72. Darcy

CHAPTER 72

DARCY

On Saturday, I walk into the main area of the suite Hayden booked at the upscale Whistler lodge, wearing my tangerine dress. He arranged for a hair and makeup artist to stop by this morning, so my hair is half-up, half-down, in loose, flowing curls, and my makeup is done in a way I could never achieve. Around my wrist, my favorite bracelet, my most prized possession, is clasped.

I feel like my best self, my most true self. Like I'm not hiding or pretending to be someone else.

Hayden's lounging in the living room, and with his handsome features, the sharp cut of the suit over his powerful form, and the backdrop of the lake, mountains, and endless blue sky through the windows behind him, the image looks like a shoot from a magazine. From a movie. Like it couldn't possibly be real.

He looks up from his phone and his mouth drops open.

"What do you think?" I give him a small smile.

He stares. "Uh."

"What?" I look down, frowning, scanning for makeup smudged on my dress .

Hayden just continues to stare at me with a dazed expression.

"You're so gorgeous, Darce." He swallows, eyes dragging up and down my form. When his gaze settles on my face, his eyes soften. "So pretty it hurts. I've always thought that."

My heart swells. I don't want this to end , he said. I don't want this to end, either, I told him.

It almost feels too good to be true, that a girl like me could end up with a guy like him. When I stand here in this dress, with this hair, with what I've achieved over the past few months, I don't feel like that awkward, dorky girl I used to be, though.

Something sweet and sparkling swells in my chest, flowing through me, and I stand an inch taller. I feel worthy of the way Hayden's looking at me right now.

He stands and reaches into his pocket. When he pulls his hand out, he's holding a pale-pink velvet box. "I got you a present."

"You're spoiling me."

His eyes warm. "My favorite activity." He cracks the box and hands it to me—a pair of sparkling earrings, pale gemstones in the same tiny clusters as my bracelet.

"They're beautiful."

Hayden just watches with a smile, standing behind me with his hands on my hips as I slip them on and admire my reflection in the foyer mirror. "You deserve the best, and buying you presents is a kink I didn't know I had."

I chuckle and kiss him on the cheek. "Thank you, baby."

He makes a low, pleased noise and runs his lips over my jaw. My breath catches.

"Love it when you call me baby," he murmurs.

I bite my lip. I love it when he uses that tone of voice with me, like he's about to pull me back into bed .

"We should get going," I whisper.

At the front door, I reach for my heels, but he takes them from me.

"I'll do it."

I sit, and Hayden kneels in front of me. He slips my foot into the shoe, wearing an adorable frown of concentration as he does the delicate strap up with his big hands. He straightens my leg, meets my eyes with a cheeky smile, and presses a kiss to my ankle. My calf. The inside of my knee. He brushes the hem of my dress higher and kisses the inside of my thigh.

"We're going to be late," I laugh, pulse stumbling.

I thought I had a good idea of Hayden's sexual appetite, but it was just another thing I had wrong about him.

Hayden doesn't just have a high sex drive. Hayden's insatiable . I've never come so many times per day—in bed first thing in the morning, in the shower, bent over the kitchen counter after breakfast, in the middle of the night, when he wakes me with his tongue lapping up my arousal. I didn't think my body was capable of it. Even now, need tightens between my legs and I can feel my panties getting damp.

Where Hayden's involved, maybe I'm insatiable, too.

"You're right." Against my inner thigh, he exhales a heavy breath like he's in pain. "We need to leave now or we never will."

At the door, he pauses, gaze trailing over me again, followed by the slow bob of his Adam's apple as he swallows.

"What is it?"

He lets out a light laugh, shaking his head. "Just thinking how lucky I am to have you on my arm, Darce."

"Funny." I tug his tie to pull his mouth closer. "I feel the same way about you."