“It means that you’re going to finish school, but I respectfully request that, when you come home, you do me before your homework,” he continued, brushing his thumb over my clit through my panties. “And it means that you’re going to have to constantly look over your shoulder for what I have up my sleeve next, because I’ll always be coming for you.”

And then his other fist came up, and I watched wide-eyed as he uncurled his fingers and a glint of sparkle appeared in front of me. I stopped breathing as he slid the ring on my left hand and continued to whisper in my ear, “And you’re going to want every second of it, because I know what you like, Rika, and I can’t live without you.”

I shook, my eyes pooling with tears as he wrapped both arms around me and held on for dear life.

“I love you,” he breathed out in my neck.

Oh, my God. I pulled my hand down, holding it with my right, as I looked at the ring.

A flood of heat hit my chest, and I stopped breathing. I know this ring.

It was a platinum band with an array of diamonds, looking almost like a snowflake. One stone sat in the middle, surrounded by ten more, with yet another circle of about 20 diamonds on the outside.

“This is one of the rings I took on Devil’s Night,” I said, my voice shaking as I looked up at him. “I thought you had returned everything.”

“I did.” He nodded. “But this one I bought.”

“Why?”

Why would he buy a ring for someone he hated? It would have been after the videos exploded online, so it didn’t make any sense.

He tightened his arms around me. “I don’t know. Maybe I couldn’t let a piece of that night go.” And then he leaned in whispering in my ear, “Or maybe somewhere down deep I always knew this day would come.”

I smiled, tears streaming down my face. It was perfect. The ring, the house, even the proposal.

He’d promised to piss me off, but he also promised to be good to me and always come for me.

But I had to wonder…would we really be able to do this? Keep up the games? The excitement? The passion?

“People don’t live like we do, Michael.” I turned my head to look at him again. “They go to movies. They cuddle in front of fires…”

“I’ll fuck you in front of a fire,” he retorted, spinning me around and smirking as I laughed.

But then he came in and leaned his lips into my forehead, speaking quietly. “Other people don’t matter to us, Rika. We don’t let their rules contain us. What we can and can’t do is irrelevant. Who’s going to stop us?”

I wrapped my arms around his neck, elation sweeping over me as I tilted my head back, staring up at the high ceiling.

“What?” he asked.

I inhaled a deep breath, my veins charged with excitement. “Our house,” I mused. “I can’t believe this is ours.” And then I met his eyes. “I love you.”

He grabbed my face and kissed me, his warmth spreading down my body. “I love you, too,” he told me. “So is that a yes then?”

I nodded. “Yes.” But then I popped my eyes wide and pulled away. “The catacombs!” I blurted out. “They’re not filling them in, are they?”

He laughed. “No. They’ll stay accessible.”

I dropped my arms and walked for the door, slipping off my coat and hanging it over the scaffolding.

“Hey, what are you doing?” he asked.

I spun around, cocking my head coyly. “You forgot to get on one knee.”

He snorted. “Well, it’s a little too late, Rika. I already proposed.”

“You can still get on your knees.” And I crooked a finger, turning back around.

“Well, the contractor said he might stop by today to do some more assessments,” he warned.

But I only grinned and shot him a challenge over my shoulder as I opened the door. “Are you tapping out?”

He shook his head, his mischievous eyes telling me everything I needed to know as he walked toward me.

He was always game.

And thanks to his tutelage, now so was I.

He’d corrupted me.

THE SMELL OF LILIES AND RAIN drifted into my nose, and I chased it, burying my face into the pillow.

Rika.

Sleep weighed heavy on my eyes, and I put out a hand, smoothing it over the sheets and searching for her next to me in bed.

But she wasn’t there.

I blinked, forcing my eyes open. Alarm set in as I turned over and propped myself up on one elbow, quickly twisting my head around to look for her.

And I immediately found her.

I relaxed, a grin lifting my lips as I watched her in the shower, the one that sat in my bedroom as a feature in my Delcour apartment.

Our apartment.

Within a month after everything had happened at the yacht, I moved her in. She slept here every night anyway, and since Will wanted to be close, we gave her apartment to him.

Kai, on the other hand, opted for distance. He bought an old Victorian on the other side of the city, and I wasn’t sure why. He could’ve had any apartment he wanted here, and I didn’t see the value in the black brick monstrosity he’d purchased that should’ve been condemned.

But for some reason, he wanted to be on his own.

Rika ran a loofah down her arms, soaping up her body, and I turned on my side, propping my head up on my hand as I watched her.

She must’ve sensed me, because she turned her head, smiling at me over her shoulder.