Lukas mutters a fuck, and hot and salty liquid fills my mouth. I’m surprised by the amount of it. He continues to spurt for several moments, until he softens and pops out of my mouth.

I run the sleeves of my sweater over my lips, and Lukas picks up the water bottle from the center console.

His gaze doesn’t leave me as I take a few sips. His cock is resting against his stomach, not soft but hard, pushed through the waistband of his boxers.

“Shouldn’t it go down?” I jerk my head.

A small smile appears on his lips. “Not when you’re still on your knees, looking at me like I’m the most treasured person in the whole fucking world.”

“That’s because you are,” I whisper back.

He pulls me up, and I crawl onto his lap. “How did it happen?”

He doesn’t say what, and I don’t ask, because one, I don’t think Lukas gives answers to his own questions, and two, I like the possibilities that run through my mind.

How did he fall in love with me?

How did his eighteen-year-old bride turn out to be his soulmate?

How did a crazy promise turn out to be so much bigger?

33. Lukas

33

LUKAS

It’s three a.m. but sleep is the farthest thing from my mind.

Autumn and I returned to the inn after a walk along Cherry Lake. I turn on my side, and she’s sleeping safely, looking so young. I can’t believe she sucked me off like that. In a car. In a public parking lot. Like she couldn’t wait another minute. Like she needed me as much as her next breath.

She’s wearing a white camisole, and the triquetra pendant hangs down from her neck.

My mother’s words ring in my ear.

“Someday you’ll meet a girl who’ll become the center of your whole world. Everything you do in life will be for her happiness.”

“I’ve found her, Mom. I just need to remember that her happiness comes above everything.”

I close my eyes and my mind takes me to a few years back.

From: autumnthefallqueen

To: lukasspencer

I couldn’t sleep last night wondering how you got this nickname—daredevil. Will you really not tell me? I’ve been asking for so many months now.

~ Autumn

I place the whiskey bottle onto the nightstand. I don’t indulge in anything, except this day. This fucking day. Whatever I do, wherever I hide, the day of my mother’s death finds me and brings me to my knees.

From: lukasspencer

To: autumnthefallqueen

Usually it’s more serious things that make people lose sleep. Your problems surprise me, Autumn.

But because I’m in a real shitty mood tonight, heck, why don’t I blurt all my life’s sorrows? Here it comes.