She turns her face into my palm. Presses a kiss there. The gesture is so tender, so trusting, that something in my chest tightens.
"Thank you." Her voice is barely a whisper. "For standing up to him. For not backing down. For choosing me."
"Always."
She lifts her face, and this time when she kisses me, it's not brief. Not a promise made in front of my brothers.
This kiss is everything. His mouth claims mine with a hunger that makes my toes curl, tongue sweeping in to taste and explore. My fingers tangle in his hair, pulling him closer, and he groans—a deep, rumbling sound that vibrates through my chest. His hands roam down my sides, fingertips digging into the soft flesh of my hips, and I arch into him, chasing the heat. I taste cedar and want and the faint hint of coffee on his tongue, and when he pulls back just enough to breathe, I chase his mouth, needing more.
Her lips part under mine. I taste salt from her tears, wine from dinner, and something underneath that's purely her. My control wavers. My hands tighten on her hips, pulling her closer until she's half in my lap.
"Sergio," she breathes against my mouth.
The sound of my name in that voice does something to me. Makes the ice I've kept wrapped around myself for years start to crack.
I kiss her harder. Deeper. My hand slides from her jaw to tangle in her hair, tilting her head back to give me better access. She gasps, and I swallow the sound, chase it with my tongue.
Her hands are everywhere. In my hair. On my shoulders. Sliding under my henley to find bare skin. Each touch sends electricity shooting through my nervous system.
"Your heat," I manage to say, even though every instinct I have to keep going. "It's coming soon. We should—"
"I know." She pulls back just enough to look at me. Her eyes are dark, pupils blown wide. "But right now, I just need you. Just this. Is that okay?"
How could it not be okay?
I cup her face in both hands and pull her back down to me.
We don't go further than kissing. Don't cross lines that should wait until she's certain, until her heat arrives and we can give her what she really needs. But we kiss until my lips are swollen and her hair is a mess. Until she's straddling my lap and I can feel the heat of her through our clothes. Until we're both breathing hard and my control is hanging by a thread.
She pulls back finally, forehead resting against mine, chest heaving.
"Wow."
A laugh rumbles out of me. "Wow?"
"I don't have better words." She grins, breathless and beautiful. "My brain stopped working somewhere around the second kiss."
"Good to know I have that effect on you."
"You have a lot of effects on me." Her fingers trace the line of my jaw. "You make me feel safe. And seen. And like I'm allowed to want things without apologizing for it."
My throat tightens. "You never have to apologize for wanting things. Not with us."
"I'm still learning that." She settles against my chest, tucking herself under my chin. "But I'm trying."
"That's all any of us can do."
We lie there in her nest, tangled together, my scent mixing with hers.
"Stay with me tonight?" Her voice is sleepy now, soft and content. "Just sleep. I just want you here."
"I'm not going anywhere."
I pull the blankets up around us. Settle deeper into the nest. Let my eyes close.
Tomorrow will bring new challenges. Callum won't give up easily. The town will talk. Her heat will arrive, and we'll have to figure out what that means for all of us.
But tonight, I hold the woman I love in a nest she built from pieces of us, and I let myself believe that everything is going to be okay.
