Page 235 of Sinful Desires
Everything was light. Everything was home.
“Hey,beauté,” I murmured as I leaned in.
Scarlett blushed, her lips soft as she kissed me back. “Hi.”
She still blushed after all these years. It never got old.
That flicker of color across her cheeks had become my new addiction. A drug sweeter than anything I’d ever tasted. Something only I could pull from her.
A small groan broke the moment.
“Ew,” Aurore giggled, scrunching her nose. “Not again,Papa!”
She threw her arms up in mock disgust as she climbed down from my arms, spinning in circles while her curls bounced and the hem of her birthday dress twirled like she was trying to fly.
Scarlett laughed against my mouth, her hand slipping around my waist.
“Better get used to it. I plan on kissing yourmamanforever.”
Aurore let out another dramatic groan and bolted toward the cake, yelling something about unicorns and extra frosting.
Scarlett leaned into me, her voice soft, her eyes glowing. “Finally here, Mister LeRoy.”
I hummed, brushing my lips against her hair.
“Sorry to keep you waiting, Missus LeRoy. My dad wanted to make sure he looked nice. It’s his forty-second wedding anniversary, after all.”
Scarlett and I had gotten married the day after I proposed.
No show, no cameras. Just her, me, and a priest who had barely looked up from his Bible.
We’d signed the papers and kissed each other with shaking hands and full hearts.
For two years, we’d lived like we’d earned heaven.
In our villa, she filled the rooms with light and chaos and things I hadn’t known I needed until she gave them to me.
Every weekend, we took the boat to the island. She redesigned the castle, painted the walls in deep colors, and filled it with life again.
I watched her take a place meant for ghosts and make it hers.
I’d gifted it to her on her birthday months later, the papers and a gold key tucked inside a velvet box.
Because my Red Queen deserved her own kingdom.
And mine always preferred hers with red furniture and wild roses.
Then another miracle had happened.
Aurore LeRoy Lazzio had entered our lives when we’d least expected it.
We found out Scarlett was pregnant the night we landed back in New York, after two years away. She had insisted on attendingher sister’s birthday party, but spent the entire plane ride sick, rushing to the bathroom every hour.
In those two years, Scarlett had reinvented herself.
While I was lost in the chaos of Sawyer & LeRoy’s Security, she’d built her own empire.
She started her own lavender oil company,Scarlett’s Bloom. Overnight, she was the queen of oils and perfumes. Millions of fans flocked to buy her products, captivated by the intoxicating scents that filled the air with sweetness and promise.
