“Valentine’s Day.” I nod because I gave myself the deadline. And I barely made it.
“She’s yours tonight.”
He doesn’t need to mention it twice. I turn to the steps and start to jog up them.
“Seth?”
I pause in the middle and glance down at Raphael. He tips his hat to me. “Good work.”
“Thanks.”
It’s all I need. Hell, I don’t even need credit. Briella and I are very similar in some ways. We spent our lives searching for belonging. To know we’re wanted and needed.
As far as I was concerned, growing up in that hellhouse, I belonged to Rory the second he started bullying me. I smirk when I think about all those times. But when I showed up bloodied on his doorstep? And when he came back an hour later, even bloodier? Yeah, he belonged to me then.
And when Briella climbed out of that bone pit, I was hers. By tomorrow, she’ll know it.
I open the door to the bedroom. Quietly.
There she is. Fuck.
The moonlight casts silvery beams on her. She’s sprawled on her stomach, one leg kicked out, her cheek pressed into my pillow like she owns it—and she does.
I don’t move. Just stand there for a second, drinking her in.
All that strength and fire—and yet she sleeps like she knows the world won’t touch her when I’m near. It does things to a man.
And her laugh. Her smile with me. It’s the brightest she has.
That’s what guts me the most. The way she lets go around me. Utter trust. I don’t deserve her. But I’ll build a thousand more things with my bare hands just to try.
My heart thumps hard once, and I exhale slowly, grounding myself before I quietly shut the door and head for the bathroom.
I turn the water to hot, strip, and climb into the shower, gritting my teeth from the hot water as it washes away the woodshed smell. Feels like I’m trying to shed a weight off my shoulders, but it won’t budge?—
—until soft fingers touch me.
My body locks up, startled. “God!” I exclaim, then chuff a laugh, shaking my head. “Is it National Freak Seth Out Day?”
Briella giggles and presses her naked chest to my back while winding her arms around me. Love that little giggle.
“I couldn’t sleep.”
“Could’ve fooled me,” I say, my shaft twitching from her pierced tits softly rubbing my back.
“Are you okay?”
“Just dandy.”
“Seth…”
Ugh, scolding tone. I battle a groan and turn to her. Can’t help how hard I get. Her curls are slightly damp from the shower mist and the water transferred from my back. But she’s not soaked yet. With her purple hair…she kind of reminds me of a mermaid.
Despite the scolding tone, one corner of her mouth tugs softly to the side. A half smirk. She reaches to my side, and I flinch, brows furrowing until I see the body wash she’s holding.
She uncaps it, and I don’t fight her or so much as pull back when she lathers her hands and touches them to my chest.
“Come here.” The smile grows as she curves her finger. “I promise it’s not poison ivy oil.”
