“Meanin’?”
“Meaning…” I sighed. “I’m the only woman you’ve ever been with. I might get old…well, Iamgonna get old someday.” I looked away from him. “Then Mini Storm Eyes is going to show up at my door and wreck my entire life. All those years and what I thought to be true.” I sighed wistfully, then wiped at my eyes.
“I don’t recall anyone named Storm Eyes, but she’s not goin’ to wreck anythin’ of yours.”
“She might if you decide someday that I’m not enough. If separation can happen to Robert and Delaney, it can happen to anyone. He’s been going ondates.”
“So you said. But last I checked, my name is Cian Cillian Cian and yours is Maeve. We’re not Robert and Delaney.”
I went to open my mouth, but he put his hand over it. It was stuck in an “O” position, but I was too numb to really tell.
“So…what you’re saying to me is…I’ll be enough?” I mumbled around his palm. “Even when you rule Boston? Even when I’m old and—”
He leaned forward and kissed me. He kissed me until I couldn’t breathe.
“What I’m sayin’ is that you’re all of my story, even the end of it.” He grinned at me. “You’re fuckin’ cute when you’re intoxicated.”
I sighed. “Have you ever drunk this much?”
“I drink this much every day.”
“You do?” I hiccupped.
He gave me one of those blinding smiles. “You intoxicate me, Maeve, but with none of the sickness that comes with it.”
“Ah,” was all I could think to say. Then I tried to jump down from the counter, but I only hit my back. Cian seemed to know what was happening, because he brought me to the toilet, and I retched into it. He held my hair and was fanning my neck. He also brushed my teeth, undressed me, kissed my cheeks, and held me tight in the darkness.
When I could, I held him back. “I understand what you meant earlier,” I whispered. “I only want to be drunk on you too. It’s so much better than this.” I climbed on top of him, needing to feel the connection move through me. After I was coated in sweat and all my insecurities were exhausted, I fell asleep in his arms, drunk on him.
Chapter29
Maeve
Either my heart had made it into my brain and was pounding against my skull, or I was having a killer headache. Probably the latter, all thanks to the booze I’d consumed the day, or night, before. I groaned when I turned over and ran into a solid wall.
My husband’s chest.
I was hoping he’d just hook my eyelids and pull them up for me. It felt like peeling paint when I tried to open them. The sun was so bright, and it filled our room like it had nowhere else to shine. I hissed out a breath and then immediately closed my eyes. I lifted a hand against it and cursed myself for being a glutton.
Raspy laughter fanning over my face forced my eyes open.
“How are you feelin’?”
“Like that red wine I drank might have actually been vampire blood, and now I am one. Why is it so bright in here?”
Cian moved slowly and closed all the shades. He slipped back into bed just as slowly, and I was thankful for it. I was also thankful for the dimness of the room. My corneas weren’t on fire anymore.
Cian ran a finger over my forehead. “You have such an imagination.”
“A side effect from reading so many books. That’s how I got the idea about the vampire blood and red wine. Read it once. It’s how the vampire tricked the woman he fell for into accepting him. If she didn’t drink some of his blood, he couldn’t turn her. It wasn’t a conventional vampire book, but it was good. And my dad…well, enough said.” My jaw clenched and I took a breath. Then I heard shouting. “Is that…” I took another breath. “Delaney and Robert?”
Cian nodded.
“What…?” Last night came rushing back to me, how I’d been honest with Cian about my insecurities, and I had a feeling my husband had meddled. “You brought Robert here, didn’t you? Because I was feeling insecure?”
He nodded. “It’s not what you think between them.”
“Did you lock them in the room or something?” His face answered for him. “You didn’t!”
