Page 309 of By His Vow

I pause when I get into the bathroom and look in the mirror. For the first time in what feels like forever, there’s a smile on my lips and a sparkle in my eyes.

“Damn you, Kingston Callahan,” I mutter, shaking my head.

I pee before walking over to turn the shower on.

Pulling my hair back up into a messy bun, I step under the stream of water. I stand there for a few seconds, letting the powerful jets massage my shoulders as memories of what Kingston said downstairs play out in my head.

The old romantic inside me is doing a little happy dance.

He told me he loved me, that he missed me, that his life wasn’t complete without me.

It’s the thing dreams are made of. The kind of thing that only happens in movies and books. Men don’t just drop everything and chase a woman across the world. It just doesn’t happen.

Well, apparently it does.

And for little ol’ me, too.

My heart flutters in my chest. It’s so at odds with how it’s felt for the past few weeks, I think there’s something wrong for a few seconds. But then I realize that it’s actually something very, very right.

I wash up before grabbing my razor to do some of the maintenance I’ve neglected for the past few days, because something tells me that that little session on the couch is just the beginning for us.

My insides tingle at the thought alone.

Once I’m happy that everything that needs to be hair-free is, I turn the shower off and reach for a towel.

Every one of my movements comes easier than they have since I first arrived here, and there is hope in my heart I haven’t felt for…nope, I don’t think I’ve ever felt it before.

He loves me.

Kingston Callahan loves me.

Just thinking it makes me smile and want to do a little victory dance.

I feel like a love-sick teenager again, only unlike a love-sick teenager, this is real. It’s my husband telling me that he loves me, not some lanky, acne-covered man-child.

He didn’t sign the divorce papers. His eyebrow quirk said that alone. Sure, that knowledge drags up a whole heap of other questions, but I don’t have the brain power to even think about them right now. All I want to do is get back down to him.

I want to step into his body, feel the strength of his arms as they wrap around me, and breathe in the scent of his skin under my nose.

Slathering on some moisturizer, I pull on a long tank that’s going to hide absolutely nothing with the short hem and wide arm holes before shaking my wild hair out and bouncing down the stairs like it’s the best day of my life.

Hell, it very well could be.

His scent fills the air down here, and one look at the couch where it all happened makes my thighs clench with desire.

Oh, how I missed that man and his magical dick.

I pause, listening, trying to figure out what he’s doing. But it’s silent.

“King?” I call as I walk toward the kitchen.

My flowers are now sitting on the side, and I can’t help but smile as I study them.

Turning away from them, I head outside, assuming that he’s making the most of the warm afternoon sun. But my heart drops when I step out into the small courtyard because it’s empty.

“King?” I call again, my voice sounding panicked.

My heart begins to race and my head spins.