“And Voodoo?”
“Voodoo was considering sacrificing one of us to whatever heat god controls Miami.”
I laughed, the sound tumbling out easier than I expected. The breeze tugged at my hair, and AB reached over and smoothed a strand from my cheek without even thinking about it. His fingers lingered.
My chest did something warm and stupid.
We walked half a block before I spoke again. “Hey… I want to ask you something.”
AB glanced at me, eyebrows rising, face open and ready in that way he had—like he tuned into me before I even knew what I wanted to say.
“Shoot.”
I swallowed. “When you said earlier that you fell in love with me twice… did you mean it?”
A slow, unmistakably genuine grin spread across his face—boyish and wicked and soft all at once. The kind of smile that could ruin a girl forever.
“Gracie.” He shook his head, amused. “No.”
My stomach dropped.
Then he added, “I think I’ve fallen in love with you every day since we met.”
Heat bloomed under my skin—hotter, deeper than any Miami sun.
He kept talking, voice lower, as sincere as the day he’d made the deal to always tell me the truth if I did the same. “Though really? If we’re picking moments? It was the day you nailed Bones in the back of the head with the remote.”
A choked laugh ripped out of me. “He deserved it.”
“Uh-huh.” He grinned wider. “He did, but even when he threw you over his shoulder and carted you up the stairs, you didn’t give even an inch.”
Pride fisted inside of me. “I almost escaped.”
“You did.” He shook his head. “Gave me a heart attack when I realized you’d gotten out that window.” His lips still curved into that smile that he seemed to reserve only for me. “Took my breath away. Kept fucking stealing it too.”
Heat suffused my face and when he caught my hand in his, I interlaced our fingers.
“See, that was it. Right there. You didn’t let Bones intimidate you. You didn’t letanyof us intimidate you. And every time we pushed, you pushed back. You kept us honest.”
He paused, eyes softening in the fading light.
“You made us… better.”
For a second, the world went quiet—just the slap of palm fronds in the wind and Goblin’s happy little huff.
I didn’t know what to do with the tenderness in his eyes. I’d learned to read all their moods—Bones’ smoldering heat, Legend’s stormy intensity, Voodoo’s sharp amusement—but AB’s softness always hit different. It wasn’t loud. It wasn’t showy.
It was steady. Quiet. Like he’d opened a door that was for me alone.
Goblin tugged forward, spotting a lizard on the sidewalk, and AB chuckled. “Someone’s hunting.”
“Let him. He’s earned a hobby.”
We walked the next few blocks like that, before we began to circle around—hand in hand, breeze cooling the sweat at the back of my neck, Miami humming around us. We weren’t in any hurry, just a pair of lovers out for a stroll. It was kind of magical.
Finally, I said softly, “I think I fall a little more in love with you every day too.”
AB didn’t say anything for a moment. He just stopped walking, turned toward me, and kissed me—slow, careful, reverent. A kiss that saidI hear you. I feel it too. I’m here.
