He froze.
Slowly pulling away, he cupped my cheeks. “What did you say?”
I bit my lip. But the shy smile broke out on my face, anyway.
“What did you say, Rosebud? Did you just—” he gulped, his eyes were desperate, “—did you just say you—”
“I love you.”
He let out a shaky breath. The intense emotions swirling in his gray orbs seared my heart.
“Say it again,” he rasped.
Pulling him closer, I brushed my lips against his desirable ones. “I love you, Achilles Valencian. I love you so much that it hurts.”
Heaving a sigh, he engulfed me in his chest. I placed my cheek right above his heart, listening to his fast heartbeat. I didn’t complain about his vice grip around me, as we stayed like that for some moments. Though I didn’t like his silence.
“Ace?” I whispered into his chest.
“Just a minute, Rosebud.” He took a deep breath in my hair. “Say it again.”
I smiled. “I love you.”
“Again.”
Laughing, I smacked his chest. “No, I already told you three times.”
Slightly leaning back from me, enough to look at my face, he placed his palm on my cheek. “Please, baby. Just once more. I want to hear it again. You don’t know how long I’ve waited to hear those words. How many times I’ve dreamt of you saying those words to me.”
Something bloomed into my heart. Blinking away my tears, I placed a kiss on his chest. “I love you, Ace. I love you so freaking much. More than anything in the world.”
His eyes closed, as if feeling every word that left my lips.
“Happy now?”
Those stormy gray orbs met my turquoise again. A content smile stretched across his heavenly features as he pulled me into his gentlest kiss. Not a demanding, punishing one.
But to my dissatisfaction, he pulled away, leaving me craving for more.
“Come with me?” he asked, running his hand through my locks.
“Where?”
“Somewhere I can have you all to myself.” His heated gaze slid down to my cleavage. “Did I tell you how beautiful you’re looking in that dress? More than I’d imagined you’d look.”
I blushed.
Alone with him to have him all to myself?
Tingles ran down my body as unholy thoughts flashed across my mind. The idea sounded tempting.
“Thank you. But we can’t. The reception.”
“I don’t care. Now that I finally have you in my arms, I don’t want to let go of you.” He placed a sensual kiss on my neck, arms tightening around me.
A moan threatened to leave my lips.
I had to stop him before I lost my control. We couldn’t do anything right now. At least not until the reception was over.
“You can have me all to yourself after the reception is over. Everyone must be looking for us. We need to go outside.” I tugged at his hair gently.
He groaned, latching his mouth on my throat. “I don’t want to. I need you, Rosebud. I need you right now. I’ve waited so long.” The last sentence came out like a breathy whisper.
I clenched my thighs at his deep voice. No matter how much I wanted to stay locked in that room with him, I couldn’t. As a maid of honor, I had to see if everything was going smoothly for the reception.
Tonight. I could wait till tonight.
“Later, baby. We’re needed outside right now. Caleb and Tess must be looking for us.” The sexual tension that was floating around us from the last few months threatened to burst right now. Now that there was no barrier between us, we both wanted each other like two broken poles of magnet needed the other to be completed.
Pulling away, his eyes held mine. They held dark promises.
“Later?” A mischievous smile tugged at his lips. “I will keep that in mind.”
With my cheeks burning, I looked down.
Grabbing my chin, he tucked a strand behind my ear. “Let’s go outside and get done with everything as soon as possible. I can’t wait any longer.”
Neither can I. I wanted to say, but remained silent. It wasn’t a wise idea to tease the beast now.
Nodding, I placed one lingering kiss on his lips before opening the door and stepping outside. He followed behind, pulling me into him again. But when his phone rang, he had to leave me.
When I was finally outside, Tess and Caleb were busy chatting with some guests and clicking photos. She didn’t seem to be bothered by her pimple anymore.
After making sure everything was good with the reception preparation, I stepped outside again to find Warner approaching me. Instinctively, I glanced around to see if my caveman was anywhere around. I didn’t want his horns to come out seeing Warner near me again.
I needed to have a serious talk with him about it.
“You’re free now? Come aside for a minute. I have some information about Arthur.”
At the mention of him, I looked around the place. I haven’t seen him after the wedding. The moments he lingered around, he wasn’t focused on the ceremony either. He was too busy on his phone with his tensed old features.
Nodding, I pulled him to a secluded place where guests weren’t roaming. “What did you find out? And sorry about earlier. Ace, uh, he gets a little possessive when it comes to me.”
He snorted. “A little? Can‘t you see, Em? That man is obsessed with you. He thinks of you as his property that belongs to him. And trust me, men like him like the chase. You were like a challenge to him, so he came after you suddenly after all these years. And now that you finally gave in, just wait until he shows you his true colors.”
My fists clenched. Gritting my teeth, I kept myself from saying something that might hurt him. His hatred towards Ace was getting on my nerves now.
“Warner, can we just talk about what’s important right now? We have an issue on our hands, and that’s Arthur. So, let’s stick with that for now. I already told you to not make any assumptions about me and Ace’s relationship. I’d appreciate it if you respect my wish here.”
I could see he wanted to disagree. But the stern look of mine had him shut up. Slumping his shoulders, he let out a sigh.
“All right. Let’s talk about Arthur now.”
I nodded. “Thank you. What did your cousin find out about him?”
“Tobias told you about the small business he had in Wales, right?”
I bobbed my head.
“Well, he used to run cheap hotels. After some research, we found out he did illegal businesses under the cover of those hotels. He was even suspected many times, but due to lack of evidence, the cops couldn’t take any action against him.”
My brows furrowed. “Illegal businesses? What kind of illegal businesses?”
“Not hundred percent sure, but from what pieces of information my cousin got, it seemed like he managed a brothel at nights behind the service of hotels. Sources say he forced helpless girls into prostitution.”
I gasped. A brothel? I didn’t know he would be that low of a creature. Did Ace know about this? I was sure he didn’t. He’d never allow such a man to stay around him if he had even a hint of it.
“How come he never got caught?”
His lips thinned. “He’s a shrewd man, Em. He made sure not to leave a single piece of evidence behind for anyone to use against him. He was doing that until Achilles’s father passed away and he left the UK to come to LA.”
Why did he return after so many years leaving all his businesses behind like this? I didn’t believe he was that kind of man who’d leave everything behind just so he could look after his nephews.
He must have some other agenda. But what?
Then it hit me. Of course! His brother’s property. That passed down to Ace. And he won Ace’s trust to get a hold on the power and money Ace had. With his help, he expanded his business more within the whole UK now.
“Can’t your cousin get any proof? I mean, there must be something.”
He shook his head. “He stopped his illegal businesses a long time ago after he started handling Valencian Corp in Achilles’s absence. Now he only runs legal businesses across the UK. And with the power Ace had given him, I can’t say if he still runs something in the shadows while destroying every evidence he has against him. Though I told my cousin to look more into it. He’ll get back to me as soon as he finds anything out.”
I sighed. He was right. He was quite a powerful man, all thanks to Ace’s trust in him. I wished I could tell him, but without any proof, will he believe me? But he could also hire someone to look through Arthur’s past just like I did, right? He’d find out the truth himself.
A determination etched on me.
I’ll talk to him as soon as possible. But not now. We’ve come into a relationship just now. I didn’t want any tension in it. Maybe after a day or two, when Warner’s cousin would find something solid against him? Then I could easily reveal everything before Ace without fearing anything.
“All right. Tell him to do it fast. Before Arthur gets a hint of our quest, we have to get a hold of something strong against him.” I looked into his eyes. “And thank you, Warner! I couldn’t do this without you.”
He put a hand on my shoulder. “No need to thank me. What are friends for, after all? I would do anything for you, you know that, right?”
Nodding, I smiled.
“You just be careful around him, Em. He’s a very dangerous man. Don’t get yourself into any trouble.”
I squeezed his hand. “Don’t worry. I’ll be fine.”
“You didn’t tell me he gave you this dress. Nor did you tell me you guys are together now,” Cassie grumbled, holding her cocktail in her hand. “I thought you confided me in with everything.”
I chuckled.
The reception was about to begin. After helping Tess with retouching her makeup, Cassie pulled me aside to throw questions about the faint hickey on my throat. Of course nothing went past her eyes. So, I told her everything.
“Don’t be overdramatic now. We just sorted things out.”
She eyed my gown again, a slow smile stretched across her lips. “Remember when you asked him to make you his princess one day?”
Warmth crept up cheeks as I remembered the day of my ninth birthday.
“Well, you’re looking like one today in this gown. And now that you’ve finally become his princess, how are you feeling right now?” She held an imaginary mike before me.
I looked down, running my hands on the beautiful gown he chose for me. “Well, I don’t want to be his princess anymore.”
Her brow raised in confusion.
A smile graced my lips. “I want to be his queen now.”
Chuckling, she rolled her eyes. “Now you’re getting greedy here, aren’t you?”
At my narrowed eyes, she burst into laughter and I joined soon.
Someone cleared their throat behind me.
Turning around, I came face to face with a tall man in his late twenties and a beautiful blonde in his arms. What caught my attention was his pale blue eyes that weirdly lingered on my face for too long for my liking.
“Hi, Emerald. Remember me? I’m Jane from Tess’s high school,” the blonde said, flashing her pearly white teeth.
Yeah, I remembered her. She used to hang out with Tess sometimes.
I smiled. “Hi, Jane. How are you doing?”
That man still didn’t move his gaze from me. His features were too blank to read anything.
“I’m doing great! It’s been so long since I last saw you. And look at you, you’ve turned into such a beautiful woman.”
Before I could open my mouth to thank her for the compliment, the man interrupted. Oddly enough, I felt like I saw him before. But I couldn’t place a finger on it.
“Indeed. Now I understood why my friend is so smitten by you,” he said in his northern accent.
“Friend?” I frowned.
He nodded. “Achilles Valencian. I’m a really close friend of his.”
How come I’ve never seen him if he was a good friend of Ace?
Then he held his hand out for me to shake. “Hello, my name is Antonio, Antonio Raymond. I feel very blessed to finally meet you, Ms. Hutton.”
