Jim brought me into the most adorable town, and I was at a loss for words. I couldn’t speak for nearly twenty minutes as he trailed me, walking along the banks of the stream. Across from it were the most adorable stone houses. This place wasn’t like anywhere I’d ever been.
“That’s Arlington Row,” Jim finally spoke. “That honey-colored stone is remarkable, isn’t it?”
“It’s all so beautiful. The mallard ducks.” I chuckled. “Everything.”
“We can continue, or perhaps you’re hungry?”
I covered my stomach with my hand. “Wow, I think I forgot about food for once in my life.”
“A small village steals her interest from food, and here I thought I could somehow do that.”
“Flirting again?”
A mob of tourists—like myself—flocked over the short bridge Jim and I wound up on while I cruised through the area, taking in nature. Jim seemed to grab my hand instinctively, and the romantic feel of this place had me falling into this gesture without reservation.
His steady hand sent some crazy vibes into my energy field through the contact alone. I smiled up at him and intertwined our fingers. “I thought you’d never bring romance into our special anniversary,” I said after he gently closed his long fingers around my hand and looked at me in confusion.
“Forgive me, darling,” he said after a man who was occupied with his camera shoved me into Jim. “Fucking tourists.”
“You know I’m a tourist myself.” I eyed this new expression I hadn’t seen him wear. It was like the badass who hid behind the kind man surfaced, and anyone who met that gaze would end up in trouble. “Jesus.”
“What’s that?” he said in a low voice.
I tugged on his hand and pulled him off to the side. I couldn’t resist but to stand on my toes and run my hands on his face. “You look like you’re about to go scorched earth on someone out here.”
His hardened expression softened, and I could swear I heard him softly sigh as if I’d exorcised a demon that hid inside, and I just hadn’t met that side yet.
“Sorry,” he said, his eyes turning back in the direction where it seemed a circus of people had shown up. “It pisses me off when people can’t be considerate of others.”
“I’m cool with it. Or are you the over-protective husband in this little game we’re playing?”
His face contorted into a softer look. “Let’s go eat.” He seemed to force a smile on his face. “The lack of manners from those individuals is enough to drive me mad.”
“Drive you mad?” I teased with a dramatic expression. We started walking toward another path, no longer holding hands, which sort of sucked. It felt nice to have that moment, but if the guy had anger issues, I’d rather push him a little to see what he’d do. It might not be the smartest move, but I preferred to know what I was dealing with sooner than later.
Jim surprisingly grinned. “Mad. You know, insane,” he said.
“Yes, I do know insane. Maybe you’re just detoxing from the phone. I haven’t seen you on it since before we left the house, um, I mean castle?”
Jim shook his head and ran a hand through his hair. “Maybe that’s the problem. I’m a bit of a control freak, and I’m sort of wondering if my business is falling apart by now.”
“Is it a small, big, or massive-ass company that’s worrying you?”
“It doesn’t matter the size,” he said as I tried to keep up with his long strides. “Things can go south with just a text, call, fax, or email.”
“In three goddamn hours?”
He tightened his lips, and I saw the corners of his eyes crinkle in humor. “It could happen in three goddamn seconds.” He arched an eyebrow at me.
“So, it’s sort of like the bullshit that swings my way at any time with my druggie ex?”
“Possibly,” he said. “Shit can go sideways, and it could be happening at this very moment while we walk up to this restaurant.”
“Why don’t you tell your driver to come to get you before the world collapses? I was only trying to give you a hard time, but it seems like you’re not having a good day.” I eyed him curiously. “Seriously, I’m not about to ruin this trip because of a guy who can’t let work go for a few hours.”
“Really?” He leveled me with a stare that made me take a step back.
I met him with a look of my own. “Really.” I raised both eyebrows. “You don’t have to stop everything you’re doing to keep me entertained. I have enough money to get back to London. I certainly don’t want to hang out with someone who’s so stressed out that they’re going to act like a kill-joy.”
I watched him roll his tongue over his teeth behind his tight lips. “So, that’s that, then?”
“I guess so.”
“A divorce, and you’re going to take half the company, I’m sure?”
I looked at him with wide eyes. “I’ll take ninety percent.”
I could see the smile he’d been trying to hide since the mocking started. “All over a fight about my phone habits?”
“The sex sucks too,” I said.
Jim closed his eyes and worked to keep his smile away. I was cooling it because people were starting to take notice of us.
“The sex sucks?” he questioned much louder than I expected.
I glanced around, smiling uncomfortably. “Just drop it.”
“How can I drop something that you were begging me for last night?”
Fuck. Jim, I mouthed with a smile of disbelief. “We’re done here.” I tried to diffuse him, though trying not to laugh now.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” he continued. “That’s not the real issue here is it?”
“The real issue is, you’re causing a scene,” I said, eying the people sitting on the terrace with surprised eyes trying to conceal their own laughter and smiles.
“I disagree. You see, the real issue is that we’re on our honeymoon, and you just declared that sex with me sucks.”
Damn this guy. “The sex is nonexistent,” I went for broke.
“Nonexistent?” He bit the inside of his cheek. “Well, it’s not my fault you have had a goddamn headache since our wedding night.”
“Hey, I told you not to take all that fucking Viagra, but I guess your performance issues got the best of you that night.”
Jim licked his lips and that dark look—the one that made him look like a frightening badass, and one I never wanted to be on the other end of if he meant it—was back. “Well, if I hadn’t found out you were screwing my brother, maybe I wouldn’t have tried to overdose on his Viagra.”
“Screwing your brother?” I laughed and couldn’t keep this up anymore. “Can we eat something?”
“Not until you admit right here and now that I don’t have performance issues, my darling bride.”
“I think you have psychological issues,” I said. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”
I walked past Jim, knowing lunch was definitely not going to happen at that place. Jim’s heavy steps were behind me, and I couldn’t help but burst into laughter and turn back to him.
“Hopefully you’re not too upset with me,” he said with a laugh of his own.
“I’m definitely taking half of your damn business, my darling husband, if you don’t make up for the lunch you just shot to hell.”
“Performance issues, eh?”
I planted my hands on my hips. “That one seems to have stuck with you. Is there a performance problem, Jim?” I teased.
“First of all,” he said, his hand catching mine and pulling me against him. “Going back to what started our roleplaying; I’m not upset, but I’m sorry I let those tourists piss me off. I get annoyed easily toward rude individuals who selfishly push others around. You almost fell into the stream when that asshole shoved you.”
“I can swim.” I smiled up at his softer features. “Your phone problems? The company going to hell in less than three seconds? What’s your reasoning for being obviously pissed about that?”
He grinned. “At first, I was responding with irritation because I do feel that way.”
“And the reason you led me to believe I was ready to get my ass back to London?”
“That was all you.” He smirked. “Talking about my business going south without the phone? I was merely riding on the fact that you were bringing up an excellent point. I’m too attached to all of it.” He released my hand. “Then, the next thing I know, you’re done and ready to bail on me.”
“Your pissed-off expression helped motivate my bailing on your ass.”
He stepped closer to me. “If I were angry with you,” he swept my hair away from my neck, and my eyes couldn’t leave his if I let them, “you would know.”
Our closeness, his eyes, and the way his voice was so smooth when he lowered it? I felt my adrenaline spike in an exciting way. He was painfully beautiful and he held an expression that made me numb everywhere, except for between my legs. That part of my body was reacting with anticipation for more and feeding that hunger right to my brain.
Just when I got it under control, Jim pulled me even closer. He smelled intoxicatingly delicious.
I locked eyes with his emerald ones as his thumb grazed along the side of my neck. “The one thing I find more than attractive about you is the way you naturally don’t give a fuck. I haven’t met anyone like you. I do want you to know that there’s something you mentioned that drives me crazy, though.”
“And what’s that?” I asked, my voice hoarser than it should have been.
“You said my expression made you want to leave.”
“Yeah, you looked like you wanted me to leave if I’m honest.”
“It drives me crazy when someone is disturbed by an expression I don’t realize I have.”
“Does it drive you crazy? Or does it drive you mad?” I mocked his wording from earlier.
“It drives me mad,” he teased. “I deal with this daily at work. My expressions tend to concern or worry those I work with.”
“Then don’t give a scorched-earth look, Terminator, and I won’t think you’re in a miserable mood.”
“Scorched-earth look?”
“Yeah, you’re the most attractive guy I’ve ever met, and even your pissed off expressions make you look like an attractive badass. So, the best way to call it is your scorched-earth look.”
He laughed and shook his head. “Fine. No more scorched-earth looks toward you.”
“Or innocent people who threaten to knock me off a small bridge.”
“They were assholes, Avery.”
“I can decide for myself if people are pissing me off.” I smiled at him.
His lips closed, and the last thing I expected was a raindrop to hit my nose, and Jim’s hands to come up to each side of my face. “Very well, then. I’ve overstepped my bounds.”
Just when I’d pulled myself back together, I was once again putty in his hands. “It was nice of you to care,” I said, another raindrop falling on my face, but now I was lost in Jim’s eyes. “But, again, you looked too pissed off for comfort.”
“You remember when I said when I go after something I want, I won’t stop until I get it?”
“Yeah?” I responded, remembering him saying something like that from our thousand-dollar-menu date.
“You’re what I want. I haven’t felt this way about a woman…ever,” he said, eyes studying mine. “I believe I became too territorial.”
“You mean jealous?”
“Either one.” He smirked. “Damn, I’m truly sorry.”
“Don’t apologize. You made it fun when you realized you were an ass.”
“You helped me realize that quite quickly. I admire you in more ways than one. I love your spicy spirit. If anyone went scorched earth, I believe you did when you put my stubborn ass into its place.”
We both remained silent, more raindrops falling and threatening to ruin what I was hoping for. If this guy was sort of falling for me, then he’d better be impulsive and act.
“Damn it, kiss me, or get us out of this rain,” I said, not knowing what he wanted but this closeness had me aching to feel his lips on mine.
“Kiss you?” he said.
“You heard me. We just had our first fight. We’re apparently back in time by five years and on our honeymoon instead of anniversary and—”
My lips were silenced when Jim’s covered my bottom one gently, and with some sort of passion that surprised me. I watched his eyes close as his lips gently massaged against mine. There was nothing crazy or intense about this kiss. What had me spinning—my head was actually fuzzy with intoxication—was the way he gently covered my lips with his own. Like two long-lost lovers reunited and savoring the beauty of the moment of their kiss, unifying them again.
My hands held his elbows as I worked to encourage more from him. Jim’s lips parted, and his tongue swept gently into my mouth. I met his kiss with more urgency than he started it with. The rain began falling harder, and Jim pulled me in tighter and tilted his head, kissing me with more power and aggression than before. Holy shit, I had never been kissed this perfectly before. The man had class and a beauty that filled his entire aura, and this perfect kiss proved to me that I wanted more from him.
He ended the kiss and pulled me in tightly to him. That’s when I felt how hard he was, and, Jesus Christ, how much more I wanted to have him inside me now.
“Well, well,” I said, brushing my wet hair out of my eyes. “Sorry about the performance comment. That definitely shouldn’t be a joke.”
Jim laughed. “It’s all my brother’s Viagra.” He pressed his lips to mine again. “I’ve wanted to do that since the moment you sat next to me on the plane.”
“You’re kidding, right?”
“I’m dead serious. The minute you caught my attention, I was at your mercy.”
“Wait.” The rain was pouring now, and I didn’t want it to interfere with this revelation. “You mean you would have…” I bit my bottom lip.
“Yes, I should have taken you up on your offer to fuck you on that plane, but I was a jackass and too proper.”
“And now, here we are. Out in the country, getting soaked—a second chance?”
“I’m hoping it moves that direction. Until then, you’re going to ditch my ass and head back to London if I don’t make up for lunch? Come on. I have a better pub you’ll enjoy just the same, and I’ll even order the whole menu if that’s what works to make it all up to you.”
“That kiss is holding me over,” I said as we both jogged through puddles, seeking some form of shelter. “God, it’s coming down.”
“It’s England. Awesome, isn’t it?”
You’re awesome, I thought, still enamored about the kiss, his personality, and the fact that I couldn’t be mad at any of this. Even if he was pissed about the asshole who’d shoved us, that was cool—it showed his no-bullshit side, and I liked it.
I could take care of myself, but I imagined how Derek would’ve reacted in that same situation. Even if he weren’t high—for some strange reason—he wouldn’t have even noticed, much less gave a damn.
I could have fallen into the stream, and Derek would have laughed along with everyone else. That was how I was used to being treated. I wasn’t accustomed to some knight-in-shining-armor, sensing the rudeness of someone toward me and it pissing him off. All of my life, I’d never had anyone come to my defense like that. I’d never had someone who gave a half a damn about how I was treated.
I felt some anxious nerves creep up as we walked into the pub, and he pulled my seat out for me, but I wasn’t going to let my fear ruin this moment by overthinking it. Jim was a great guy.
Jim said that I intrigued him? No, that was quite the other way around. I was the one intrigued by him and fortunate to have met him, even if England was all we’d ever have. Trust me. My story? It wasn’t made to end happily. At least, up until now, I didn’t think so.
