Chapter 27 Sergio #2
"I heard everything." Her voice is small. "I'm sorry."
"Don't apologize."
"He was your friend."
I turn to face her fully. "A friend wouldn't have treated you the way he did."
"But..."
I close the distance between us. Take her face in my hands. Her skin is warm. Damp from tears. "You mean everything. Don't you understand that yet?"
She stares up at me.
"How can you be so sure?"
I cup her face in my hands. "Because I've been waiting for you for years."
Her breath catches.
"You never belonged to him." I brush my thumbs across her cheekbones. "You don't belong to anyone. But if you choose to be with us, if you choose this family, this pack, I will spend the rest of my life proving you made the right decision."
"Sergio..."
"I love you." The words are simple. Direct. No flowery language. No poetic declarations. Just truth. "I love you. My pack loves you, and we're not going to lose you to a man who never deserved you in the first place."
She rises on her toes and presses her mouth to mine.
The kiss is soft at first, his lips gentle against mine.
But then his hand slides to cup my jaw, thumb brushing the corner of my mouth, and he deepens it.
His tongue sweeps in to taste me—slow and thorough and devastating—and I melt into him with a soft sound that makes his grip tighten.
It's a promise more than raw passion, but it leaves me breathless all the same, my fingers curled into his shirt, lips tingling when he finally pulls away.
When she pulls back, her eyes are bright.
"I love you too." She looks past me to my pack mates. "All of you."
Carlos grins. Nacho's expression softens. Pedro nods once, sharp and certain.
"Then that's settled." I release her face and take her hand instead. "Come inside. It's cold."
"What about Callum?"
"Callum is gone." I lead her through the door. "And he's not coming back."
"You can't know that."
"I can." I pause in the hallway. Turn to face her. "Because if he comes near you again, there won't be a conversation. There won't be a warning. There will just be consequences."
"That sounds like a threat."
"It's a promise."
She studies my face for a long moment. Then she nods.
"Okay."
"Okay?"
"I trust you." She squeezes my hand. "I trust all of you."
I pull her close. Press a kiss to the top of her head.
My brothers file past us into the house. Carlos heads for the kitchen, muttering about comfort food. Nacho disappears toward his office to deal with the footage. Pedro lingers, watching us with an expression I can't quite read.
"You handled that well." His voice is quiet.
"I handled it the only way I could."
"He's going to make trouble."
"Let him try."
Pedro nods and moves past us, heading up the stairs.
Jessica tilts her head back to look at me.
"You really don't regret it?"
"Not for a second."
"Even though you've known him for nearly your whole life?"
I brush a strand of hair from her face. "I've loved you for years. The math isn't complicated."
She laughs. Watery. Broken.
"I don't deserve you."
"Wrong." I kiss her forehead. "You deserve more than I can give. But I'm going to try anyway."
We stand in the hallway as the sun sets outside.
A lost friendship, and I don't feel anything but peace.
Jessica tugs on my hand. "Will you come with me? To my room? I don't want to be alone right now."
"Of course."
I follow her up the stairs, my hand still wrapped around hers. She's trembling slightly. The adrenaline from the confrontation is wearing off, leaving her shaky and exhausted.
Her room is warm, lit by the amber glow of the bedside lamp. The nest she's built dominates the bed, blankets and pillows arranged in careful layers, soft things collected from all four of us woven into a sanctuary that smells like pack.
She climbs into the center of it and looks up at me, eyes wide and vulnerable.
"Stay."
I don't need to be asked twice.
I toe off my shoes and join her in the nest, sinking into the softness of blankets that have their scent. She immediately curls into my side, pressing her face against my chest.
My arms wrap around her automatically. Pull her closer. One hand slides up to cup the back of her head, fingers threading through her blonde hair.
"I've got you," I murmur against her temple. "You're safe."
She makes a small sound. Not quite a sob. Not quite a sigh. Her hands fist in my shirt.
"I'm sorry." Her voice is muffled against my chest. "I'm sorry he showed up here. I'm sorry he said those things. I'm sorry you had to choose between him and me."
"Stop apologizing."
"But—"
"Jessica." I tilt her face up, forcing her to look at me. "I chose you. Not because I had to. Because I wanted to. Because you're worth choosing."
Her eyes fill with tears.
"How can you be so sure?"
"Because I've been waiting years for this." I brush my thumb across her cheekbone, catching a tear before it can fall."
"I should have seen it sooner."
"You saw it when you were ready." My hand slides down to cup her jaw. "That's all that matters."
She turns her face into my palm. Presses a kiss there. The gesture is so tender, so trusting, that something in my chest tightens.
"Thank you." Her voice is barely a whisper. "For standing up to him. For not backing down. For choosing me."
"Always."
She lifts her face, and this time when she kisses me, it's not brief. Not a promise made in front of my brothers.
This kiss is everything. His mouth claims mine with a hunger that makes my toes curl, tongue sweeping in to taste and explore.
My fingers tangle in his hair, pulling him closer, and he groans—a deep, rumbling sound that vibrates through my chest. His hands roam down my sides, fingertips digging into the soft flesh of my hips, and I arch into him, chasing the heat.
I taste cedar and want and the faint hint of coffee on his tongue, and when he pulls back just enough to breathe, I chase his mouth, needing more.
Her lips part under mine. I taste salt from her tears, wine from dinner, and something underneath that's purely her. My control wavers. My hands tighten on her hips, pulling her closer until she's half in my lap.
"Sergio," she breathes against my mouth.
The sound of my name in that voice does something to me. Makes the ice I've kept wrapped around myself for years start to crack.
I kiss her harder. Deeper. My hand slides from her jaw to tangle in her hair, tilting her head back to give me better access. She gasps, and I swallow the sound, chase it with my tongue.
Her hands are everywhere. In my hair. On my shoulders. Sliding under my henley to find bare skin. Each touch sends electricity shooting through my nervous system.
"Your heat," I manage to say, even though every instinct I have to keep going. "It's coming soon. We should—"
"I know." She pulls back just enough to look at me. Her eyes are dark, pupils blown wide. "But right now, I just need you. Just this. Is that okay?"
How could it not be okay?
I cup her face in both hands and pull her back down to me.
We don't go further than kissing. Don't cross lines that should wait until she's certain, until her heat arrives and we can give her what she really needs.
But we kiss until my lips are swollen and her hair is a mess.
Until she's straddling my lap and I can feel the heat of her through our clothes.
Until we're both breathing hard and my control is hanging by a thread.
She pulls back finally, forehead resting against mine, chest heaving.
"Wow."
A laugh rumbles out of me. "Wow?"
"I don't have better words." She grins, breathless and beautiful. "My brain stopped working somewhere around the second kiss."
"Good to know I have that effect on you."
"You have a lot of effects on me." Her fingers trace the line of my jaw. "You make me feel safe. And seen. And like I'm allowed to want things without apologizing for it."
My throat tightens. "You never have to apologize for wanting things. Not with us."
"I'm still learning that." She settles against my chest, tucking herself under my chin. "But I'm trying."
"That's all any of us can do."
We lie there in her nest, tangled together, my scent mixing with hers.
"Stay with me tonight?" Her voice is sleepy now, soft and content. "Just sleep. I just want you here."
"I'm not going anywhere."
I pull the blankets up around us. Settle deeper into the nest. Let my eyes close.
Tomorrow will bring new challenges. Callum won't give up easily. The town will talk. Her heat will arrive, and we'll have to figure out what that means for all of us.
But tonight, I hold the woman I love in a nest she built from pieces of us, and I let myself believe that everything is going to be okay.
Because she chose us too.
And that's enough.