Page 95 of Ramsey & Emerson

“I’ve never asked you to be anyone that you’re not, Ramsey,” I reminded him. “I’ve always loved you unconditionally, and that hasn’t changed. You act like I wasn’t very aware of who I was marrying when we got married, and that’s not true. I knew exactly what I was doing, and I’d do it all over again if given the same choice. You also need to quit acting like I’ve been perfect throughout all this, because I haven’t. My baggage is just as heavy as yours, though I do my best not to let it define us.”

Ramsey’s dark gaze flashed, and the dynamics were different now that we were home. So, I wasn’t surprised when he walked around the counter, not stopping until he was standing directly in front of me, his large frame looming over mine. Once again, it was a good thing that I wasn’t intimidated by strong men or other strong women. In fact, I wasn’t intimidated by much.

“Since when have you had to carry your baggage alone, Emerson?” he asked, his voice a gritty mess of anger. “Since when have Ieverlet you carry your fucking baggage alone?”

“You’re deliberately missing the point, Ramsey,” I bit out. “We’re supposed to be in this together, so if you’ve been feeling like this all these years, then why did I not know about it?” As soon as he opened his mouth, I threw my hand up to stop him. “Yes, I’ve always known how that morning has been an issue for you, but not to this degree; not to the point that you’dactually be jealous of another man. Honestly, after our wedding at Casa Romantica five years ago, I thought the past was finally really behind us.”

For our twentieth wedding anniversary, Ramsey had planned the most stunning wedding ever at Casa Romantica, and it’d been just us and family. Everyone had been in on it, and it’d been the sweetest surprise that Ramsey had ever done for me. Even though I had no regrets about the way that we’d gotten married at eighteen, he’d been feeling as if he had cheated me out of my dream wedding, so he had hired a very gifted wedding planner to put together a wedding that still made me feel emotional whenever I thought about it.

“I did that because I’d been too stupid to give you what you deserved at eighteen,” he said. “I never should have married you at the fucking courthouse.”

“That’s where weallgot married,” I pointed out. “None of us had a wedding.”

“That’s not the fucking point, and you know it,” he snapped.

“Then whatisthe fucking point?” I snapped back.

I watched as Ramsey let out a deep breath, doing his best to calm down. However, I knew Ramsey well enough to know that it wasn’t going to work. Ramsey had always had a problem dealing with heated emotions, and now was no different. Since Ramsey cared about very little, he’d always been able to serve his anger on a cold silver platter of revenge, so when we were arguing like this, he had difficulty ironing out our issues like an adult. Granted, so did I, but still.

After taking a calming breath of my own, I said, “Maybe we need to table this until the morning. It’s been a long night, and it’s clear that we’re not going to get anywhere tonight.”

“Oh, I think we got plenty far tonight,” he replied, his voice dark and dangerous.

Starting to get pissed off all over again, I said, “You’re right about that. After twenty-five years, I finally learned that my husband loving me actually makes him unhappy, which paints me as the biggest fool in history, don’t you think? I mean, who in the hell is blind for that long?” I stepped back from him, instant tears coating my lashes. “I thought that we were happy!”

Ramsey reached out to grab me, and before I could swing on him, he had me turned around with his strong arms wrapped around me, caging me in, his warm breath on my right ear. “Now who’s deliberately missing the point?”

“Let me go,” I bit out.

“Not on your fucking life,” he spat. “And I supposed that’s the point, Emerson. Despite it all, I will never fucking let you go, and that’s why itdoesn’t matter what I’ve been feeling all these years. I would gladly walk in Hell for a fucking eternity and not give one fuck how hot the fire is at my feet as long as I’m walking behind you. Loving you doesn’t make me unhappy, Emerson. Loving you makes me feel unworthy, and thereisa difference.”

“Let me go, Ramsey,” I repeated, beyond caring about his bullshit right now.

Before I knew what was happening, Ramsey had me hunched over the counter with his hand pressed down between my shoulder blades, and with his other hand, I could hear him undoing his belt, and all that did was piss me off further. While I wanted to go talk this out or just go to bed, Ramsey was going to remind me why I’d never be able to stay mad at him.

“You’re a bastard,” I practically snarled, though doing nothing to stop him.

“I’m worse than that, baby,” he replied roughly, not caring what we were doing to each other right now. “I’ve always been a lot worse.”

I let out a strangled cry when Ramsey filled me in one brutal thrust, and I was lucky that Ramsey hadn’t let me clean up earlier. The mix of our releases had kept him from tearing me, and that was such a fucked-up thing to be grateful for. A normal couple would be talking things out or ignoring each other while they each slept on the edge of the bed. A normal wife would not be letting her husband manipulate her with sex, and a normal husband wouldn’t be fucking his angry wife as a way to shut her up.

“None of it matters, Emerson,” Ramsey grunted behind me, his right hand moving upward to wrap around my neck, pinning me in place, his other hand gripping my hip painfully. “Happy or not, forgiven or not, regretful or not…none of it matters. I will never fucking let you go, and over my dead body will another man ever take you from me, whether I deserve you or not.”

“Ramsey…” I gasped when he yanked me up by my neck.

With his breath hot on my cheek, he said, “I will fucking kill Adrian Cossacks if he ever does or says anything to cause me concern again.” My body broke out in a violent shiver, and we really were a toxic combination. “I will fucking kill him, Emerson.”

“Ramsey…oh, God…”

“That’s right, baby?” he growled.“I’myour fucking God. Only me.”

Chapter 15

Ramsey~

After taking Emerson in the kitchen last night, I’d ended up dragging her into the shower with me, and after taking her in there for the third time in one night, she had informed me that she was done for the night, and that if I wasn’t ready to go to sleep, then I could go to my office and get drunk until I passed out, but that she’d been done with me for the night.

I’d woken up this morning with a bitch of a hangover.

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