CHAPTER 24
Ethan
I wake with Summer curled into my arms, and for a moment I just lie there, letting the quiet settle around us. I’ve never felt this… full. Complete. Like every scattered piece of my life finally clicked into place the second she slid into my arms last night.
She’s still sleeping, her breathing soft against my chest. We called my parents before bed, told them we’d be there for breakfast before Mia wakes up, but we still have five minutes before the alarm is set to go off.
Five minutes I’m not wasting.
Her hair fans across the pillow like a dark crown, wild and beautiful.
Her lips are still a little swollen from all the ways I kissed her last night, and the memories hit me hard enough to make my chest ache.Her body is warm against mine, soft curves tucked perfectly to me like she was shaped to fit there.
I still can’t understand how any man could look at this woman and not treat her like treasure. Whatever that asshole didn’t see, that’s his loss. His stupidity. His failure.
And my blessing.
She’s gorgeous, heart, soul, mind, body, and she doesn’t even know it. I’m going to make damn sure she does. I want her to see herself the way I do.
I reach behind me to shut off the alarm before it can break the moment, then brush her hair away from her neck. I press my lips to her skin, slow and soft. She flinches, then giggles, her body stretching against mine in a way that makes heat curl low in my stomach.
She turns to look at me, eyes still heavy with sleep, and I swear I forget how to breathe.
“Mornin’, gorgeous,” I murmur as I nuzzle into her again.
“Morning, handsome.” She smiles sleepily, stretching her arms above her head, and the way my T-shirt on her shifts does nothing to steady my pulse.
“Did I not hear the alarm?” she whispers.
My mind, of course, flashes to last night, and I completely miss her question.
“I’m sorry, what?”
She laughs. God, that sound.
“Did the alarm go off already?”
I pull her closer, burying my face in her hair. “No. I wanted to wake you up my own way, so I turned it off.” I inhale deeply. “You smell like heaven, you know that?”
She hums. “I’m torn between needing to see Mia and staying here with you.”
“Let’s get up and see Mia. I’m still on leave, so if you don’t mind, I’d love to spend the whole day with you. I know you’re working, but let me help.”
“You’ll be bored,” she laughs.
“Looking at you is never boring.” I growl, catching her lips with mine, slow and claiming.
We get to my parents’ place and step inside without knocking, nobody knocks around here. The door shuts behind us, and Dad’s already crossing the entryway, a knowing smile tugging at his face.
He hugs Summer first, then me, clapping a heavy hand on my back. “Mia had fun. All is well. She’s still sleeping upstairs.”
We head toward the kitchen, and seven sets of eyes snap to us the second we hit the doorway. Great. Here we go.
“Mornin’!” Mama beams, swooping toward us with a dish towel still dangling from her hand. She hugs Summer first, my mother has clearly reorganized her priorities, then pulls me in too.
I drop onto a barstool while Summer heads upstairs to wake Mia. The moment she disappears up the steps, Dex leans against the counter with a wicked smirk.
“Well, don’t you look happy?”
I ignore him. That’s the only way to survive siblings.
“Dad,” Cas calls from the table, “what’s that thing you used to tell us about falling in love again?”
Dad straightens like someone just handed him a microphone. “When Hawthorne men find their one,”
The whole room joins in like an unhinged choir:
“they fall hard, deep, and fast.”
I groan while they cackle like hyenas.
Cas strolls by with his mug, smug as hell. “Payback’s a bitch, little brother.”
Penny swats his arm. “Leave him alone.”
“Thanks, Penny.”
But then she turns to me with eyes sparkling in a way that promises trouble. I brace.
“You are one of the best men I know,” she begins sweetly, too sweetly. “But that is my sister-from-another-mother you’re dating, and if you ever hurt her, I will submit your number to every dating site in existence and specifically request women who are clingy and over seventy.”
The kitchen explodes.
“Damn, your girl’s got claws!” Jace hollers at Cas, who only looks proud. Dex lets out an exaggerated tiger roar. Grace is laughing so hard she grips the counter to stay upright.
I shrug, because the truth comes easy. “I’d rather bring a dagger to my own heart than ever hurt that woman.”
Jace whistles low.
Cas nods with rare approval.
Mama and Grace both let out soft “awwws” like they’re watching a Hallmark proposal.
Jude smirks. “Good answer.”
Penny drops all the attitude and hugs me tight. “I’m happy for you both.”
Dex immediately breaks into “Another One Bites the Dust,” bobbing his head while the rest of them lose it all over again.
But then, silence.
Because upstairs, the opening beat of Shake It Off starts thumping through the ceiling, followed by Mia’s excited squeal.
Something in my chest loosens, warms.
Those two girls, the little girl who stole my heart and the woman I love, they’ve got my whole damn heart in their hands. And I don’t think either of them knows it yet.