Three years of wanting collapsed into this. Finally holding her in his arms and kissing her. He broke away only long enough to kiss her eyelids, her cheekbones, then found her mouth again.Worth the wait.Now he had time to learn her.
His hands left her hair and found both of hers, lacing their fingers together.
Arthur
Arthur closes around her from behind, arms settling at her middle.
The equation balances in a way it shouldn't. Random variables that somehow resolve to a whole number. No decimals. No rounding.
He holds on.Constant.
Dante
Dante tipped her chin up with two fingers and took his turn without asking. His kiss was unhurried.
Seven other men. One table. A contract he hadn't drafted, terms he hadn't set, a structure that answered to her.
He'd prepared for war. She'd handed him peace instead.
Jiro
Jiro's mouth brushed hers last, soft enough to feel like breath before it found tempo.
She signed. She'd stay. He'd earn the rest.
Mateo
She was warm in his lap and his hands were at her hips and he was still.
He loaded her fork without moving anything else. "Eat," he said. "You need food." She took it.
He'd known the way you knew a dish before you tasted it. You just knew. Last night he'd finally tasted it and it was exactly that. Better, even. A reduction was always better when you waited.
His thumbs moved slow against her hips. Around them the table was loud and full and his kitchen had never felt like this.
Not strangers. Family.He'd pulled it at exactly the right moment.
"More," he said, and loaded her fork again.
April
They talked about nothing, about everything. Liam told a story about his mother that made everyone groan. Jax showed them something on his phone that made Don Dante actuallysmile. Mateo's hand stayed warm on her hip, his thumb tracing small circles through the fabric of Arthur's shirt.
"Wait," Caleb said, squinting at Killian. "Did you actually cancel your morning meetings?"
"I rescheduled," Killian said.
"He canceled," Arthur corrected. "I saw the emails."
Somewhere across the table, another phone buzzed. No one moved to check it.
Jiro started humming something soft and Caleb harmonized without thinking about it. Arthur got up to make more coffee and kissed the top of her head as he passed. Killian's hand found her knee under the table, resting there.
They stayed.
EPILOGUE
April pushed open the door to Killian's house; their house, she corrected herself, though she still wasn't used to thinking of it that way, even after a year.
