Page 132 of Blissful Devotion

“Why did we land here?” I ask as we slip into the waiting car.

“Weather,” Vince answers from his seat behind the wheel, and the others nod or grunt in agreement.

Strange.

Addison talks about everything she wants to do while we're here. The food she wants, which is mostly ice cream, and of course swimming, which I’m not sure is warm enough for, but I’m just happy to be able to go out without five layers on, only to still freeze.

It’s not until we pull up in front of a house I’ve never seen before that I finally say something.

“What’s going on? Why are we here?” I look around and realize nothing else looks familiar either. “Where even is here?”

“Welcome home, My Queen,” Nathan says as he comes up behind me, wrapping an arm around my waist and pulling me flush against his chest.

“What?!” I spin in his grip so that we’re chest to chest, and when I look up, I find the sexiest little smirk on his lips. He hooks his finger under my chin, tilting my head back even further as he leans in.

“Think of it as a present for the future, Mrs. Lawson,” he says before he presses his lips to mine, and suddenly I’ve forgotten what I was just upset about.

By the time he pulls away, I’m dizzy and so fucking hungry for him.

“That’s cheating,” I whine as I slowly blink my eyes open and find him watching me with a self-satisfied smile that borders on cocky.

“Whatever works.”

He drops his hand and laces his fingers with mine as we follow the others into the new house.

“Fuck yeah, this was a good one,” Des yells from what I assume is the kitchen.

“You’ve never been here?”

“We bought it last year but haven’t had time to come out.” There’s no tone, no fingers pointed, but still Alex’s words hit me hard because I know I’m the reason.

“Sorry.”

“Don’t you dare.” Desmond’s voice startles me, and I look up to find him back in the room with a serious look on his usually laid-back face. “We bought it as an engagement present. One year or five, it just gave us time to get everything right.” He gives me his best smile, and I nearly melt, but I resist.

He holds my gaze as if daring me to argue, but I can’t. Hell, I can hardly keep myself from crying between his words and my guilt.

Wait…

I turn back to Nathan again, and I’m not even a little surprised when he reads the question on my face. I don’t know how he does it, but he always seems to know exactly what I’m thinking.

“That ring has been in my desk drawer for fifteen months.”

Well.

I’m not sure what to say to that, but I do finally lose the fight against my tears. One slides free, running down my cheek. His gaze follows the movement before he reaches out and brushes it away with a soft smile that I only ever see for the kids and me.

“I knew you were my queen from that first day at the school. I just needed to make sure you knew it so we didn’t scare you away.”

I give a watery laugh, reaching up to rest my hand on his that still holds my cheek so tenderly it’s almost enough to make me keep crying.

“Our Queen,” Alex says, and I feel him come up behind me, making our sweet moment a little something more.

I stand between them for a moment, my heart racing before I get a whiff of something that makes my stomach turn.

“Oh god, what is that?” I press my hand to my face, covering my nose and mouth.

“What?” Desmond asks, looking around, and the rest of them do too, but nobody seems to smell it.