Still, she clung to him, looping her arms around his neck with a whimper, face tilted up to his. How the fuck was he supposed to resist that, especially after days of needing her like oxygen?
“I’ve missed you,” she murmured against his lips.
“I’ve missed you, too, little girl.” He captured her mouth and kissed her deeply, slowly, drinking her in like he’d die without her.
Seth sidled up behind her, hands on her hips as he dropped a kiss to her shoulder.
They were whole, complete. Beck felt like he could breathe.
Together, they fell to the bed in a heap. He and Seth folded Heavenly between them like she was something precious. Because she was.
Three adults in a queen-size bed felt somewhere between ridiculous and impossible. It was a bit like cramming into a clown car—and he didn’t care. They made it work.
They always made it work.
Beck pressed his lips to hers again in a slow, tender kiss that had nothing to do with sex and everything to do with need.
Heavenly exhaled. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t be without you anymore.”
“I couldn’t sleep either,” Beck murmured against her mouth. “Close your eyes.”
“We’ve got you, angel,” Seth promised, his hand sliding over her hip to rest on Beck’s arm, anchoring them all together.
Gradually, they shifted until Seth ended up on his back with Heavenly tucked against his side, her head on his chest. Beck pressed against her back, one arm draped over both of them, his face buried in her hair.
It was cramped. The mattress wasn’t wide enough, and Beck didn’t dare move or he’d probably fall off the bed, ass first. But none of that mattered. This was what he’d been missing. The warmth of her body against his. The steady rhythm of Seth’s breathing. The way Heavenly’s hand found his and held on tight.
“Better?” Seth whispered.
“So much,” Heavenly breathed.
“Perfect.” Beck tightened his hold, feeling something in his chest unclench for the first time all night.
Seth lifted his head and stared at Beck. “Is it? Really? I feel like a sardine.”
“Thank fuck you don’t smell like one,” Beck quipped back.
Heavenly covered her mouth to muffle her giggle. Beck pressed his face into her neck, stifling his outright chortle. And Seth pressed his lips into a thin line, as if that could keep his bark of a laugh from escaping.
They lay tangled together in the dark, in the postage-stamp bed that was uncomfortable as hell. And for the first time since they’d arrived in New York, Beck finally felt like things were right.
He and Seth stayed like that, wrapped around her, both whispering soft reassurances until her breathing evened out and her body went slack with sleep.
Beck felt the exact moment she let go—the way her grip on his hand loosened, the small sigh that escaped her lips. He pressed one more kiss to her hair, careful not to disturb her.
Seth shifted slightly, adjusting his position so Heavenly was cradled more securely between them. His eyes met Beck’s over her shoulder in the dim light.
For a while, neither of them spoke. Just lay there, listening to her breathe, feeling the rise and fall of her chest.
Then Seth’s voice came, barely a whisper. “I couldn’t sleep either, so I’ve been thinking, trying to decide when and how to tell my mother. About us. About this.”
Beck’s entire body went still. His pulse kicked up, but he kept his breathing steady, his gaze locked on Seth’s.
The air seemed to leave the room—and his body—in a rush. “And?”
“I need to look her in the eye and tell her. I respect her too much to call her from the other side of the country. You know that.”
He’d said that before, and Beck had always thought it was a BS excuse…until he’d met Grace. “Yeah.”
