Page 19 of Reckless Encore

“You think so?” He leaned into her, rubbing their shoulders.

The simple brush of skin brought comfort, which she both loved and despised. She found it hard to do anything without him after being together this long. She couldn’t even fight with him without wanting him close.

“Hey.” He nudged her shoulder again. “You know the thought of losing you is killing me right now. Why am I such a fuck-up?”

“You’re not a fuck-up, and you’re not losing anything.”

“That’s where you’re wrong. I’ve lost a whole heap already—my pride, my self-respect, and the trust of a woman who means more than the world to me.”

He gripped the boardwalk and hung his head. “I don’t know why I reacted the way I did. I guess I needed everyone to know how lucky I was to be marrying you.”

“Sean, it wasn’t even a proper marriage. It was a non-binding cere—”

“It doesn’t matter. I wanted them to realize how monumental today was for both of us. I wanted them to see how lucky it is for a simple guy like me to have a woman as blindingly beautiful and breathtakingly brilliant as you on my arm.”

“And in return, you made the service all abouttheminstead of focusing onus.”

He nodded. “I did.”

There were only two ways to react: laugh or cry. Dwell or suck up the pain and try to move on. She chose the former, letting out a half-hearted chuckle as she leaned her head against his shoulder and focused across the endless ocean. “We’re a mess, aren’t we?”

“Yep. No thanks to me.”

“The blame isn’t entirely yours. I should’ve known how you’d react if nobody showed.” She should’ve had a backup plan for the despair. She should’ve told Leah just in case.

All the ‘should haves’ formed a long line in her mind, building and growing with each tight beat of her heart. Hindsight was a marvelous thing. But right now, she had to convince herself to concentrate on the present and the future. “Do you want to do something crazy to take our mind off the ruined plans?”

“What did you have in mind, Red?”

She didn’t think, didn’t contemplate. Instead, she toed off her shoes and placed them beside her on the jetty. With a half-hearted grin, she pushed her butt from the wooden planks and fell the few feet into the warm ocean water.

Her knees buckled on impact with the sand, the weight of the drowning dress pulling her under the surface until she straightened her legs and stood tall.

Water lapped at her neck, her soaked hair sticking to her cheeks. She swiped the long strands from her vision and peered up at him. Her makeup would be ruined. Her dress, too. She didn’t care. Not when the cocooning comfort from the ocean soothed the pain. It also helped that the man of her dreams smiled down at her like nobody else in the world existed.

“Youarecrazy.” He loosened his tie, kicked off his shoes, and scooted off the jetty to fall beside her. He went under and quickly came back up, shaking the water from his face like aGQcover model.

She had a second to fight her attraction to him—the glistening tanned skin of his rugged face, the deep blue eyes—before his arm slid around her waist, forcefully pulling her into his chest.

She sank into him willingly—she always would—and clasped her hands around his neck.

“I’m going to make this up to you.” He placed his forehead against hers and held her stare. “I’ll make you forget all about it.”

“I know.”

“And I’m going to start right now.”

She narrowed her gaze, not entirely sure what he had in mind, but having a fair indication from the hand beginning to hitch the material of her dress. “Hey. It’s too soon for make-up sex.”

“Not make-up sex, Red.” His hand ascended her thigh, all the way to the waistband of her G-string. “This is me earning forgiveness.”

She should fight the desire. But there had never been a need to fight anything with Sean. He had become her other half. Another piece of her she refused to live without.

Yes, he made mistakes, and so did she. The uplifting thing was, he never made the same mistake twice. They would both learn their lesson from this morning. They would move on and become stronger.

He pulled at her lace underwear, dragging the flimsy material down her legs, past her knees. The elastic waistband flittered along her skin to rest at her ankles until she kicked it off, gifting her G-string to the ocean.

“Making amends is going to be an ongoing process,” he murmured against her lips. “It could last days. It might even last weeks.”

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