“Wait. Oh, by the stars, just wa—” She slammed her hands to the broad planes of his shoulders. “You are the proprietor who called the palais for a pre-opening visit?”
He tick-tocked his head, flashing the mischievous smirk that always turned her heart inside out. “If a text message to Requiemme on the sly counts as a call to the palais, then, guilty.”
She narrowed her gaze. “But she also said you were a new resident of Sancti.”
“Also guilty.” He was more subdued about the magic smirk this time. “But also beyond happy. It’s awesome here. I found a little place on the beach, not too far from here. Pods of dolphins swim by every morning, and—”
“Wait. Just wait once again, Maximilian Brickham.” She was glad she had not moved her hands. That made it easier to rearrange her grip, with one hand clamped on his nape and the other gripping the back of his head. “You have a life back in Seattle—”
“No.” He reared his head back, purposely working his skull into the cradle of her hands. He even rolled his head from side to side, playing his pressure against hers without surrendering the serious mien across his features. “I had an existence there, Jayd. A pleasant one, to be sure, but not the fire or passion that should define a life.”
She slid her hands back to his shoulders. “I still do not understand. You built Bastille from the ground up. You have cultivated that business, a special place for people to go…”
“And it’s still there,” he explained. “As is the club that Z and I helped to rev up outside of Vegas.”
“So even more people who owe so much to you,” she persisted. “Friends who care for you. People who think so highly of you!”
“People who aren’t the woman I’m in love with.”
For the second time this hour, Jayd could not remember where she put her breath. First guess? It had plummeted to the region of her toes along with every brain cell in her head. But that was not possible either. Fate fired up the next moment, sparking a fireworks show that filled her senses with every conceivable description she could find for shock, awe, and joy.
By every angel in the heavens, especially that.
Still, she compelled words to her lips. Words that she needed, despite already feeling every assurance the man was sending with his gaze, his smile, his touch, his devotion.
“Wh-What did you…”
“I said that I’m home here, little pixie. That nowhere else across this globe, or even this galaxy, will ever be home again—without you.” As he pushed in closer to her, gently pulling at her to do the same, Jayd was certain he could hear and feel the wild thuds of her heart. She rejoiced in the answering thunder of his as he murmured, “I said that I’m in love with you, Jayd Cimarron. I can’t believe that’s true, but it is. Before you stared me down in that damn alley, I never thought anything like this was meant for a guy like me. I was shackled to my past and every awful fear from it.”
She wrapped her arms back around his neck. “The fears from what happened with Asha.”
His lips compressed. His dark blues were even stormier. “Yeah.”
She kissed him then—but naught with any expectation. Just as he had done for her so many times, she did it with one purpose alone. To console him. To heal him.
“And that is fine, you know. It will always be a part of you, Brickham—a part you can tell me about tomorrow, or the next day, or never—but I do not have to know all about it to honor it in you. To love it in you…as I love all of you.”
He blinked at her, allowing her to see the unmistakable sheen that formed in his eyes. When he dipped in and kissed her again, flowing his tongue languorously with hers, she accepted the salty wetness that seeped between their mouths as well.
Many minutes later, when they pulled back far enough to soak up the wonder of each other’s stare once more, she finally dared to smile at him with a new intent on her face. A decidedly naughty one.
“So, Mr. Brickham…does your princess get a grand tour of your pretty new dungeon now?”
His gaze was still agleam, but this time, it was pure happiness that he beamed her way. The exhilaration of a man about to start a new adventure, looking back at the woman who could not wait to embark on it with him. Who knew what that journey was going to bring them? They already had a high bar to reach.
No matter what, Jayd knew one thing for certain. She was all-in—for every single moment of it.
But first things first…
“A grand tour, hmmm?” Brickham helped her off the desk, looking as gallant as a duke in naught but his gorgeous jeans and godlike flesh. “Now how did you know I was thinking exactly the same thing?”
Jayd threw him another coquettish grin. “Great minds?”
As Brickham pulled her deeper into the shadows of their new fantasyland, he leaned in and kissed her with agonizing tenderness…and eternal promise. “I’d like to think…bound souls.”
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Also by Angel Payne
Honor Bound:
Saved
Cuffed
Seduced
Wild
Wet
Hot
Masked
Mastered
Conquered
Ruled
Bared
Bound
* * *
Blood of Zeus Series:
Blood of Zeus
Heart of Fire
Fate of Storms
Bridge of Souls
* * *
Shark’s Edge Series:
Shark’s Edge
Shark’s Pride
Shark’s Rise
Grant’s Heat
Grant’s Flame
Grant’s Blaze
* * *
Secrets of Stone Series:
No Prince Charming
No More Masquerade
No Perfect Princess
No Magic Moment
No Lucky Number
No Simple Sacrifice
No Broken Bond
No White Knight
No Longer Lost
* * *
The Bolt Saga:
Bolt
Ignite
Pulse
Fuse
Surge
Light
* * *
Misadventures:
Misadventures with a Time Traveler
Misadventures with a Duke
* * *
Cimarron Series:
Into His Dark
Into His Command
Into Her Fantasies
* * *
Temptation Court:
Naughty Little Gift
Pretty Perfect Toy
Bold Beautiful Love
* * *
Suited for Sin:
Sing
Sigh
Submit
* * *
Lords of Sin:
Trade Winds
Promised Touch
Redemption