“No, none of it,” he confirmed. “Just you and me, taking it exactly how we’d like to.”
“Even that sounded dirty out of your mouth,” I said. “But I’d like that.”
The relief in his smile was instant. He pulled me closer to him, his other hand going to my cheek. Even gloved, I could still feel the warmth through the slight scratch of the wool. “I’ve missed you pretty moon,” he said against my lips.
“It’s only been a few days,” I pointed out. Whether those few days had also felt like years to me.
“And it was a few days too many to be away from the woman I love,” he said.
I Paused. “Love?”
He seemed to let it slip unintentionally, but once the surprise cleared from his expression, sureness took its place. “Yes. Love.”
He tilted my chin a bit further and brought my lips to his. It felt as magical as our first kiss, and all the ones since. The emotions I was trying to hold back since the beginning flowed through me like a dam bursting. I’d never felt this strongly about anyone.
When we pulled away, I was breathless.
“Woah,” Ellery said, his eyes slightly wide.
“What?”
“Babe, you’re glowing.”
“What?”
I looked at my hands, and sure enough, there was a slight white glow around my them.
“Whoops,” I said, shoving my hands behind my back like it would hide it. Though I was sure it was my entire body. I flushed in embarrassment.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “Geez, I haven’t let my magic out because of emotions since I was a child.”
He smiled, curling one of my locks of hair between his fingers. “I like it. I make you so happy you’re glowing. Literally. How many men can say that?”
I shoved his shoulder lightly. “Don’t get a big head about it.”
I took a moment to concentrate on the place my magic was flowing from. Most magic could only be used with a spell, but sometimes it dripped out during strong emotions, or when not used enough, so it just needed some concentration to stop.
“I’m going to need you to do that in bed later.”
I giggled at him. I’d never giggled before meeting him, but it was something I also did now on top of glowing apparently.
“Speaking of, are you busy after this? I would love to take you to dinner. And maybe some after dinner.” He winked at me with implied meaning.
“I would like that,” I said. “We should probably tell Arthur so he can go.”
“Oh, he left already,” Ellery said.
“What?”
“Yeah, when he came back, he told me he wasn’t going to wait for me to finish groveling, and if you rejected me, getting home was my own problem.”
My jaw hung open. “I’d like to say I’m surprised, but I’m not.”
“Me either,” he huffed. He gestured and we walked back to the parking lot now that I was no longer glowing. “I still can’t believe that robot is having a kid.”
I bumped him again. “He’s not a robot, and I think he’s going to be a great dad.”
“I think so too,” Ellery said softer now. “I feel like I’ve learned a lot about him this trip. More than I’d known before. He’s always been so far under our father’s thumb I thought he would turn out just like him, but it seemed he instead learned how to be different.”
