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I giggle. “Fair enough.”
He grins. Then he sighs and pulls me close. “Nobody’s watching,” he says. And he’s right—everyone’s caught up in themselves. So I rest my cheek on his shoulder and enjoy being close to him.
“I just want more,” he murmurs. “Sex is great. It’s fantastic. But I want more than that. I want to be with you. I want to hold your hand in public, and go out for dinner together. To wake up with you every morning and go to bed with you every night.”
I don’t say anything to that, because what could I possibly say? It’s all I’ve ever wanted, and it’s up to me to make it happen.
*
The next few hours are filled with dancing, eating, drinking, and laughing. It’s great to be around all my friends, and to make some new ones. I haven’t spoken much to Saxon and Kip’s wives, and so I spend some time chatting to Catie and Alice, and promise to visit them both next time I’m in Wellington.
I don’t dance with Henry again, but I watch him throughout the evening. He moves through the crowd, checking that everyone has drinks, handing out shawls to some of the older guests as it grows cool, and asking women to dance, so nobody’s left sitting on their own. Luckily, Kait has found herself a partner for the evening, a lawyer by all accounts, so Henry’s obligation there has finished. But he dances with grandmas and maiden aunts and single moms and teenage girls, and I can see they’re all half in love with him by the time he takes them back to their seats.
I start thinking about what might happen when we get back to the hotel. I shouldn’t go to his room again. But I will. I know I will. I won’t be able to resist the opportunity to get him into bed again. Just thinking about it makes a shiver run through me.
Maybe I’d be more reluctant if I’d heard from Cam. If he’d called or messaged me, telling me he loves me and that he can’t wait for me to come home. But my phone is silent, the love we had so cool now it’s practically frozen over.
When we get back, I’m going to tell him that we’re done.
I make the decision as I watch Henry dancing with one of Damon’s aunts, making her laugh as they turn around the dance floor. I want my future to be with Henry. With a man who loves me with all his heart, and who wants to dedicate his life to making me happy. Maybe that’s selfish, but I don’t care. I’ve spent too long being unhappy, listening, trying to understand, and talking, talking, talking. I don’t want to talk anymore. I just want to be loved.
And once that realization hits me, I know everything’s going to be okay.
Chapter Twenty-One
Henry
I’m in my room for over fifteen minutes before there’s a knock at my door.
My heart races as I open it. “Thought you weren’t coming,” I say as casually as I can when she slips past me.
“People kept arriving,” she replies. “It’s busy out there.”
I close the door and follow her across the room. She’s still wearing her sari, wrapped up like a beautiful Christmas present for me. My heart swells at the knowledge that she came—she wants to be with me.
She goes up to the window and looks out at the view. The city lights sparkle like stars. In the hotel across from us, where the occupants haven’t drawn their curtains, we can see into the rooms, catching a glimpse of people going about their lives—eating, talking, watching TV.
“It was such a magical day, wasn’t it?” she whispers. “Damon and Belle looked so happy.”
“Yeah, I’m glad it went well for them.”
She turns to face me. “You were magnificent.”
I smile, touched by the compliment. “Well, thank you.”
“I mean it.” She moves closer to me, rests her hand on my chest, and begins to undo my shirt buttons, her eyes turning sultry. “I watched you dancing with all those women, and I just kept thinking, in a few hours’ time, his mouth is going to be between my legs.”
Heat sears through me as if I’ve drunk a bucketful of lava. “Damn straight.”
She laughs and splays her hands on my chest as I pull her toward me and crush my lips to hers.
I’ve watched her all day, moving through the guests, beautiful and exotic as a tropical flower, and I’m hungry for her. But when I go to undo the pins holding her sari in place, I make myself go slow, not wanting to damage the precious fabric.
I unwrap her deliberately, making her turn in a circle as I peel the material from her, revealing her pretty blue vest and petticoat. As I undo the tie of the petticoat, she glances over her shoulder and says, “We should draw the curtains.”
I shake my head, loosening the tie and lowering the petticoat so she can step out of it. “I want everyone to see us and think how lucky I am to be with such a beautiful woman.”
“Oh,” she says, her eyes widening. I take the bottom of her vest and peel it up her body, revealing that she’s not wearing a bra, and I toss the vest aside. Now she’s just wearing a small, lacy pair of knickers, and I soon divest her of those, leaving her naked except for her high-heeled sandals.
