We stood still as we kissed softly.
His tongue licked my bottom lip, and I opened for him. Inhaling his soul and taste, I slipped into bone-sated happiness knowing I belonged to this man and he belonged to me.
I was no longer alone.
I would never be alone again.
We’d bound ourselves together and become family.
I WON’T SAY it was easy. Because it wasn’t.
I won’t say everything became fucking puppies and rainbows. Because it didn’t.
The pain was still there.
The knowledge my father was broken, my mother murdered, and an unknown sister given away at birth.
But things did get easier.
Tex slowly grew used to Threads and Jethro together. He’d watch them touch and whisper and even he couldn’t deny their love was pure.
Jethro had been a cocksucker; he’d hurt my sister and almost destroyed my family¸ but he’d done everything in his power to fix his wrongs and ensure he earned the right to forgiveness. It helped that he loved Threads so fucking much. He lit up around her. He became more around her. He breathed because of her.
In a way, I was fucking jealous. He’d stolen her from me completely. They shone around each other, and when I caught him watching her, the aching adoration in his gaze made me admit Nila was lucky.
She would never be alone or unloved again. She’d met the one who would be there for her through night and day, happy and sad, bad and good.
He would be there for her even when death came for them.
I, on the other hand, grew restless living on someone else’s turf. I loved patching my family back together and enjoyed the night chats I had with Jasmine. But I missed the magic of London, the thrill of running the company—the real world.
I returned to my apartment in the city a couple of weeks after Kestrel’s funeral. Tex moved back to the family home, returning to the factory as if nothing life-changing had happened. Jethro had given me an open invitation to come and stay at the Hall as often as I liked. And Nila said she’d miss me but her place was now with her Hawk.
I was fine with all of it.
However, it was Jasmine who shocked everyone.
She admitted she wanted to leave Hawksridge and explore a new life.
Jethro had almost fucking passed out hearing his baby sister, a self-confessed recluse, wanted to leave the estate.
She wouldn’t tell me the story of how she lost the use of her legs, but I knew it had something to do with her brother and father. I wanted to know her secrets, but then again, so much was in the past that it was best to let it go and move forward.
The argument about Jasmine’s living arrangements had lasted a full night before Jethro conceded he couldn’t keep his sister prisoner—no matter how much he would fret over her safety.
I’d almost spat out my tea when Jaz calmly turned to me and asked if she could move in with me for a time.
Fuck.
I’d gone from a bachelor flirting with the sister of the man about to become my brother-in-law to inheriting a live-in girlfriend.
I’d be lying if I said I didn’t put the moves on Jasmine. I’d kissed her. I wanted her. But she wouldn’t let me go any further. I knew she was a virgin, and she was worried about her body and disability. But I didn’t care about that. Fuck, all I cared about was hearing her laugh and making her come with my tongue.
As for her request, I didn’t have to think about it. Of course, I agreed. And the next day, we moved out of Hawksridge. I stole a Hawk to share my home.
Luckily, I had a penthouse in downtown London. Lifts serviced the floors and the extra-wide corridors proved to be the perfect environment for her to get around.
We became friends.
Great friends.
More than friends.
I wanted her every evening we spent ribbing each other watching crap TV. I needed her every day we argued over which model would be best to showcase Nila’s show pieces. My cock hardened constantly around her, yet she never insinuated sex and I didn’t want to scare her by pushing.
For months, we lived together and never crossed the line.
I honestly didn’t know if she could even have sex. Would she be able to feel me? Would she even want me to see her naked, to bring her pleasure and fulfil the prophecy she herself had decreed the night she’d rolled into my life and demanded my help to save her dying brothers.
She’d said one day I would belong to a woman other than my sister.
At the time, I’d wanted to rip out her fucking heart for ever suggesting such a thing. I was a Weaver. Loyal and true. But what she’d said was right. Life moved on, we grew up, and eventually, we all replaced our blood families with chosen ones.
And somehow, Jasmine became my chosen one.
She enticed me more and more.
I wanted her more and fucking more.
If only she would give in to me. If only she trusted me that I wanted her because of her mind and soul and not just her body.
She wouldn’t submit…not yet.
But I wouldn’t stop trying.
And the day she finally gave in…she would make me the happiest fucking man in the world.
Three Months and One Week Later…
LIFE WAS FULL of moments and this was the biggest of all.
Today was the end of my godforsaken life and the first day of a pristine existence.
For three months, I’d found the happiness I never dared dream of. Hawksridge Hall came alive with companionship and friendship rather than lust and greed. Flaw managed the Black Diamond brothers with ease. Our smuggling was no more; we’d opened the lines for proper trade with diamonds, ensuring our mines and workers were well compensated.