Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 76840 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 384(@200wpm)___ 307(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76840 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 384(@200wpm)___ 307(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
His head jerked up.
“And it’s why I’ll never stop loving you.” Their eyes met, and a smile wobbled over her lips as she said, “It’s why I’d never be so foolish to let go of a man who thinks I’m perfect. A man who thinks I’m a paragon, someone who walks on water—-” When he still kept staring at her, not saying a word, she asked pleadingly, “Can’t you please say something?”
Marcus shook his head.
Tears pricked her eyes. “Please, Marcus.” And still, he remained immobile, and the tears began to fall. She knew – oh, she knew - he wasn’t letting himself move because he believed he didn’t deserve to come any nearer.
She stretched her arm towards him. “P-please, Marcus. Come here, please—-”
“I can’t.” The raggedly spoken words were torn out of his throat. “I’ve hurt you so many times—-”
“Yes,” she affirmed wildly. “Yes, you did but it wasn’t like the way your father hurt your mother. It wasn’t like the way your father broke his word to your mother, when he swore to love her and keep her safe. You aren’t like him and never will be, Marcus. Because you love me. You love me more than your happiness, your life, and I—-” She swallowed hard. “I love you just as much, so please—-” She offered her hand to him again. “Please, Marcus—-”
And he still didn’t move.
“Please don’t make me beg—-”
And that was what finally made him move, realizing that he had forced her to beg, when all he had wanted was for Anneke to have everything she desired in this world.
Marcus reached her in an instant, his arms locking around her like chains. She wrapped her arms around him just as tightly, and his entire body shuddered at the feel of her body against his.
Anneke.
Anneke.
Anneke.
“I’ll never let you go again.” He spoke the words in a raw voice, and they were a warning, a threat, and a promise all in one. He wouldn’t have been surprised if the words ended up scaring her, but instead his wife only laughed shakily.
“Oh Marcus.” And more tears began to wet the side of his neck. “Even if you did let go of me, I’ll just come after you.”
He pulled back to look down into her beautiful blue eyes, asking in a husky, teasing voice, “Who would’ve thought love would make an innocent like you so terrifyingly aggressive?”
Her smile wobbly but bright, she returned softly, “And who would’ve thought love could make a playboy like you turn so shockingly coy?”
For one moment, the words stunned him. Him, coy? But then he remembered the way he had first refused her every overture, and he realized it was true. As he threw his head back with a laugh, his wife laughed with him, even as she implored half-teasingly, half-seriously, “Please promise me this is the last time you’ll play hard to get whenever we fight?”
Epilogue
It was Marcus and Anneke’s first wedding anniversary, and they had celebrated it with a bang. Invitations had been sent out to over a thousand people, with the party held in the biggest ballroom in Queen Wilhemina’s palace. And after, the couple retreated into the palace’s private wing, walking hand in hand to the suite that had been specially prepared for them.
So many things had changed in the past year, and they were all for the better. To say that she was happy would be the biggest understatement in the world, and more often than not Anneke was tempted to pinch herself to make sure she wasn’t dreaming it all up.
Glancing at his wife, Marcus caught a familiar look in Anneke’s brilliant blue eyes, and the Italian billionaire sighed. “Adorable as your insecurities sometimes make you—-”
“Who says I’m insecure?” Anneke muttered, automatically defensive.
“They have no place in your mind tonight of all nights, bambina.”
“I told you, I’m not—-”
“Accept that you are the happiest and luckiest woman in the world because you have a husband like me.”
A laugh escaped her. “Cocky doesn’t even cover it—-oh!” Marcus had suddenly swept her up in his arms.
“I thought I should carry you over the threshold since it’s our anniversary.”
Oh! It was terribly thoughtful and wonderfully sweet of him. How could this man be so perfect? Be so—-
The knowing gleam in Marcus’ dark gaze pulled the brakes on her thoughts. Crap. She had done it again, hadn’t she? Making a face, she confessed, “I can’t help it. You make everything unbearably perfect.”
“Only because you deserve it.” After laying her gently on the petal-strewn bed, he asked quietly, “Are you sure of this?” They had talked about this for a long time and had agreed that their wedding anniversary would also be their first and last tango into the dark side. Although Anneke knew of his Dominant side, she had never experienced fully it for herself. And although Marcus would rather kill himself than hurt his wife – he had never put it to a test.