As soon as I reach her, I scoop her up, palm her head, and crash my lips to hers. She gasps into my mouth, like I’ve stolen her breath, but my tongue continues probing for another few beats. Soon, she relents, purring in response, weaving her fingers into the hair at the nape of my neck, and hooking her legs around my waist.
When I’m only mildly satisfied—because I’ll never get enough of her—I peck her nose. “Good morning, Mrs. Reynolds. I missed you.”
She smiles, bright and gleaming, and her green-hazel eyes, which have a grayish-blue tint today, brim with astonishment. “Good afternoon, hubby,” she whispers against my lips. “It wasn’t a dream, huh?”
“It was,” I reply. “The kind that’s real.”
“That’s awfully optimistic of you, sailor. What happened to the burn?”
I have been a doomsdayer with her, which, in many regards, is completely warranted. But the tranquility I felt while buried inside her last night and the peace of my family being here, of standing my ground, and doing this ridiculous loyalty test on my terms—it’s freeing. And I want to give her the world.
“We still have to burn, baby girl. But I bought us some time, and reinforcements are here.”
She giggles. “I don’t know what any of that means, but lucky for you, I prefer not to think things through.”
A quality that is both endearing and terrifying, but I suppose it has worked in my favor.
“You taste like butterscotch already,” I say as I carry her through the kitchen to make her a plate. The itch of everyone’s eyes boring into us is palpable, but I forge ahead.
She laughs. “I heard the voices, so I needed my own reinforcements to fend off my crazy.” Twisting to peer directly at the family peanut gallery, she acts like she’s whispering while actually raising her voice. “I should probably acknowledge them though. They’re all frozen and staring.”
With that, I set her on her feet, and she shuffles over to dole out hugs and smart-ass remarks, but Liam sidles up to me.
“Christ, man.” He blows out a ragged breath and squeezes my shoulder. “That was good to see. It’s about goddamn time you got the kind of win you deserve.”
There’s so much emotion escorting that, pinching my lungs, but in true Liam fashion, he swivels to Rena, who is hovering near the island, chatting with the girls.
“So, Noire,” he starts, gearing up for a taunt, “you were able to accommodate that big motherfucker? I mean, he’s got a superhuman dick. It’s practically monster porn.”
That garners expletives and snorting cackles from the rest of the room, but Rena doesn’t miss a beat.
Her eyebrows dart for the sky, her piercing twirling as they scrunch. “No shit. And it’s freaking bedazzled, which, of course, I admire. But c’mon. That thing is no joke. I might be a shapeshifter, the way I molded right to him.”
Liam howls, rounds the island, and sweeps her into his arms. “Fucking priceless. You are exactly what this guy needs.”
“Can we circle back to the bedazzled comment?” Gage bellows. “What in the hell is a bedazzled dick?”
“Pierced. A reverse Prince Albert. He did it last year,” Ivy supplies, swaying her little bundle to and fro.
My eyes widen in alarm as I halt my meal-making mission. “How the hell do you know that?” And shifting my focus to Wells, I tack on, “This insider’s info doesn’t earn a snappedIvanna?”
“I already knew,” he says, waving me off with a twitchy grin. “Bold move.”
Gage scratches his chin. “I think maybe we’re too fucking close.”
“Agreed,” I huff.
“You did it at La Lune Noire.” Ivy beams proudly and winks at me like she’s privy to the deeper reasoning. “Those guys tell me everything.”
I set a stern gaze on her. “Which one told you?”
She hems and haws but eventually comes out with it. “Jax. Out of all of them, that’s the best-case scenario. No big deal. He runs the shops, and I noticed you snuck in there during one of our lunches, so I probed.”
Rena hides her face in her hands in outright hysteria. “Jax knows Ty’s cock is pierced? Awkward.”
“Our chitchat always veers to such bizarre topics,” Celeste mutters.
“Courtesy of your husband,” Wells grumbles back to her. “Like herding fucking cats.”
