40. Chapter 40
Chapter 40
Sylvie
A delivery of two dozen giant sunflowers arrived shortly after we’d cracked open Ezra’s whiskey.
The stunning bouquet didn’t have a card, and I turned to Ezra. “Do we have a funeral this afternoon I’ve forgotten about?” He shook his head. When the next delivery of sunflowers arrived a few minutes later, I sensed a pattern.
Declan stared at the beautiful arrangements, my little bouquet looking small and sad next to them. “Does Drakos know your mom loved sunflowers?”
I shook my head. “I don’t think so. I never told him.”
When the third arrangement arrived, I was a little drunk and emotional. Leaning against Ezra’s shoulder, I stared at the varying shades of yellow. “How did he know?” I asked softly.
“I’m not sure, but it's not surprising. That man loves you.” The front door opened, and I looked over to see Drakos and Fenn walk in.
He wore a charcoal gray suit with a maroon and gray striped tie, his black hair glinting in the morning light. I wanted to turn my head into Ezra’s warm, comforting chest and hide my tears again, but Drakos’s worried frown stopped me. He walked over and stood in front of us. “Are you alright?”
“How did you know?” I asked softly.
“About Whitlock or your mother?”
“My mother.”
He gently took my wrist and pulled me into him. “Luna told me this morning. I would’ve spent the day with you if I’d known.” Fenn watched us cautiously as if he expected me to start bawling.
“The sunflowers are from you.”
Drakos nodded, and I wrapped myself around him, burying my nose in his expensive dress shirt. He smelled so familiar and delicious. “I love you. This day usually leaves me gutted and hollow inside, but since I woke up this morning with you next to me, I just feel… loved.”
Drakos squeezed me and sighed softly as if accepting his fate. “I love you too. Is this you or the whiskey talking?”
I snickered. “It’s me, but the whiskey gave me a little liquid courage. We decided to celebrate Jeffery’s death before visiting my mother’s grave.”
He pulled back to study me, and when he ran his thumb across my cheek, wiping away a stray tear, I knew once again that he was it for me. “Fair enough. Do you want to go to her grave alone, or are you up for a little company this year?”
I smiled and turned my head to kiss his hand. “I’d love the company.”
When we finished placing the flowers on my mother’s grave, her small three-by-eight-foot plot was covered in a carpet of yellow, gold, and orange. I stood back and took in the sea of sunflowers and the granite headstone with the beautiful white marble angel statue perched above. Ezra had imported it from Italy not long after my mother died, the solemn-faced angel keeping a perpetual watch over her grave.
Drakos wrapped his arm around my shoulder. “You know Jeffery killing himself on the anniversary of your mother’s death was designed to hurt you. I’m sorry we toyed with him and didn’t just kill him.”
I shook my head. “It’s alright. I’m just relieved it’s over. My family and friends are safer with him dead, and maybe I can let go of the choking hatred I have for him.” I slid my arm around his waist and turned into his hard body. “Whoever said revenge should be left to God never had a father like mine.”
Drakos bent and ran his lips along the column of my throat. “I’ll help you dole out a little revenge any time.”
I let my head fall back to give him better access and grabbed his lapels, pulling him closer to me. “Thank you for keeping me safe even when I fought against it.” He sucked on my neck, and I shuddered under his touch. “And for loving and accepting me, and not being put off—or weirdly turned on—by my profession.”
He grinned against my neck. “Who says your profession doesn’t turn me on? I never thought the smell of formaldehyde would get me hard, and those sparkly pink boots…”
Smirking, I pulled him even closer. “And I never thought a man who dresses better than I do could steal my heart.”
“I don’t give a fuck how you dress, and I like you better in nothing anyway. How about a game of strip chess tonight?”
“You’re on. What’s the bet this time?”
He smiled like the devil himself, took my hand, and we turned toward the mortuary, walking through the graveyard together.