“I love you, you bastard!” She pushed at my chest, heaving with anger. Finally—fucking finally—I was able to draw an emotion out of her. “Like you needed to hear it to know it to be true. It’s always been you. There was never anyone else. You completely dismantled my life, and still, the brightest moments of each of my days were knowing you were there, lurking, watching, yearning.”
I stepped into her face. “You liked driving me insane?”
“Yes!” She pushed me harder. “It was the only indication I had that you still cared.”
“Of course I cared.” I bared my teeth. “Every moment you weren’t mine felt like trying to survive underwater.I love you,” I asserted.
“I love you too, asshole.”
“Are you ever going to listen to a simple instruction?” I clutched her waist. She melted into me immediately. I loved that she did that now. Let herself be vulnerable. Or simply not as tough all the time.
“Probably not.” At least she had the decency to make an apologetic face. “It’s ingrained in me. The need to rebel burns through me. I don’t think I’ll ever get rid of it.”
I dipped my head to kiss her. “I don’t know what I did to deserve falling in love with a woman so maddening.”
She sighed. “Well, youdidkill a bunch of people, trafficked drugs, meddle in?—”
I pressed a finger to her mouth. “Shh. It was a rhetorical question.”
She grinned up at me, and I kissed her again. I couldn’t stop.
She was too delicious, too sweet.
And too temporary, unless I found a way to lock this shit down.
Chapter Fifty-Six
Tierney
The next day,I came home from therapy, and a feral need to do something nice for Achilles slammed into me.
I didn’t know where it came from or how to stop it. It was like a volcano erupting out of nowhere.
I did kind things for people I loved all the time. I had nurtured Lila, my sister-in-law, back to health when she was starving herself during those first few months of her marriage. I had held Tiernan’s hand, day in and day out, when he was feeling suicidal, watching his chest move every night to make sure he was still breathing.
But I never made a big deal out of it and never considered it a show of my loyalty and affection. I took care of people around me not because I wanted to be nice or kind, but because I loved them so much I couldn’t bear the idea they were hurting or suffering.
This was different.
IwantedAchilles to know I was making an effort.
I wanted to show him that all of his hard work and efforts weren’t for nothing. That I was cracking, melting, warming to the idea of being domesticated after years of acting like my only chance at freedom was to be as feral and combative as possible.
Since I was hardly traditional wife material, I was short of ideas. Pacing the living room, I tried to think of ways to make him happy that didn’t include wrapping my legs around his waist.
I could shop for him, but Achilles had a unique style that wasn’t necessarily predictable. Every piece of clothing he donned looked exactly right on him, even though he could wear a tailored suit one day and shorts and hoodie the next.
I could take a pottery or art class with him, but he’d hate every minute of it and just pretend to be happy to appease me, and I didn’t want that.
There was only one stereotypical womanly thing I knew how to do and very well—cook.
I was very good in the kitchen. First, because I spent time in rather interesting places while Tiernan and I were on the run from Igor before we were reunited with Tyrone. Second, because I was the only female in the household growing up, and more than me caving to societal norms, I recognized that all the Callaghan men were simply awful at making food and didn’t want everyone starving to death.
Knowing Achilles enjoyed home-cooked meals, I made sweet couscous with raisins and a hearty lamb and vegetable stew. Then, I realized he might want a bit of street food, so I fried some stuffed sardines.
When the clock hit seven o’clock and he still wasn’t home, I decided I had time to bake him a dessert and made him my famous date cookies.
At eight thirty, he walked through the door. By then, I was surrounded by dishes and fragrances of spices and baked goods. I also looked a little disheveled from all the hard work. I grinned at him in welcome. “Hey!”
