Page 129 of The Dearly Departed

The spell was broken, and she returned to the present, bringing her wide-eyed gaze to mine.

"Are you listening?" I asked with urgency. “Answer me. Tell me you’re listening.”

She bobbed her head with a frantic nod, her attention solely on me. “I-I’m listening.”

"You are going to get married today. I know you don't want to—I don’t want you to—but I promise you, it's not forever. You will not spend the rest of your life tormented by that fucking asshole. And I don't know how I'm going to fix this, but I swear to you—I swear on my life—I will," I declared, as if reciting my own vows beneath the canopy of this gazebo overlooking the water and the boats we'd watched when we were so, so much younger. “Do you understand me? You deserve to be happy. You deserve to be okay, and I am going to make sure that happens.”

She lifted her hands to grip my arm, and she held tight as she replied, "I believe you."

My phone buzzed from my pocket, and without reading the message, I knew our time was about up.

"You will get the chance to live the life you deserve, Analise." Even if I can't be a part of it. "But right now, you have to go."

She blinked, casting a few tears to blaze trails down her flushed cheeks. "Will you do something for me first?"

I began to shake my head, ready to protest, when she gripped my arm tighter and begged, "Please, please, just one more thing, and then, I promise, I will go."

"What is it?" I asked with resignation right before she presented her request.

She held my gaze and grasped my arm like it was her last lifeline as she asked, "Will you kiss the bride?"

I took an involuntary step away from her, certain I hadn’t heard her correctly. I couldn’t have. She knew as well as I did that, even though our attraction and spiritual connection were indisputable, nothing good would come from us acting upon it. She wasn’t a stupid woman. She knew the risks.

Yet she continued to stare at me with wide-eyed hope, her bottom lip trapped between her teeth, and I exhaled as I shook my head.

“Fucking hell," I groaned, closing my eyes and turning away. "I can't do that. You know—"

"I'll close my eyes!" she promised, frantic and desperate. "Please, oh God, please do this for me. I don't want to sign my life away without knowing what it's like to kiss a man I actually—"

"Okay," I hurried to say, rushing to stop her from saying the word I was sure she was about to say. Not wanting to hear it, not wanting her to admit the dreadful truth. "Okay. But fast. We make this fast, and then you go."

Her eyes lit with excitement and anticipation as she nodded eagerly. "Yes. I swear."

I released her from my hold and took a step back as I quickly undid my tie. My phone buzzed once again from my pocket, but there was no time to look as I ordered her to turn around. She complied easily, her hands shaking anxiously at her chest.

Mine shook as well while I blindfolded her with the tie from my neck.

She’s going to get me killed if anyone finds out about this, I thought. But at least maybe I’ll die a happy man.

"Do not take this off," I warned, and she nodded.

"I won't, I promise."

Then, for the first time in her presence, for the first time as adults, for the first time as Bram and Analise … I pulled off my mask and inhaled deeply to capture the scent of her hair—a bouquet of amber, lavender, and vanilla—carried along the ocean breeze.

I gripped her shoulders and turned her around to face me. My silk tie, as deep as the night itself, looked sinful against the white of her veil. My fingers itched, the gloves suddenly too heavy, and I realized, if this was going to happen, if my lips were going to know the feel of hers, then there was no reason at all why my fingertips couldn't also know the feel of her skin.

So, I took them off as well to tuck them into my back pocket with the mask.

I have to hurry up.

She needed to leave, and I needed to disappear, but all I longed for was time to stand still, just for a moment. Just to give me long enough to appreciate this moment with the sea breeze on my skin and her standing before me, eager and so unabashedly happy, just before her world was about to explode.

And mine.

But time froze for nobody, and before I could waste another second of it, I laid my bare palm against her cheek, relished in the sound of her gasp before she leaned into the caress, her expression contorting with anguish and longing.

“It’s not fair,” she whispered.