It had to be ten or fifteen feet tall, and the bright green foliage was dotted with blooming white flowers, which should not have been so vibrant in winter.
“Ice!” Finley called, sounding happy. “My queen. There you are, darlin’.”
Swirls of desire and excitement kicked to life in my stomach. When he drawleddarlin’to me… on top of the full effect of those gorgeous eyes and dimples.
Lethal. Fucking. Combination.
“What’s happening, guys?” I asked, trying to sound casual, though I felt anything but.
Kenzo swayed forward and almost toppled down the stairs before he caught himself. “Fin brought you flowers,” he declared, puffed up like a proud parent.
Pressing my lips together as hard as I could, I tried not to let my laughter spill free. “I see that. Yourflowersare lovely, thank you, Grouchy.” Finley beamed, and I let loose a small chuckle before I got myself back under control.
“We need to find a thingy to put the thingy in—” The bear shifter said, swaying as he examined the thick base of the tree.
Don’t laugh. Don’t laugh.“Do you mean a vase?”
He fucking beamed again. “Oh, you are so smart, baby. Yes, a vase.” He glanced down and squinted at the base once more. “Or maybe a bucket? I’m not sure there’s a vase big enough for this one.”
“I think you’re right. It’s very impressive.” More laughter bubbled up inside, and I would pop soon if I kept holding it in.
Finley’s smile faded into the saddest expression I’d ever seen and I no longer wanted to laugh. “A simple bouquet of flowers was not enough,” he whispered, his gaze intense. I wasn’t sure he’d blinked since I opened the door. “You deserve the biggest flowers in the world. I’m so sorry I hurt you, baby. I’m so damn sorry. I have something else for you upstairs in my room with the magazines.”
My chest tightened at him calling mebabyagain. The first time I’d thought it had just slipped out, but he’d used it again, so casually. Not only that, but he’d also just confirmed he was the one to leave the magazines and origami. I’d suspected, of course, but it was nice to know for sure.
Kenzo snorted out such a loud laugh, that these idiots would wake up the street if they weren’t careful. “That’s a secret,” he boomed. “She’ll know you made her the origami too.”
These two were hilarious, and I was happy that I’d been out of bed to see them like this. Swaying together, holding a damn tree that would topple most shifters.
“Happy birthday, Kenzo,” I said, remembering why they’d gone out in the first place. “Do you want to come inside?”
He shook his head. “Nah, I’ve got two beauties waiting in bed for me. Which is exactly how one should end their birthday. But I’ll see you both at the family BBQ.”
He pointed slowly at Finley, and then slowly at me, before shaking his head like he forgot what he was saying. With a final slap on Finley’s shoulder, that sent the bear stumbling forwarduntil his tree got caught on the doorframe and rained white petals on us, Kenzo left.
My focus returned to Finley, who was patting me down with one hand, while the other clutched the stuck tree. “Oh, shit, sorry darlin’. I got you all dirty.”
Fuck me. His deep rumbly bear voice had my body waking up in a way that should be nearly impossible after the night I’d just had.
“You’re totally fine, Fin,” I said, helping him untangle from the doorway, so he could fit himself and his “flowers” in the house.
Together, we got the tree into the kitchen, and he waved off my help as he dropped it into the large sink, resting the branches against the windows. It was right around the time he started filling the sink to use as a vase that I lost it, leaning forward to laugh until tears ran down my cheeks.
Finley glanced over his shoulder, and his smile was soft as he watched me. “I love it when you laugh,” he whispered, his emotions blaring across his face. I read regret and despair and hope andloveall wrapped up in one longing stare. “Your eyes were so sad when you first arrived. Every time I looked at you, I drowned in your pain.”
That knocked the laughter from me. “Your eyes were the same,” I replied, my voice hushed. “I felt this instant connection, even as my heart ached.”
With the tree now chilling in the sink, water covering its roots, Finley headed toward me. He was so dirty that mud covered him from the ends of his boots to the tips of his forehead. He didn’t appeared to care as he wrapped his arms around me and hauled me up into him. “I missed you,” he breathed, burying his face into my throat. “Fuck, I missed you so much. Please don’t ever leave me. I swear to the goddess, I will follow you. I don’t even care if you go where it’s eternallysummer and they’ve never even heard of an ice rink. I’ll take up surfing, and we can live in the sand. Just please… please, darlin’. Please never leave me.”
Deep in my heart, I’d suspected that Finley would be the one to wreck me in a way I’d never recover from. He’d hated me so intensely, or at least he’d tried to, and it appeared he loved just as fiercely. When he was like this, with no pride or hurt feelings between us, I could admit that I loved him too.
I’d probably loved this asshole from the first second I stared into his eyes. Now that he was showing up in the ways I needed, I didn’t have to deny it any longer.
“I won’t leave you,” I promised, voice thick as tears hovered on the edge of my control. “Fin, I need you in my life. Now and always. I had no idea how truly broken and empty I was before I found this pack. You’re all—” I choked out a sob. “You’re the greatest fortune I’ve ever received.”
He wrapped himself tighter around me, as if we were imprinting into each other’s skin. I had grown more used to hugs, but there were times, like tonight, when it tore me apart once more.
My wolf howled and she was happy. So goddess be damned happy.
