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​The trees opened up to reveal a lake, isolated and raw, the sun perfectly sitting overhead and shining down onto the water. She walked forward, in awe of what she saw before her. “It’s so beautiful.”

  ​His hand moved to the small of her back, and it made her shiver. She leaned back into him without even realizing what she was doing, and then her back was pressed to his body, his arms around her chest, his face in her hair.

  ​Everything about him felt right, and admitting that felt wrong. But it was still the truth.

  ​“You know, I always wanted a house on a lake.” Ever since she was a little girl. She pictured a nice little house on the lake, a few kids, dogs, the whole thing. “I’d have a room with a balcony where I could paint.” An artist, just like her father.

  ​“I can give you that.” His voice in her ear sent a chill down her spine.

  ​Her smile faltered. “We’re not really married, Gunner.”

  ​He pulled away from her and spun her around. “We are really married.”

  ​“You know what I mean.” It wasn’t permanent. He didn’t love her. She didn’t love him. But… she could.

  ​She swallowed hard at that realization and shook it away.

  ​“I was a troublemaker as a kid,” he said. His hands rested on her shoulders. “I had a good heart, but I was just dumb, ya know? I did stupid things.”

  ​She smiled and nodded. “Most kids do.”

  ​Gunner chuckled. “Yeah, well, I got myself into some trouble I couldn’t get out of. My dad was never in the picture growing up, but he swooped in. Told me he’d only help me out if I joined his empire.”

  ​She raised her brows. He continued. “It wasn’t what I wanted for my life. I’d promised my mom before she died that I wouldn’t go down that path. I couldn’t break my promise to her, but if I didn’t, I… I felt like I didn’t have a choice.”

  ​Isabella never knew any of that about Gunner. “He forced you into it?”

  ​Gunner sighed. “I made my choice. I could’ve said no. Instead, I made a deal.”

  ​“What deal?” She tilted her head. His thumbs began massaging circles into the skin on her shoulders.

  ​“I told my dad I wanted out eventually so I could start a family. I said it was temporary. He doesn’t do temporary. But, for my mom, he agreed. He said that if I was married by thirty-two, the age he had me, he’d let me out. If not, then the deal expired. I’m in it for life.”

  ​Lightbulbs went off in her head. “I didn’t understand, but… that’s why we’re married. That’s why it was so important to you that you’d lose thirty grand to make it happen.” He was trying to escape, and she was his key out…

  ​“My mom deserved a better son. The only silver lining is that she didn’t live to see what I turned into.” Isabella shivered, then stepped closer. Her chest brushed against him.

  ​She placed her hand on his jaw, brushed her fingers over his beard. “I wasn’t ever close with my mom. We butted heads a lot.” Her mom worked and was never home. When she was, they didn’t see eye to eye on things. “When she died, I realized what a mistake I’d made, never really getting to know the woman who formed me, birthed me, carried me for nine months and nurtured me as an infant.” She took a breath to steady herself. “I was so stubborn, I missed out on having a relationship with her while I still could.”

  ​Gunner was looking at her with sympathy, but that wasn’t her goal. “Your mom loved you. And you loved her.” Just listening to him talk about her, it was clear as day. “And that’s enough.”

  ​The corners of his lips twitched. “I wound up in the exact place she worked so hard to get me out of.”

  ​“And you’re fighting like hell to get back to where she’d want you. That’s proof you didn’t let her down.” She bit her lip and debated if she should say more. Then she gave in. “I bet she’d be proud of you.”

  A smile finally broke onto his face, and it warmed her. “Your mom would be proud of you, too.”

  She wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in his chest as he returned the embrace. The icy smell of his cologne filled her nostrils, a scent that was replacing tea tree as her absolute favorite.

  ​“It was bullshit, y’know.” She felt his chest rumble against her cheek.

  “Hm?” She went to pull away so she could look at him, but his hold tightened, and she stayed put.

  “The deal I made with my dad.” A pause. “I didn’t want a family. I didn’t want marriage or kids or any of that. I just knew it was the only bargaining chip I’d have with the old man.” He pulled her even closer. “Then I met you.”

  ​She sucked in a hard breath. “What?”

  ​“Before you, it was just a means to an end. I didn’t mean any of it. But now… now it’s starting to feel real. Like something I really could have one day. Like something I want one day.”

  ​Her heart felt like it was in her throat. But she knew exactly what he meant… because she felt it, too.

  Chapter Five

  Gunner lounged in his tub of hot water and sweet smelling oils, courtesy of his wife. While he’d moaned and groaned at first, he found himself enjoying the soak. The whole room smelled like her.

  ​She walked in holding a washcloth and knelt beside the bathtub, dipping the cloth into the water and then wringing it out. She gently patted it against the cut on his bicep.

  ​“The thing’s nearly closed, you don’t have to keep cleaning it.” He’d had far worse injuries that he ignored completely. Nothing bad ever happened.

  ​“I’d rather clean it for no reason than ignore it and have you get infected.” She continued to pat away at the cut.

  ​The corners of his mouth pulled into a wide smile. “You just like to see me shirtless.”

  ​Her eyes caught his and crinkled with laughter. “Oh, shush.”

  ​Gunner laughed. It wasn’t a denial. “Caretaker to your core, huh? Me, your dad. You just can’t help yourself.”

  ​Her smile faded as she stared at his arm. “My dad wasn’t always like that, Gunner. He just… things have been difficult for him.”

  ​He’d heard the stories. Husband and father turned druggie. It happened all too often. Didn’t make it suck any less. “Do you wanna talk about it?”

  ​“Definitely not,” she said quickly.

  Gunner stared at the water and thought of what to say next, not wanting to scare her off with the serious conversation. “It’s a little ridiculous that you’re making me wear a bathing suit in my own apartment.”

  ​She simply shook her head. “If I’m in here, the suit stays on.” The light returned to her eyes, and he knew she’d come back to him. To that moment.

  ​She hung the washcloth over the edge of the tub, and he took her hand in his. “Is that so?”

  ​She bit her lip and nodded. “Yes.” Her other hand rested on his bicep, gently tracing over the lines of his tattoo. She quickly grabbed the cloth again, squeezing soap into it. “You need to stop distracting me.”

  ​His smile couldn’t have gotten much wider. “Oh really?”

  ​She shook her head and bit her lip, dipping the cloth into the water and gently washing his chest, his collarbones. His arms. Her hands left a trail of heat everywhere they went.

  ​She put aside the cloth and dipped her hands into the water, forming them into a cup and bringing the water to the spots she’d just washed. Her skin on his was a spark that could start a wildfire.

  ​Her hands lingered on his chest, and Gunner knew that she felt it, too.

  ​She met his eyes, then quickly pulled away. Not before he saw the lust that was there. He grabbed her hand.

  ​“I don’t know how much longer I can resist you, Isabella. Not with you touching me like that.”

  ​She seemed to swallow hard, then shook her head. “Gunner.” Her voice was husky. “We can’t do this.”

  ​Gunner pulled her hand to his chest, his abs. She didn’t pull away from him. “So you’re saying you have
absolutely no desire for this?”

  ​He watched as Isabella’s chest rose and fell more quickly. Her bottom lip fell just a bit. “Y-yes.” She pulled his hand away from his body, but he still held it. “I don’t.”

  ​She stood up quickly and spun to leave the room, but he pulled her back and caught her as she nearly fell into the tub. She had one foot in, between his knees, the other out. “Gunner!”

  ​He tugged on her hand. “C’mere.”

  ​She shook her head, and then to his surprise, she stepped into the tub. “I’m not going to sit and ruin my clothes.”

  ​He pulled her down in one quick motion so that she was straddling him. “I paid for them, they’re my clothes.”

  ​She opened her mouth to speak, but he kissed her instead. Gunner was taken aback when her tongue plunged into his mouth, meeting him with a hunger he didn’t expect from her. He met her passion with his own, moving his mouth with hers and feeling their bodies press against each other.

  ​“Why do I want you so bad?” she breathed into his mouth. Then she took his lips again.

  ​His cock jumped to full attention at her confession. “I want you, too.” His teeth grazed over her lower lip. “I’ve wanted you for a long time, Isabella.”

  ​She moaned, and he somehow got even harder. “This is wrong.”

  ​He slid his hand between their bodies. “How could it be wrong?”

  ​“Just because it feels good, doesn’t mean it-” she gasped as he slid his hand into her shorts. “Oh, Gunner.”

  ​He moved his fingers in light circles around her clit, teasing at it. She leaned forward, giving him better access. Then she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and dropped her head into the crook of his neck, her moans in his ear driving him wild.

  ​“Do you like that?” He added more pressure, quickened his speed.

  ​“Yes,” she said breathily. “Don’t stop.”

  ​Gunner chuckled. “Oh, baby.” He pushed a finger into her sex, then another. “I don’t plan on it.”

  ​She was so tight, so wet for him. He imagined her tightness around his cock and felt like he could explode just at the thought. He dipped his fingers in and out, pressing into her sweet spot and using his thumb to continue massaging circles into her clit.

  ​Her moans grew louder. Her hips rocked against his hand.

  Again, he picked up his pace. “Come for me.”

  He could feel her tightening, tensing.

  ​She called out his name. He pressed his mouth to hers and devoured her as her sex clamped down on his hand. Her body shook with the waves of pleasure and he continued to work her clit.

  ​Finally, her hips stopped moving against him, her breathing slowed. He pulled his hand from her shorts and watched her pull back. Her face was flushed, lips swollen.

  ​“You’re so beautiful.” He grabbed onto her and then stood, picking them both up and stepping out of the tub.

  ​He gently set her on her feet, wrapped a towel around her shoulders and then grabbed another one to wrap around himself. He kissed her forehead, allowing his lips to linger there for a moment before pulling away and walking from the room.

  ​“Wait! That’s- that’s it?”

  ​He grinned. “Until you ask for more. I told you, baby. Only when you want it. No doubts.”

  ​He walked out of the room.

  ∞∞∞

  Isabella pulled her nightshirt over her head and rustled her hair out from the neck of her shirt. Then she flipped off the light in the bathroom and headed toward the bedroom.

  Gunner was sprawled out on the bed in his sweats and a tee shirt, his laptop sitting in his lap. She walked around to the opposite side and crawled in, surprised at how comfortable she’d become with sharing a bed with Gunner Foxx.

  ​“Whatcha up to?” she asked, settling in beneath the covers.

  ​He turned the laptop screen toward her. On it, there were home listings. She wrinkled her brow.

  ​“You said you wanted to live on the water, didn’t you?” He clicked on a thumbnail image to enlarge it. “This one has a balcony that wraps around the whole house. You could put your studio out there.”

  ​Warmth flooded Isabella’s body. “I- wow.” There was nothing she could say. Nothing she could do to express the happiness she felt at his words.

  ​Not only had he listened to her dreams, but he was trying to make them into a reality. Gunner Foxx.

  ​“You’re not really the bad guy everyone thinks you are. Are you?” She raised her brows and bit her lip as his stare burned through her.

  ​Then he laughed, and it set loose a swarm of butterflies in her stomach. He closed the laptop and placed it on the end table. “No,” he said. He pulled her into his chest and she cuddled against his strong body. “No, I guess I’m not.”

  ​Laying in his arms, her mind drifted to a future. Her and Gunner, a house on a lake, maybe some children of their own… she couldn’t believe her own thoughts. But she wasn’t running from them. Not in that moment, not with his strong arms around her and his heart beating beneath her cheek.

  ​“So dinner is this Friday?” He’d told her about it a few days earlier, and she knew it was important to him.

  ​“Yep. Three days away.” His chest rumbled when he spoke, and she found herself smiling at that.

  ​“This is the big one, huh?”

  ​He chuckled, shaking her. “Seals my fate.”

  ​Anxiety crawled into her chest at his words. “I really hope I impress him. For you.” Gunner’s dad had to like her, had to see her as worthy of his son… that was a big order to fill. Isabella didn’t know if she could live up to his standards.

  ​“You will, baby.” His lips pressed to her forehead and shooed away any anxiety that she may have felt. “You definitely will.”

  ​She relaxed into him and let herself drift off to sleep.

  Chapter Six

  Gunner didn’t think he’d ever dined somewhere quite as nice. They’d driven quite a ways to get dinner at Vincenzo’s, but it was more than worth it. Beautiful atmosphere, excellent service, and the food… to die for.

  ​As nice as the place might have been, Gunner’s main focus was the stunning woman sitting across from him. Light from a candle in the middle of the table played across her features, highlighting them.

  ​She took a bite of her filet before looking up at him, then shied away smiling. He loved to watch her blush.

  ​“This is amazing,” she said, hand covering her mouth.

  ​He nodded. “Worth every penny.” For her. Not the food, the service, the prestige… just for her.

  ​She placed her fork down beside her plate and rested her hands in her lap. “Do you feel as stressed out about tomorrow as I do?”

  ​Gunner sighed. “Yeah.” Of course he did, he had one more day of hope before it either became real or came crashing down around him. “But let’s not think about it. I want to enjoy our night.”

  ​Isabella smiled softly and nodded. She lifted her napkin and tapped it against her red lips, then met his gaze once more. “You know, I’ve really enjoyed being your wife. Despite how we got here.”

  ​Warmth spread in his chest, and he paused for a moment to marvel at just how much of a hold this woman had over him. “I’ve really enjoyed calling you my wife. Even if I did kinda kidnap you to make that happen.”

  ​They both laughed, then relaxed into the sounds of the quiet music and chatter around them.

  ​Isabella looked toward the middle of the room, an open dance floor with four couples on it swaying to the music.

  ​“Oh,” he started. Gunner reached into his pocket and pulled out a little box. “I almost forgot.” He reached across the table to hand it to her.

  ​She stared down for a moment, as if she were frozen. Then she slowly opened it. Her eyes widened at what was inside.

  ​“Gunner! Oh my-” She pulled out the ring with a three sparkling diamonds on it, spinning it in the light a
s if she were in awe.

  ​“I seem to have forgotten about that early on. Hopefully late’s better than never.”

  ​She huffed out air from her nose as the smile on her face spread. “It’s gorgeous.” She slid the ring onto her finger, then held out her hand and continued to stare.

  ​“I also have wedding bands at home. But I figured we could try those out for size tomorrow.” He’d bought them each matching bands, white gold, encrusted with diamonds.

  ​Her eyes met his and her smile somehow managed to grow even wider. “Thank you, Gunner.” She looked down at the ring again. Then to the dancefloor. And back to him. “Would you want to…” She bit her lip.

  ​He just chuckled. “Isabella, are you asking me to dance?”

  ​Her cheeks reddened. “Maybe.”

  ​Gunner offered her his hand, and her lips spread wide as she took it and stood from her seat. “M’lady,” he said.

  ​She giggled. “Sir.”

  ​He guided her to the dancefloor, the uncertainty of tomorrow still hanging over his head like a dark cloud.

  ∞∞∞

  ​Isabella stumbled toward the door to Gunner’s apartment, his hand on her lower back and her head flying from the way his body felt when she pressed against it on the dancefloor. Their laughter filled the hallway. It seemed they were both high off each other.

  ​She got to the door and tried to move out of the way so that Gunner could unlock it, but instead he pressed himself into her back, reaching around her with his keys. She leaned into him and giggled, wiggling her hips against him just enough to write it off as an accident.

  ​He grabbed her waist and pulled her back, his hard length pressing against her through their clothes. She gasped and turned to look at him, but before she could, his mouth was on hers.

  ​One of his hands held her stomach, keeping her pressed tightly against his body, while the other pushed the door open. They moved inside, attached to each other the entire time.

  ​She spun around and wrapped her arms around his shoulders while she licked his bottom lip. He growled and slammed the door shut, then pressed her back against it. His hands travelled down her sides, her thighs, slipped under her dress to cup her ass.