Page 109 of Dirty Husband
I forget our deal, the timeline, everything that makes this complicated.
For a moment, I'm in a perfect kiss. Like something out of a fairy tale. The moment where the prince claims the princess. Where the couple declares happily ever after.
True love.
Forever.
My lips part.
His tongue slides into my mouth.
It's not like before. He's still claiming me, but it's not just my body. It's my heart, my soul, my everything.
My fingers curl into his skin. Then his short hair.
His hands go to my lower back.
He holds my body against his as he kisses me a little deeper, a little longer.
Then he pulls back with a smile. One that screamsI love you.
My knees knock. My head spins. It feels so real. So true. So pure.
My aunts cheer. My dad shakes his head.
Shep's gaze shifts to the door. To two men standing near the entrance, watching us carefully.
Two older men. One in a simple grey suit. The kind of guy who blends into the background. Or who would, if he wasn't rich enough to make people notice.
And a man I never thought I'd see again.
Shep's stepfather, Lucien.
What the hell is he doing here?
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Shepard
The room gets hot. Stuffy.
Jasmine looks up at me, confusion in her dark eyes. She doesn't know why that bastard is here. She doesn't think he has anything to do with this.
She never liked him. She couldn't explain why. It was a bad feeling. An intuition.
I tried to convince her it was nothing. That she was imagining things.
I tried to convince myself.
Failure on both counts.
She knows something is off. She shouldn't have a fucking clue—most people invite their parents to their weddings. The bastard never adopted me officially, but he is the man who married my mother.
Most people would call him my father.
She should expect him.
But, somehow, she knows this is wrong.
