Chapter Forty-Two
In which there is time for star-gazing and a Happily Ever After.
Sloan…
“What’s that one called?”
We’re lying on a big wicker chaise lounge on the master bedroom terrace, looking up into the night sky and listening to the waves roll in on the beach. Everything below my waist is on fire, and I can’t find it in myself to care. “Um… that’s the Summer Triangle, it’s formed by the brightest stars in three constellations, Cygnus, Lyra, and Aquila.”
“My clever wife.” Ethan’s beard brushes against me as he kisses me. “And that one, there?”
“Ah, that’s Hercules. We can only see it because we’re so far away from the city. You know the story of the constellation?”
“I dinna.” His hands are slowly stroking up and down my arms, detouring every now and then to stroke my sore nipples.
“Well, Hercules defeated Ladon the dragon, a monstrous creature that terrorized the humans; he was the immortal beast curled around the tree in the garden of the Hesperides, where the golden apples grew that gave the gods their strength,” I explain. “No one ever dared imagine that Ladon could be killed. And when Hercules performed this mighty feat, the mortals began worshipping him.”
“I see,” my husband’s warm hand slides into my hair, stroking it in that gentle way he knows soothes me. It’s hard to believe this is the same animal that spanked my ass and my pussy and made me come hard enough to lose consciousness.
“You see the parallels, of course,” I say teasingly.
“To what, love?” His smile is so kind.
“Gavin was the monstrous snake - and he was such a snake - terrorizing us and trying to murder my family. You’re Hercules, our hero who charged into battle, defeating the evil thing that I never could have imagined could be killed. And now…” I roll over, straddling his narrow hips carefully, wincing slightly. “Now, I worship you.”
I kiss him, pouring every ounce of my love and gratitude into it, hoping he can feel it. His hands cup my cheeks, just kissing and kissing me, a leisurely thing as if we have all the time in the world.
Finally resting my forehead against his, I sigh. “I suppose we need to go back before Nate and Carmella wake up.”
He smiles wickedly. “I might have mentioned to Carmella that we’d be staying elsewhere for a couple of days. She’s got a list of activities that Nate might enjoy and Patrick to take them around.”
“But he’s still so fragile,” I say, “I don’t want him to get upset if we’re not there.”
“Your brother survived an attempted poisoning, a car crash, losing your ma, running from place to place, and chelation. From what I know about the chelation process, I think I might prefer just gettin’ poisoned. He’s stronger than ya give him credit for, my wife.”
“You like him,” I say, and the knot that’s twisted my chest for the last eighteen months untangles its final strands and fades away.
“I will grow to love him, just like I love ya,” he says, his thumbs stroking my cheeks. “He’s family. And when the poor lad is ready, he’s got an avalanche of cousins, aunties, and uncles to show him what that means.”
Resting my cheek on his pectoral, I feel the steady beat of his heart against my skin. “What else was there on that auction list? I was too busy freaking out to hear a thing.”
My evil husband chuckles, enormous hands sliding down to squeeze my sore ass. “So many things. And when we’ve tried them all, you’re gonna make a brand-new list for me.”
I should be deeply alarmed by this statement, but his hands against my sore skin, squeezing hard, are impossibly, improbably starting the cycle of heat inside me again.
“And now, we have all the time in the world to explore that dungeon of yours,” I say, my hips moving slightly.
He lets out a laugh, loud and carefree. “All the time in the world, my sweet wife.”