Page 66 of Harper’s Renegades

Jaxson already had the door open, and we walked into the living room. The space was simple with white walls and a suede couch in gray tones, but it made it bright and cheery with all the windows. There was a kitchen and eating area to the left, so I assumed the bedrooms were to the right. Magnus deposited me on the couch and pulled a blanket off the back, tucking it around me.

“Don’t move,” he ordered, pointing a finger to make sure I understood.

“I’m a little queasy, not on my deathbed, all right,” I shot back. “Go do what you need to. I’ll be fine.”

The three of them split up and headed in different directions on their own mission without saying a word to each other. It was moments like this that I totally believed they had some triplet connection to each other. Or they’d just been together so long they had a system in place. Nah, triplet brain is a way better story.

I grabbed one of the pillows, tucked it under my head, and watched them move about the space. The creak and groan of the old floorboards told me where each one of them was. Granted, the home wasn’t overly large, but with each space having a door to it, I couldn’t always see what was going on.

Outside the windows, the sky was blue with puffy clouds drifting by, birds flitting to and fro. It made me wonder if they had a nest with eggs or if the baby chicks had hatched or not. I was losing track of all sense of time and the reality of the world around me. It was summer, but here the weather was milder and not at all as humid as Bali. I got up and unlatched the window, swung it open, and did it to a few others to create a cross breeze.

“Harper,” Magnus’s scolding voice echoed through the house.

How did that bastard know I’d moved? I didn’t make a sound.

“Just opened some windows. No need to yell. The neighbors will hear us now,” I hollered back.

Footsteps quickly followed, letting me know I was about to be scolded. Magnus appeared in the living room, arms crossed when he saw me standing. “What did I say?”

“I wanted some fresh air, so I opened a few windows.” I pointed. “Now I’m going back to the couch. Good Lord, what will you three be like if I actually get sick… or pregnant for that matter,” I muttered as I flopped back on the couch. “I’ve been sick plenty of times and dealt with it on my own. I mean, Dax would check in on me, and Wes might make me soup if it was bad, but I’ve been on my own most of my life.”

“Hate to break it to you, doll, but when you accepted that ring from us, government paper or no, you’re our responsibility. Sickness and health, richer or poorer, till death do us part and all that shit,” Magnus explained, sitting on the ottoman so we were almost eye level. “There is nothing on this earth we won’t do for you, and I’m sure you’ve already noticed we are protective as fuck, so I’d learn to get used to it.”

I reached out and placed my hands on his knees, looking up at him. “I get what you’re saying. Truly I do, but scolding me because I got up and opened a window isn’t the way to handle this. What if you guys go on a job, and I stay home and get sick?”

“Then we’d drop everything and come home,” he answered as if there wasn’t another option. He reached up and cupped my cheek. “When are you going to understand there is nothing more important to us than you?”

When they said things like that to me, it made my heart melt, and butterflies filled my stomach with the joy it brought me. Yet there was still a part of me that was scared this wouldn’t last and I’d be alone again. “Remember when you said you find it irritatingly sexy when I argue? I’m not going to be a yes girl all the time. In the bed, you can be my king, but in life, we are partners… right?”

Magnus groaned and pulled me off the couch to sit in his lap. “Now, who’s the one who is throwing my own words back at me?”

“I learn from the best,” I quipped, snuggling into him. “Rest with me? Let Ghost do all the work. He got to nap almost the whole way.”

“Hmm, that actually sounds pretty nice,” Magnus answered.

“But…” I said with a sigh, hearing the word dangling off that statement.

He shifted me, so I looked at him and pressed a kiss to my lips. “I need to make a quick stop at our supply warehouse first. Then I can come and join you. The other two will stay here with you, and I will be back as soon as I can.”

My bottom lip popped out as I did my best to give him a pout with puppy dog eyes. I even added a sniffle for extra measure.

“Doll,” Magnus groaned. “That is a dirty trick right there. What am I supposed to do when you look that sad?”

“Stay and cuddle with me. Then you can make sure I don’t get up and do unnecessary things around the house,” I said, wrapping my arms around his neck and running my nose along his. “Besides, you said we were just going to relax and what you said sounds an awful lot like work.”

“Evil, I tell you, evil,” Magnus muttered as he stood up with me clinging to him like a koala. “Fine, you win. I’ll go tomorrow.”

“Yes,” I cheered as he carried me into the bedroom.

This bed was half the size of the one in Bali, and there was no way it was going to fit all four of us. Three would be pushing it, four, not a chance. “I’m guessing there is a second bedroom?”

“This is the spare room. The other room has a bigger bed, but napping in here means I might get you to myself.” Magnus purred as he settled us on the bed, placing his head right between my boobs.

“You are such an asshole sometimes.” I giggled.

“Hmm,” Magnus hummed, already starting to drift off. “But I’m your asshole.”

I brushed my fingers through his hair smiling. “Yes, you are, Maggie. You absolutely are.”