FULL NOVELXO Chapter Silent Vows: Epilogue
Six Weeks Later
“We’re going to have to make this an annual thing,” I told Conner after our pilot informed us that we’d be landing in a half hour. “I’m ready to be home, but also, I can’t wait to go back.”
We’d spent a magical honeymoon week in Turks and Caicos snorkeling on Smith’s Reef right off the shore and soaking in the sun. It was lazy and lavish and perfect. I had a new golden tan heading into the rainy season back home and a blossoming appreciation for travel. I’d known my father took private jets when he traveled, but the rest of us had rarely left the city, and when we did, we’d flown commercial. Conner didn’t do commercial. After a luxury flight in his family’s private jet, I could understand why.
“That can be arranged. There’s a lot of Caribbean to explore, and next time, we hopefully won’t have to fly on your actual birthday.”
“This isn’t exactly a hardship,” I teased, my arms lifted to indicate the gleaming cherry wood and leather cabin around us. He and I sat in two cushy chairs facing one another, my feet propped up on his lap.
“Yeah, but this is your twenty-first. You should be out celebrating like every other twenty-one-year-old does on their birthday.”
I grinned. “There’s still time.”
“Hmm,” he mused, his azure eyes reminding me of the waters we’d just left behind. “I’d thought I’d wait until we were home to give you your present, but I think I’d rather do it now.” He reached down into his laptop bag beside his chair and presented a small black box wrapped in a white satin bow.
My feet dropped to the floor as I sat tall with surprise. “We just took an amazing vacation; you didn’t have to do anything else.”
“Just open it,” he said softly.
I untied the bow and lifted the lid to unveil a set of stud white gold bell earrings—a perfect match to my mother’s necklace. “Oh, Conner,” I breathed, my hand flying to the pendant around my neck. I’d worn it almost every day since first putting it on months ago and had told him the significance of the necklace when he’d asked. It never occurred to me he’d do something so incredibly sweet as having a jeweler craft a matching set of earrings.
I closed the lid and rushed from my seat to climb onto his lap, straddling him in the leather chair. “Thank you, baby. They’re perfect.” I pressed my lips to his. Conner’s hands kneaded the modest globes of my ass, deepening our kiss just as the pilot announced that we’d be landing in fifteen minutes.
We both stilled, eyes locked in silent communication.
“Plenty of time,” he growled, lifting me in his arms and walking us to the small bedroom in the back of the plane.
I laughed until the door shut behind us, and the room suddenly filled with Conner’s domineering presence. He lay me on the bed, gingerly sliding my panties down my hips. The weather back home would be cool, but I’d stubbornly worn one of the sundresses I’d taken on the trip, hanging on to every last vestige of my tropical paradise.
In a matter of seconds, Conner was pushing inside me.
We’d had all kinds of sex in the days since our wedding. Playful, rough, dirty, and even gentle. Every time with Conner seemed a little different, as dynamic as his multifaceted personality. I adored every version, but this was more than sex. Our eyes remained locked on one another, every barrier tossed aside, and nothing but raw devotion pouring between us.
I’d debated telling him how I felt a couple of times. Admitting to the depths of my emotions for him. I’d talked myself out of it each time, but now the words came unbidden to my tongue.
“I love you, Conner Reid.”
His movements, already measured and deliberate, stilled. He lowered his lips to graze over mine before locking eyes with me again.
“I love you so goddamn much.” The raw emotion in his voice filled my chest with elation. He must have felt the same because it only took a matter of minutes before we were both shattering in a shared orgasm.
The experience was overwhelming and transcending.
I had to order myself to let go of him, and he seemed just as reluctant to tear himself away from me. We hardly had time to get back to our seats before the wheels of the plane hit the runway.
I peered out the cabin window, hoping to calm the heat blazing in my cheeks. I had to be positively glowing. As we turned toward the hangar where the plane was kept, I spotted Keir standing next to a black SUV.
“Is Keir giving us a ride home?” I asked, surprised to see him.
“No, he called earlier today and said he needed the jet. He’ll head out as soon as they re-fuel.”
I grimaced. “Please tell me they’ll change the sheets, too.” I didn’t think he’d be able to smell sex on the bed, but still. It just seemed icky.
Conner shrugged, completely unconcerned. Men.
Once the plane was stopped and the stairs were lowered, we stepped out onto the tarmac and froze. Keir was now holding an unconscious woman in his arms. She was young and beautiful, her long auburn hair hanging in loose waves over his arm.
“That the governor’s daughter?” Conner asked casually.
“Yup.” Keir eyed me briefly before pushing past and taking the woman up into the plane. No other pleasantries. No explanations.
I was the only one left to hear my husband’s muttered curse.
“Well, fuck.”
You got that right.