Total pages in book: 162
Estimated words: 165618 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 828(@200wpm)___ 662(@250wpm)___ 552(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 165618 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 828(@200wpm)___ 662(@250wpm)___ 552(@300wpm)
I accepted his invitation.
He grabbed our glasses, handed one to me, then tucked me up against his side.
Hmm.
This felt nice.
We sipped.
We stayed snuggled.
We sipped some more.
But…
“Now what do we do?” I asked.
He looked down at me. “Do?”
“Make up. Check. Break the sex seal. Check times two. Make future plans. Check.” I pushed slightly away (only slightly because that was as far as he’d let me go). “Oh shit. Are we going to be one of those couples who have nothing in common unless we’re fucking or fighting?”
That brought me a new grin.
It was roguish.
I liked it.
“Would that be a problem?”
Ulk.
“Gross. You are such a male.”
“I didn’t hear you complaining about it when you were attempting to inhale my cock on your couch.”
“Something to know about me,” I warned. “I’m not into the recounting thing.”
“So you don’t want to know how I’ve discovered I love the taste of your cunt?”
I punched him in the gut then became fascinated by how the boxes there grew more defined when he tensed against the blow.
And all right, so I didn’t hit him hard.
I still wasn’t delighted that my blow only made him chuckle.
So now I was angrily snuggling and sipping wine.
Gods!
We were so totally going to be one of those couples who did nothing but fight and fuck.
Tanyn proved this by nosing my hair aside so he could work behind my ear with his lips.
I shivered.
“Drink up, Catla,” he said in my ear.
I chugged my wine.
He chuckled again, and I didn’t mind it this time, because I felt it against my skin.
Ten minutes later, his glass was empty too, but I was still tasting wine.
On his tongue.
Oh well.
So we were going to be fuckers/fighters.
I could live with that.
The lights of Nocturn casting their glow into the room, my eyes were drooping, my body was replete, my male was tucked to my back, his arm around me (this being a way better way to sleep with Tanyn), when the most important reason he came down to Night’s Fall was whispered into the back of my hair.
“I do see you, Catla.”
My eyes stopped drooping because I closed them tight.
“I had you. I blew it. Because I tightened my grip,” he kept whispering.
He did.
The bedroom thing needed to be my idea.
Or, at least, we needed a conversation about what was next after the trial, with that being part of it, and me having a say in it.
Because I needed to be involved in the decisions around my own destiny.
It either had to be my choice, or our conclusion, or our compromise.
“And I blew it by picking the absolute worst moment to assert something you were already well aware of,” I admitted. “I knew it immediately. I should have—”
He gave me a squeeze to shut me up, something I did, and he said, “No ‘should haves.’ It’s done. We both fucked up. We’ve both owned it. Now, we’re moving on.”
I could totally do that.
“I choose you,” I whispered, and I felt his hold on me convulse. “And hopefully, we’ll figure it out.”
He pulled me closer and said, “We’ll figure it out.”
There were still obstacles in our path.
We both knew it.
But now, it was a path we both wanted.
So not only could I live with it.
I was looking forward to what we’d find around the next bend.
The lift door opened, my demon security male had a look inside my flat, but I saw Hurley bounding to me.
“It’s clear,” I heard Tanyn say.
I wandered in drunkenly, which made bending to give Hurley some pets nearly take me off my feet.
“Bloody hell, what’d they do to you?” Tanyn asked.
“Me. Relax. Good,” I said right before I collapsed on the couch with my head on Tanyn’s thigh.
He was watching some ring ice game on the screen.
He called out to pause the play and looked down at me.
“Are you okay?”
“Mega,” I pushed out.
He studied me.
Hurley jumped up on the couch to sniff me.
“Down, boy,” Tanyn ordered.
Hurley jumped down.
“No. Home. Couch. Okay. For. Dog,” I said.
“Fuck,” Tanyn whispered, that whisper shaking with humor.
I tried to whistle to get Hurley back.
I failed.
“Hup,” Tanyn said.
Hurley jumped up.
I flung an arm around him.
He licked my neck.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone this relaxed,” Tanyn noted.
“Mon. Spa. Best.”
He burst out laughing.
I was not so far gone I didn’t watch him do it, because I’d never seen him do it.
It was…
Farging.
Inspirational.
I lifted a hand and touched his lips with my fingers so I could feel it as well as see it.
He directed shining eyes to me.
“Your laugh is beautiful too.”
His eyes darkened.
And that was beautiful too.
“Talked to Zyr and Manny. Confirmed the weekend after next,” he told me after I took my hand away.
“Awesome.”
“They also want you to think about doing Dead Winter at Sigil.”
Oh dear.
“Just think about it,” he said.
“Mom and Dad and I do it up big.”