“Hey, Starlight.”
I smile, feeling a rush of warmth flood my chest. “Starlight? You haven’t called her that before.”
“Not out loud. I guess I wanted to test it out. I call you Little Borealis so . . . Starlight feels like her.”
I press my hand over his. “It does. It’s a perfect nickname.” I run the tip of my nose over his scruff. “Now, about that kiss.”
His eyes darken as they meet mine, his fingers finding their way to my hair, and I melt into him. The gentle twist of his fingers inside my hair sends currents down my spine as hismouth claims mine, sure and insistent. I tilt my head, letting him deepen the kiss, hungry for more of his taste, the delicious scrape of his scruff against my skin, and the way his heartbeats quicken underneath my palm.
When he groans, I swear the sound travels straight through me, settling deep inside my chest where it mingles with all the love I have for this man.
We’re both breathless when our lips part, our foreheads resting against each other as our breaths collide. I can’t help the soft laugh that bubbles out of me. “How do you make every kiss feel like that?”
“Like what?”
I shake my head, searching for the right words. “Like I’ve just run every red light and somehow made it out alive.”
He chuckles. “I guess you can add that to my repertoire of all the reasons you’re with me.”
“You mean right next to the orgasms and foot rubs?”
“Precisely.” He looks into my eyes for a long moment, his thumb tracing my jaw. “I love you.”
I place my hand right above his heart, feeling its steady and solid rhythm beneath my palm.Here with me.“We’re a forever kind of thing.”
A hint of surprise flits across his features, noting I said the words he’s been whispering for weeks, before they soften and his lips find mine again. “That we are, Little Borealis.”
thirty-one
nisha
You Might Have Competition
“Hey, assholes? The lights are about to dim so, look over here, will you?” Dean yells, holding his phone camera high for a selfie so it can catch the entire row of us. “Now, everyone say, ‘Troy’s nipples are the sweetest’!”
Troy groans, dropping his head into his hands, making a few of us giggle.
“What is wrong with you?” Mala hisses through her laughter, smacking Dean’s thigh.
“Oh, come on,” Dean fires back. “Don’t act like anyone here hasn’t thought about his nips.”
“Can’t say that I have,” Hudson drawls from a few seats over, sitting hand-in-hand with Kavi.
“Oh, that’s right. I forgot you’re loyal to Patton’s nips.” Dean looks at Mala, grinning. “Not sure if I ever told you, Sprinkles, but our geriatric friend here has ‘Team Patton’ tattooed on his ass cheek.”
Hudson doesn’t miss a beat. “Right alongside your mom’s name.”
Kavi shakes her head, pressing her fingers to her lips to cover her laughter while the group erupts.
“Watch it, asshole,” Garrett says, pointing at Hudson. “She’s my mom, too.”
Dean flexes into his phone’s camera. “But she loves me more since I inherited all the good genes.”
“Weird, because I inherited all the brain cells,” Garrett deadpans.
“You mean the three you have?”
Piper snorts next to Dev, looking over at Darian, who’s snuggled under a blanket with Rani. “Dar, I don’t envy you growing up with these two as older brothers.”
