Before I’ve opened the first, he’s raced around and collected all the others.
“Help me,” I beg him. And in his usual enthusiasm, he unpacks the gift bags in record time.
On my lap is a motley collection of blankets, towels, sheets, and even a rug in a muted rainbow of colors. The tears are falling, and I hide them.
“I don’t know how you found them, Quinn, but I’m glad you did,” Deena says, and her acceptance of my mates is a balm I didn’t realize I needed. “Now put everything back in the bags and get out of here. Marco and I will be fine. We’ve got everything we could possibly need.”
“Go! Go! Go!” Marco signs before shoving all my beautiful gifts back into the bags with the same gusto he used pulling them out.
With my arms full and my cheeks wet, Kade meets me at the front door. He’s showered and changed; the linen shirt he has on is in my favorite colour—stone gray.
“You look incredible,” he whispers, stealing the words I was going to say to him. “Let’s go.”
He takes my bags in one hand and holds my hand in his other. He twists over his shoulder, yelling back to Deena. “I’ll check in when I can!”
“What are we going?”
“Phase two.”
And then he doesn’t talk; he just walks me past the house and down the side of the small vegetable patch to the worn path to the creek. In summertime, Deena, Marco, and I spend time out here. Tonight, though, it looks completely different.
I splutter a messy sob as I take in what they’ve done.
“Don’t cry, Quinny.”
“Bit late for that, Kade!” I laugh before I break down again.
“Bebe, get your ass here now!” Santiago calls from the edge of the most beautiful, romantic, sweet setup ever.
“Did you rob a wedding shop?”
Sheer fabric hangs from fairy light strands, the two coming together to make a billowing and glittering roof that goes up and over an RV. From the strings, and between the draping fabric, hang strands of flowers.
Aleksei grins. “Not rob,maya, but we did buy everything inside their shop. It was small, I told them to expand. Same with the florist and the dollar shop.”
“The dollar shop?”
“Aleksei tried for couriers from Moscow and New York and Paris,” Santiago explains. “We had to make do with what’s in town. Next time, we’ll be better prepared.”
“Shut up!” I whisper. “I want this every time.”
Aleksei rolls his eyes, a dangerous smile playing on his mouth that makes him look more lethal than ever. “Come, wife, set your nest while you take my knot.”
My feet falter, but Kade grabs my hips as he steps behind me. He bends down and kisses my neck, right where their claim sits. It’s electrifying, and I undulate against him as rolls of warmth crash over me, spreading over each inch of my body.
He does it again, and my legs nearly give out. “Do you like that, Quinny?”
“Seems like,” I moan softly, pressing my hand to keep him there.
“What about if we take some of these clothes off? Although, Quinny, you wearing our clothes works too. Probably too much.”
Kade grabs my hand off his head and presses it over his hardness. “I’ve been cleaning with a hard-on. You know how difficult that is?”
I laugh, turning so he can kiss my mouth instead of my neck. I get a quick peck before he turns me forward again. “Go set your nest up with everything you’ve stolen.”
“Stolen?”
He steps away as he answers. “You didn’t even realize. Which makes it a hundred times better.”
