Relief was so intense that it made me dizzy. “So, we’ll get married next November.”
“That’s the insane part,” she cried, throwing her hands up in exasperation.
“What’s insane about it?” I demanded.
“You’ve been making all these plans—for us to get married, and who the hell knows what else—yet, you haven’t consulted me once on any of it. This is my life, too, damn it.” She pushed at my chest, and I reluctantly sat up. I didn’t know if I was disappointed or thankful that she covered her chest with her hands. We needed to talk about this, and her beautiful body on display was the ultimate distraction. But I was starved for the sight of every inch of her. “Give me your jacket.”
Shrugging out of my suit jacket, I offered it to her, and she quickly shoved her arms into the sleeves. It was so big on her, it practically swallowed her, but she pushed up the sleeves to her elbows and poked her finger into my chest. “I am not going to be one of those teen brides. I don’t care if my cousins all thought it was fine for them. If you want to marry me, you have to wait until I’m at least twenty.”
A displeased growl left me, causing Nova to shiver. “I’ve waited long enough to make you mine, Nova. I would have married you already if it could have been done legally.” If her parents would have agreed to the marriage, I could have already had my ring on her finger. But as understanding as Jet Hannigan might be about my friendship with his daughter, I didn’t want to chance him cutting me off from her completely if I angered him by asking to marry her while she was still under the age of eighteen.
“Did you miss the part just a moment ago when I said I was already yours?” She stabbed me with her finger in an attempt to drive the reminder home. “No one said you had to wait for that, mister.”
“I want you as my wife and queen.” Disliking the physical distance between us, I lifted her back onto my lap. “We’re getting married in November.”
Tilting her head to the side, she studied me for a long moment before her lips twitched with a ghost of a smile. “We are not getting married in November. I just told you that I am not going to be a teen bride. And excuse you, Mr. Almighty Vitucci, but if you keep barking out orders, I won’t marry you when I turn twenty either. I’ll make you wait until I turn thirty.”
My heart rate escalated painfully at the threat. Fuck, she could get my blood pumping in fear like no one else. “Nova, stick to the plan,” I pleaded.
“And just so we’re clear, you are going to have to ask me.” She folded her arms over her chest. But for once, I couldn’t tell if the glare she gave me was real or not. “You’re all freaked out over deviating from the plan, but it looks like you need to work on a new one. Because I expect you to propose in the most romantic way the world has ever seen.”
“That’s what you want? For me to propose?” She blinked at me, expecting me to know the answer from that look alone. Normally I could read what she was thinking, to the point that it was as if I could hear her every thought. But I was already panicking over her wanting to wait until she was twenty for us to get married. “Baby, if I propose in the world’s most romantic way, will you please marry me on your birthday?”
“Of course.” A relieved exhale started to leave me when she amended, “My twentieth birthday.”
“Nova,” I groaned in agony, feeling physically sick.
“Hey.” She stroked her thumb over my jaw in concern. “Are you okay?”
“No, I’m not fucking okay. I need you to be my wife in less than eleven months.” Maybe then this ache in the pit of my stomach would finally go away. The one that gnawed at me when I was apart from her. If she was my wife, then nothing would keep us apart. Not time or distance—no one could take her from me.
“Why?” she asked in a quiet voice. “Why is it so important that we get married then?”
“Because it’s the plan.”
“That’s not a good enough reason.” She swallowed hard, distracting me momentarily from the nausea swirling in my stomach as tears filled her eyes. Fuck, her tears were my kryptonite. How anyone could withstand them, I’d never been able to fully comprehend. “You’ve had this plan for how long now—fourteen years? And I’ve only known about it for two minutes. You got to decide every aspect of our future, down to planning the day you expect us to get married. All while sowing your wild oats with all the CeCe’s of the world, and I—”
“Who the fuck told you that shit about CeCe?” I demanded. “You still haven’t told me.”
“It doesn’t matter who told me. What matters is that you did it while expecting me to marry you! We might not be together, but if you had all this in mind for our future while fucking your way through this city, then to me, that’s considered cheating.”
“I would never disrespect you or our love like that.” I turned her so she was straddling my legs. Grasping the back of her head in one hand, I pulled her in closer, making sure we had no more misunderstandings about CeCe or anyone else. “I haven’t slept with CeCe. Not her, or any other woman, for that matter.” She tried to jerk her head back, but I wouldn’t allow the distance. “There has been no one, my heart.”
“E-ever?” she breathed, her chin trembling.
“Never ever,” I whispered and was rewarded with her precious laugh. “There is only you, baby. Now and always.”
“Ryan.” The way she sighed my name made my already-hard cock thicken even more, causing her to gasp as it pulsed against her center. Fuck, she was still drenched, and I could feel her heat through every layer of clothing I had on. The material pissed me off. I wanted it gone, wanted to be just as bare as she was so I could feel her wet folds rubbing over my shaft.
“Do you feel what you do to me?” I bit out, thrusting my hips up against her softness.
“Y-yes,” she moaned, squirming against me, rocking her hips in an attempt to get the friction she needed.
“No one can do that to me but you,” I confessed through clenched teeth as I tried to hold on to my willpower. “I’d never even touched my own cock until this past summer. He only wants you. Just as much as the rest of me does.”
“B-but we can have sex without having to get married in November. There’s no need to rush things.”
Groaning, I dropped my head back against the seat. Her stubbornness was going to be the death of me.
The driver pulling to a stop in front of my building was probably a good thing because I was about to open my mouth to tell her we were getting married come November and that was the end of it. I was confident I could get her to see it was the perfect plan.
Pietro knocked on the back door, and I called for him to wait a moment. Grabbing my coat off the floor, I wrapped it around Nova and buttoned it before reaching for the door handle. Uncaring that my shirt was half undone and my tie was barely hanging around my neck, I stepped out of the SUV and onto the sidewalk beside my head of security, then reached back in and lifted Nova into my arms.
“I can walk,” she mumbled.
“Not without shoes on a New York City sidewalk, my heart,” I told her in a gentle tone. Securing her in my hold, I shifted my gaze to Pietro. “Send someone to her hotel for her things and have them delivered to the compound.” I would have to take her to the mansion for the rest of her stay, but I needed one night with her.