“Mmm hmm.” He pressed his chuckle into the skin of my neck and I shivered inresponse.
“And is that my prize?” he asked, nodding at thecake.
“Nope. That isfuel.”I took a fork from my back pocket and put it on the counter next to the cake. “I’ve got your prize right here.” I turned and wrapped my arms around his neck, drawing him down for mykiss.
He tasted like Morning Silas — coffee and toothpaste andheat— and I sighed happily as I let myself get taken over by it. I loved the slow, delicious slide, and the way his hand came up to toy with the curls at the back of my head. I loved the way that he didn’t hold anything back anymore, and neither didI.
He pulled away after a second, and I swear I could practicallyhearthe thoughts rolling through his head as he pressed a half-dozen brief kisses to my lips.No sex with Ev in the living room. No sex with Ev in the kitchen. No sex with Ev at all unless I’m sucking him off while he’s surrounded by a hundred pillows, just in case he breathes wrong and hurts hisarm.
Literally.
Silas had become a one-hit-wonder for the past three weeks, and while it was adorably sweet, it was also completely unnecessary. Short of bench pressing a hay bale at the festival tomorrow, I wasn't sure how I was going to prove to him that I was not only ready for more, I waseager.
Soeager.
Dying.
“Silas? Would you do something for me?” Iasked.
“Ofcourse.”
I grinned. Total acceptance, no hesitation, whether I wanted a kidney or to borrow his truck. Was it any wonder I loved thisman?
“You might not like the idea at first,” I warned him. “But I’m willing to be very, verypersuasive.”
“Then I promise to be very, very willing to be persuaded.” He combed his fingers through the hair above my ears. “Does this have anything to do with separating your grandfather and his familiar? Because you know I’m happy to have Daphne here, but Henry will be sad to saygoodbye.”
I shook my head. “I already talked to him about it yesterday. I’m going to let Daph stay with him. She likes it there.” I smirked. “Besides, Grandpa Hen says it’ll be easier for us to start a family without a catunderfoot.”
Si’s eyes widened. “The family talk?Already?”
I laughed. “Welcome toO’Leary.”
“Right. I guess that’ll never change,” Silassighed.
“None of the essentials around here do.” And that was okay, because what we had was prettyawesome.
O’Leary had been shocked to learn about Shane, especially the families of the people he'd hurt. Silas's parents were devastated, Jamie Burke had smashed up a table and chairs at Hoff's, and Shane's own uncle — a guy I’d never met because he was apparently more of a hermit than Daniel Michaelson — had moved back into town in some kind of penance. But the gossip had been by and large the respectful kind, thehow can we help?kind, thewhat signs did we miss?kind. And instead of becoming hardened and suspicious, everyone had more or less come together even stronger than before to support oneanother.
Even Karen Mitchener-Martin, who’d kept herI-told-you-so’s to aminimum.
“So if it’s not about Daphne… is it about mymother?”
“No!” I shook my head. Although the fact of the matter was, Carolyn Sloane and I had bonded just a little bit in the wake of my abduction, and she’d learned some lessons too, about how grief taken to extremes could end up causing more pain. She liked me, and she liked me and Si together. “No, this is definitely not about yourmother!”
“Because my mom asked us to go over there tomorrow for dinner, andI…”
“Silas! This is not about my cat, and this is not about your mother!” I said, shaking his shoulders slightly with mytwovery healthyhands.
Silas arched an eyebrow, his blue eyes hot on me. “What’s it aboutthen?”
“I have needs,” I told him, bracing a hand on hischest.
He shook his head and took a step backward. “So do I Ev,but…”
“I’ve been patient,” I toldhim.
“Have you?” He wrinkled his nose. “Because patience would imply that you hadn’t mentioned it ten times a day, everysingle…”
