Page 198 of The Defiant Curse

This was the wildcard he’d married almost sixteen years ago.

“Are there dick exercises? I thought just using it was sufficient. Maybe someone should have told me that about thirty-five years ago when I started using it to impress the ladies.”

Elizabeth winked at him.

“We’ll go over that later. For now, husband, get me up there.”

As he sat in the chair, she climbed onto it behind him and then sat on his shoulders. Once she was in place, Ethan stood up and carried her toward the fireplace.

The whole time, Michael spotted them. The last thing he wanted to do was report to Gene that he’d let them get hurt. That would probably not end well.

“Don’t. Fall. Into. The. Fire,” Michael warned, punctuating each word because it was important they didn’t do that.

It wasn’t easy letting the man handle it.

Michael was accustomed to guarding. Now, he was playing spotter.

As for Ethan, he was good.

Elizabeth didn’t weigh much, and it made him feel better knowing he could still carry his wife around like this.

Like he used to.

Her faith in him made him want to have even more faith in her. Going forward, he wanted a return to their early days, where it was them against the world.

AS.

A.

TEAM.

Elizabeth got closer, and as she did, she was at eye level with the painting.

Well, more like with Ceit’s boobs.

And that’s when she saw it.

“Her necklace is a heart!” she admitted. “It’s shaped like a freaking heart, Fred!”

Below her, Ethan laughed.

“Good catch, Daphne.”

Only, they didn’t get to say more. Behind them, they heard footsteps.

“I heard talking,” Gabby admitted. “I couldn’t sleep,” she admitted.

Then, she saw what they were doing.

And clearly lost her mind.

“BITCH! ARE YOU INVESTIGATING WITHOUT ME, DAPHNE?”

From where she sat on Ethan’s shoulders, that made Elizabeth laugh.

How could it not?

Had anyone else in the world called her bitch, under any other context, she would have punched them in the face. This was clearly not one of those moments.