“Of course.”
“When I saw you for the first time after the battle…you seemed like you’d given up on me.”
He sighed. “I’ll never give up on you. But I was pissed, Mere. I made it clear you can trust me with all your secrets. With everything.”
I shook my head. “That’s not how trust works. It takes time, Vas.”
“I understand that now. But you have to give me a chance. Just one chance.”
I surveyed his body, naked and still so warm next to mine. “I thought I just did.”
He grinned at me. We were quiet for a long moment, and then he brushed a kiss over my forehead.
“What is it you want, Mere?”
I thought about it. For so long, all I’d wanted was to pay Nero back. Now that he was no longer a dark shadow over my life, I had a chance to actually think about it.
“I don’t know.”
Vas grinned at me. “Come on. You must have some kind of dream.”
I chewed on my lower lip. It was stupid, but I knew Vas wouldn’t judge me.
“I want to expand this place. The lot next door is for sale. If I could, I’d buy it, knock down that wall, and add a restaurant.”
Vas’s gaze widened. “A restaurant?”
“Yeah. I know it’s crazy—most restaurants go under within five years.”
He scowled as if that was stupid. “Yours wouldn’t.”
My cheeks warmed. I’d never had someone have such staunch belief in me before.
“Meredith’s Bar and Restaurant,” Vas mused.
I grinned at him, delighted. “You really think I could do it?”
“I think you could do anything you set your mind to.”
* * *
Vassago
I blinked open my eyes and frowned as I realized the ceiling I was looking at was most definitely not my own. My morning wood was pressed against my warm, curvy witch, and I reached out, tucking some of Mere’s hair behind her ear. She stirred, snuggling closer, and my heart ached.
The best night of my life. And while I’d been losing myself in Mere’s body, the man who killed my uncle had probably been sleeping like a baby. Or covering his tracks even more.
Daimonion didn’t allow me to live out of the goodness of his cold heart. I lived because even as a baby, I had shields like iron. Ag once told me that when I’d seen my parents die, my little baby brain had engaged those natural shields, before any of my other powers had come in. Daimonion couldn’t get through them.
If only I’d done it sooner. If only I’d been able to shield my parents too.
I didn’t blame myself for that. The fact that Daimonion hadn’t been able to kill me and had obviously decided the baby wasn’t worth it… That little decision would be his downfall.
I gently unwound Mere’s arms from around me and reached for the pen and notepad on the table next to her bed. She’d told me she sometimes came up with good ideas for the business in the middle of the night when she couldn’t sleep.
I wrote her a note and leaned over, unable to stop myself from inhaling the sweet scent of her hair, from pressing a kiss to her nose.
“Vas,” she murmured in her sleep, and I forced myself to back away from the bed.
