Brayden grinned, showing his straight white teeth. “Because I love you before you even know that I exist.”
A whimper left my throat the same time his lips crashed into mine and he inhaled the sound. Need blossomed inside of me and I unclipped the seatbelt, leaning into his kiss. Our tongues crashed together in a heated passion I’d dreamed about over the past year but never allowed myself to believe would happen. He reached out and grasped my hips, lifting me up as I crawled over the center console and straddled him.
“I missed you,” he huffed as his hand slid up the back of my shirt, reaching for my bra strap.
He had no idea how much I missed him. I was about to tell him as much when a loud bang came at the window, causing us both to jump. I yanked my face away from his to see Artemis breathing into the window with the angriest expression I’d ever seen.
“He’s really taking this father figure thing seriously.” Brayden cleared his throat, pulling his hands out of my shirt and holding them up like Artemis was pointing a gun to his head.
The door popped open and I stepped out, crawling off of Brayden, mortified, and wishing for a quick and painless death.
Artemis looked at me. “Averly, I’ve made your bed up in my room. I think you should tuck in now and get some rest.”
I groaned. “Seriously, dude?”
Dudewas the wrong term. I could have sworn some black smoke lifted off his shoulders.
“Night,” I told them both and booked it for the house.
Holy crap. He knocked up my mom, missed twenty years of my life, and now he’s psycho protective dad!
This was the worst.
After brushing my teeth way too hard out of anger, I opened the door to Artemis’ room and rolled my eyes. In front of the bed was a small cot where Artemis was clearly planning to sleep in order to keep Brayden and I away from each other. A chuckle sounded behind me and I spun, seeing Brayden standing there.
“This isn’t funny!” I told him.
Brayden wiped the smile off his face and then nodded. “In the Ether Realm, a woman’s marriage prospects are diminished by certain… premarital activities. He’s just protecting you.”
“Well, this is Earth. Welikethose activities,” I argued.
Brayden’s eyes flashed yellow. “I have spoken to your father and I have respected his wish that we remain chaste until…”
My heart hammered in my chest. “Until?”
He ran a hand through his hair. “Do you want a big proposal and ring and all that, because I can—”
“No,” I cut him off. “I just want to be your wife.”
I already felt like his wife, that was the crazy part.
He looked relieved. “I wasn’t sure if it would be too fast since you don’t have all of your memories.”
I shook my head.
Brayden leaned forward, kissing my cheek. “I’ll dream about you.”
A throat cleared behind him, and Brayden pulled away to see Artemis standing there with narrowed eyes.
Brayden grinned at the Elder Fae. “Goodnight, sir.”
Sir.
Artemis seemed to like that way of being spoken to and nodded.
Oh kill me now.I’d pined over this guy for a year, and we finally get together and my illegitimate father had become my chastity belt?Awesome.
I stepped into the room and climbed into bed. “You know, I don’t need a nanny. I’m twenty.”
