Page 101 of Crossed By the Stars
“For so many things. For believing in me, for seeing the good in me behind the bad, for loving me, and for standing beside me.”
“I hate that you still believe there was bad in you. If it takes loving you longer than the stars light the sky to prove to you that every ounce of you is good, then I will gladly take on that task.”
He stared into my eyes with tears littering his, the emotions behind the words strong and fierce. Just like Dax. Just like me. Just like our love.
No longer star-crossed…simply stars.
Dax - Five Years Later
I’M ALIVE
“You've woken a part of my soul
That's slept for way too long
Now I just can't get enough
I understand love songs.”
Performed by Imelda May
Written by Imelda Mary Highman
When Jada hadn’t shown up atthevilla by dinner time, I knew I had to go retrieve her. Instead of being irritated by this, it filled me with pleasure. Fetching her meant touching her. I’d haul her pretty little ass back home and toss her in bed and spend the rest of the night making her remember who she was coming home to.
When I got to theForce de la Violettebuilding, it was mostly dark, the glass walls and doors reflecting the Caribbean sunset and turning everything around me into a sea of orange and pink and blue. Jada and Violet hadn’t created just another drab manufacturing site. They’d built an environmentally friendly, first-of-its-kind production facility. People traveled from all over the globe to see it, to model their buildings after this one. Of course, it helped that we had both sunshine and wind in excess on the island to fuel it.
“Evening, Mr. Armaud,” the security guard said as I came in.
“Evening. Jada in her office?” I asked, already knowing it was the case because I’d seen the light from the parking lot.
“Yes, she just returned about an hour ago.”
I frowned. Returned? She must have headed home and forgotten something. Then, knowing Jada, she’d opened an email and gotten sidetracked.
I took the glass steps two at a time, in a hurry to reach her. In a hurry to get her home, feed her, and take her to bed.
My phone rang just as I hit the landing. Dawson.
I stopped, staring out the glass windows to the ocean that sat just beyond the strip of land blocking the building from the sea.
“Hey,” I said. “Not really a good time. Can I call you back?”
He chuckled on the other end at the words that had become our secret code.Leave me alone, I’m making love to my wife. The word wife lit me up. Jada was mine. Forever and always. We’d been married on the beach, with a handful of guests and employees in attendance. It was the smallest event Jada Mori had ever thrown but one that meant the most. It had still cost a pretty penny because Jada demanded the best of everything. She should. She deserved it.
“I just wanted you to know that Angelica and Demario beat our record,” he said.
“Putain,” I swore and then headed toward Jada’s office again.
Dawson laughed harder. “At least it was in an Armaud Racing boat.”
“I’m too old to try and beat them,” I groaned, knowing that Dawson was going to have a hard time letting them steal theConquistar de la Atlánticacup out from under us.
“What does it say about me that I don’t even want to try?” he said quietly, and it caused me to almost stumble.
“You don’t?”
“Nope. It would mean being gone from Violet and the kids for too long.”
