She didn’t sayeven if they don’t like me,but it was there, her insecurity threaded through every word. Even if they didn’t make space for her, she wouldn’t ask me to give them up.
But that wasn’t how they worked. They could be stubborn, protective in ways that left their mark, but they didn’t turn their backs on the ones who mattered. And Finley mattered to me. Everly had more than softened to her and treated her like she’d been part of our group all along. Alastor was as friendly as he was to anyone new in our group, in his own strange but comforting ways. And Teddy . . . Teddy would probably throw a party and shove a mimosa in her hand before Finley got through their door.
Because the truth was, once they gave her a chance, they’d see what I saw. The stubborn, fierce, beautiful way she burned. The way she carried so much in her heart. And they’d make room for her. Not because I asked it of them, but because she would carve out her own space simply by being herself.
“They’ll welcome you,” I said, certain. “You’ll probably have to hold Teddy back with a shield, especially once she gets to know you. And Etienne, he’s a part of you.” My hand circled her wrist, and I brushed my thumb across her skin. “So he’s a part of this.” I smirked. “Whether he wants to be or not.”
Her laugh slipped out as if it’d surprised her. She tipped her head, her eyes glistening. “No one could ever love me the way you do. Thank you for making room for Etienne too.”
I dipped my head to kiss along her jaw and down the curve of her neck. “Lolli,” I murmured, voice low. “I already told you, you don’t have to give him up for me. If he’s important to you, then he’s important to me. That’s just how it is.”
Her fingers traced over the muscle of my arm, a light touch that skimmed up the curve of my neck only to get lost in my hair.Her touch melted through the edges of everything heavy until all I felt was her.
“You know,” she said, voice soft but wickedly sultry. “I added something to my list yesterday. Something you can mark off with me right now, if you want to.”
A slow grin tugged at the corner of my lips despite the weight of today. “Oh yeah?” I rasped, the sound catching at the back of my throat.
She nodded, her nose brushing mine. “Making out on the beach.”
My laugh came out rough. It quieted when I slid a hand up and pushed her shirt over her shoulder. I lowered my head to press slow, open-mouthed kisses along the column of her neck and across her shoulder. “Tell me,” I whispered across her skin. “Is getting sand in unmentionable areas part of that list, too?”
She let out a soft, bubbling laugh. “Would that really be a bad thing? Think of all the ways you’ll have to clean me up afterwards.
“Dangerous words, Lolli.” My lips skimmed back up. Along the line of her jaw, until her laughter melted into a shiver.
Her fingers slid back into my hair, her nails grazing my scalp. A deep sound rumbled from my chest in answer. She made one too, a quiet, breathy purr that wrapped around me and dragged me under.
I traced the outline of her body until I reached her waist. I tipped her back onto the sand, lowering her carefully. She laughed again when her back hit the ground, but the sound quickly dissolved to a gasp when I followed her down.
The kiss I pressed along the corner of her mouth was nothing short of a tease. Just enough to make her chase me for more.
She arched against me, her nails digging deeper into my scalp. I groaned at the sound she made when I nipped at her pulse against her throat.
“Brenton.” The way she whispered my name was my undoing, all wrapped up in a single breath.
I kissed her again. Harder, deeper. She opened for me, and the world around us faded away.
But then she pushed at my shoulder, laughing when I inched away. With that wicked smile in place, she flipped us over with a quick twist of her hips. I hit the sand with a soft thud, grinning up at her as she straddled me, her hair falling onto my face.
“Always my damsel,” she whispered against my lips.
“Always.”
Her lips moved slowly, and I savored how soft and right they felt moving against mine. While the kiss started tender, it quickly grew hungrier. Our tongues tangled, and I swallowed the whimper she made as her fingers dug possessively under my shirt and across my chest.
Wanting more, I framed her face and kissed her, a scorching kiss that had her pressing into me, her kisses just as frantic. My head was lost in a haze of lust. I needed her. All of her.
My hand slipped beneath the hem of her shirt, where I rubbed lazy patterns against her skin. Her hips rocked against mine, the breath between us thick with want. I could taste her laughter on my tongue, could feel the way her heartbeat raced to match my own.
I wanted her. Every damn inch of her. But I wanted her to decide when she’d let me give her everything. Not because she felt she had to. I wouldn’t take anything less than exactly what she wanted.
Chapter
Thirty-Two
BRENTON
With Finley’smagic bound to our bond, I could feel the way death still hung on to Alastor. I’d felt it the day he’d collapsed, and I felt it now, cold and thin, like a ribbon wrapping around him tighter and tighter. Like he had one foot in the astral realm and another somewhere in between.
