Heavenly couldn’t stand it anymore. Her men were hurting. Deeply. She needed to heal them—and she only had one thing she could possibly give them tonight.
Herself.
Finally, at one a.m., they pulled up in front of the Cooper house. Relief flooded Heavenly as Seth killed the engine. Since Carl and Grace were spending their wedding night at a hotel in the city, they had the house to themselves.
Beck could stop pretending. Seth could exhale.
And she could finally give them both what they needed.
They climbed out of the SUV. Hudson grabbed a box of leftover cake Grace had insisted they take home while Seth collected the gifts that hadn’t fit in Carl’s car.
Beck moved to the back, reaching for a box at the same moment Heavenly did. His hand closed over hers. Too tight. Then gone.
She glanced up and caught the rigid set of his jaw, the tension vibrating through him like a wire pulled taut. He wasn’t impatient. He was restrained—but the kind that frayed at the edges.
Heavenly let her fingers trail up his arm as she withdrew, slow and deliberate. Her silent way of telling him she saw him. She felt him. And soon, she could give him what he’d been denied.
Beck snapped his stare her way, dark and hungry, before he turned sharply and headed for the house.
Seth moved with his usual efficiency, gathering the last of the bags, but Heavenly knew him too well. His calm came from bracing, not peace. He was holding himself together by a thread.
It was going to snap. Beck’s composure, too. She could feel it.
Inside, Seth locked the doors and set the alarm. They deposited everything in the mudroom, then climbed the stairs together. Each step made Heavenly’s pulse accelerate. Anticipation coiled in her chest.
Soon…
Down the hall, Hudson paused at his bedroom door. “Night, guys.”
“Hey, Hudson Cooper,” Seth called softly.
“Yeah?”
“Sleep tight, son.”
A slow smile tugged at Hudson’s lips—pride and belonging wrapped in two words. “You too...Dad.”
“See you in the morning, kid,” Beck added, his voice rougher than usual.
“Today was a big day. Get some good sleep,” Heavenly murmured.
Hudson grunted in reply and nodded, then disappeared into his room. His door clicked shut.
An electric silence followed. The air between the three of them crackled.
They were finally alone.
Now she could begin making them whole again.
All of them.
Beck rolled his shoulders and flexed his hands like he was itching to touch her now that he was finally allowed to. “Inside.”
Heavenly swayed into the bedroom. Beck followed, hovering behind her as she removed her jewelry—earrings, necklace, engagement ring—and set them on the dresser. Seth entered behind them and closed the door.
They were alone.
Before she could turn around, Beck slid a thick arm around her waist and spun her to face him. Her heart skittered as he devoured her with a dark, desperate stare. The distant, polite mask he’d worn for Seth’s family shattered, replaced by a fierce, consuming gaze.
