Page 137 of Devil Mine

Thiago laughs loudly, his belly moving against my side, and I feel my cheeks burn with pleasure at having pulled that reaction out of him. He nuzzles my neck, his lips finding the column of my throat and leaving a wet trail of kisses that make me shiver against him.

Moving up until his lips find the soft skin behind my ear, he whispers. “You’re everything I hoped you would be.”

A weightless emotion floats up into my chest. Before I can answer, a woman approaches us. “Sir? We’re ready for you now.”

Keeping his hands on my waist, Thiago helps me off his lap and stands. He takes my hand in his much larger one and follows after the woman. She takes us up a flight of stairs and down a few more darkened hallways until we reach another set of steps with an ominous looking door at the top.

Stopping by the railing she points to the door and motions for us to go up. “It’s unlocked,” she says, giving me a smile. “Enjoy.”

She disappears and I glance up at the door before looking at Thiago. “Sketchy location. Have you perhaps finally decided to kill me?” I joke.

“What a plot twist that would turn out to be.”

“Not one I’d personally be a fan of,” I quip back.

He grins, pulling at my hand to make me go first as we ascend the stairs. “Come on.”

When we reach the top, he reaches past me to turn the handle. The door opens and I gasp.

In front of me is a large rooftop with the same decorative style as the rest ofExcess. I step outside, stunned by the beauty around me. Thousands of string lights hang overhead and from the sidings, making the entire space look magical. Heating lamps stand at all four corners, basking it in additional warm light and a comfortably cozy temperature despite the frigid winter air. Soft, romantic music plays in the background. It’s empty save for the two of us.

Turning, I find Thiago leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed casually, a captivated look on his face as he watches me.

“This is so beautiful,” I whisper in awe. “Why is nobody else up here?”

Pushing off the door, he comes towards me. “It’s closed until April. The staff only opened it up for us tonight.”

I look up at the tiny lights. Between the rows of strings, thousands of bright stars shine against the black night sky.

“Why?” I ask, breathless with excitement when I look back down at my husband.

Thiago takes my hand and pulls me against him, his other palm finding the curve of my waist. “‘It must be so magical to dance under the stars. I’ve never done it but it’s been on my bucket list forever.’” He quotes the line from my journal from memory still, the words as fresh in his mind as if he’d read them yesterday. His face comes down to press against mine and he whispers, “I want to be the one you cross things off your bucket list with.”

Releasing his hand, I wrap my arms around his neck instead and squeeze him against me.

“Baby,” I hum heavily, unable to say anything else.

“‘Baby’?” he groans huskily. “Don’t look any further for pet names. That’s the one I want. That’s what I want you to call me.”

“Okay, baby,” I answer and he murmurs happily. We hold each other that way, swaying slowly around the rooftop in a dance that’s more of an embrace than anything else. “This is our first dance,” I say and he lifts his head from my shoulder to look at me. “The one at the gala didn’t count since I walked off. But this one is real and it’s everything it should be.”

The words are on my lips to tell him what I feel, to confess what he should know, what Iwanthim to know, because I’m in too deep to turn around anyway, but something tells me it’s not the right time. Not yet.

He threads our fingers together and extends his hand, using the momentum to twirl me away from him. After a second of pause, he tugs, spinning me back down his arm until I’m wrapped against his chest.

His lips search for mine and then his tongue sweeps into my mouth and he kisses me with a relentless passion that steals my remaining breath away. There’s an intimacy to the way he holds me while assertively moving his lips over mine that I’ve never felt before.

Pulling back gently, I look up into his tattooed face. For long moments, we simply stare at each other in comfortable yet charged silence. We dance for another song, then another. And another, until it’s impossible to tell where one song ends and the next begins.

The more time passes, the more he relaxes. He seems lighter than he has recently, the tension having eased from his shoulders.

“You’ve looked stressed the past couple of weeks. I haven’t wanted to pry, but is everything okay?”

An angry rumble rolls up his chest. “I don’t want to ruin the moment.”

My free hand comes up to brush the teardrop on his cheek. I press a soft kiss against his lips. “What you said about being there for the rainy days applies to me too, baby.”

He chuckles. “Touché.”

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