“We have a contingency plan,” Slade said confidently. “That’s what Maelynn’s here for.”

Maelynn Gray, our wedding planner, was a miracle worker, renowned for her celebrity weddings. We’d been lucky to book her, thanks to Rachel Vicaria, my wedding dressmaker and her close friend. I trusted her to handle the details, but the thought of something going wrong still gnawed at me.

“I don’t want a tent,” I muttered.

Slade chuckled. “If it rains, we might have no choice. But don’t worry, everything will work out. And if not, we can always fly to Las Vegas.”

I shot him a glare. “I am not eloping, Slade Abbott.”

“The offer’s always there,” he teased, his grin widening.

“I know, but the answer is still no,” I said firmly, though I softened at the mention of my parents. “I want my mom and dad to walk me down the aisle.”

“We could bring them to Vegas,” he joked.

I exhaled loudly, rolling my eyes. “Then it’s not an elopement.”

He laughed, pulling me closer, his body curling around mine. In that moment, the love I felt for him surged, overwhelming me. Slade was my protector, my anchor. He could calm mewhen the chaos of our lives became too much, and in his arms, everything felt possible.

But even with all the love between us, there was still one thing I could never tell him. A secret that lodged itself deep inside me, one I could never reveal without tearing him apart. He thought he was the only one who had my heart, the only man I’d ever given myself to.

He didn’t know about Michael. And he never would.

CHAPTER 20

That night, I jolted awake, my chest tight and heart racing from the remnants of a nightmare. Slade was still curled around me, his familiar warmth anchoring me to reality, but the dream lingered. It wasn’t Michael who haunted me this time, but Slade—disappearing from the boat we’d taken almost a year ago. The same guilt that I’d pushed deep down was creeping back, gnawing at me in the silence of the night.

I loved Slade, truly. Michael had been... different. The chemistry was undeniable, but could I even trust the love he claimed to have felt for me? Or was it just his way of keeping me tethered to him?

I lay there, staring into the darkness, wrestling with the uneasy thoughts until exhaustion finally pulled me under again. But sleep was restless, and when I finally woke for the second time, Slade was gone from bed. The rich aroma of coffee teased me awake, and I knew I’d find him in the kitchen, probably in his boxers, reading The New York Times with his “I am the Boss” mug in hand.

Sure enough, as I padded down the hall in nothing but my black panties, there he was. He glanced up, eyes immediately sweeping over me, a playful smirk tugging at his lips.

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