Chapter 53
“The two of them are MATES?! Myles all but shrieked as he looked up from the paperback in his hands. “WHAT THE FUCK?!”
I pressed my lips together as I shifted a little. They are, I signed.
He blinked. “But he’s so…he’s…” He frowned. “What the shit-fuck?”
I chuckled. Just keep reading, I told him.
We were sitting in front of our massive fireplace, and Myles had basically sandwiched me between pillows and fluffy blankets, especially because we were on the floor and not the couch.
There were blankets under my ass, one that was draped over my legs, with pillows bricked on either side of me, and, of course, my new best friend: the elevation pillow, which kept my right leg lifted.
The crackling of wood and fire was the only sound in the house, paired with Myles’s occasional vocal reactions to the book he was reading.
When he’d told me he wanted to read fiction, but wanted to begin with something cool and interesting, I’d suggested he start the A Court of Thorns and Roses series by Sarah J.
Maas. He’d immediately gone online and purchased all 5 paperbacks, and honestly, I’ve never been more in love with him than I was when he’d held the books in his hands last week and looked at them like they were something to be cherished and protected.
I’ve picked a keeper for myself, haven’t I?
Myles began shifting toward me, in a slide-stop-slide manner that looked so adorably ridiculous that I couldn’t help but give him a ‘What’re you up to?’ kinda look.
He’d pressed the open paperback to his chest, and when he reached me, he placed both his elbows on top of the pillow to my right. “Hey.” He brought his face close to mine. “Tell me what happens in the next chapter,” he whispered, as if someone might hear him. “Please.”
I stared at him for a beat or two, slightly stunned by his words, then placed a hand over my mouth and laughed.
Man, I’d intoxicated him on book fumes, and now he just couldn’t get enough.
I was so fucking proud of myself.
No, I signed. Read it yourself.
Myles frowned. “I said ‘please’, didn’t I?”
I shook my head.
“Pretty please?”
No, I signed again.
He huffed. “I’ll give you a Thai massage if you tell me. Hell, I’ll do your laundry if you tell me.”
You already do both of our laundries, I told him.
He groaned in frustration, then leaned in further and placed his chin on my shoulder. “Baby…” he sang. “Pleeeeease?”
I couldn’t help but laugh again. Just read, I signed.
He pouted, so I pressed my teeth over his bottom lip and gave it a soft tug.
He grinned, shut the book and threw it on the couch behind us, then said, “Do it again.”
I stared at the discarded book, then at him.
“Don’t worry, I’d dog-eared the page already,” he told me.
My mouth hung open in shock. And in horror. Crime, I signed.
Myles’s lips twitched. “Dog-earing a page is a crime…?”
Yes, I signed. A brutal one.
He chuckled. “Alright, c’mere.” He took one of my hands in his, and gently pulled me forward.
I ran the back of my fingers over the stubble on his jaw, to which he smiled.
Kiss me, I told him.
He smirked, and the storm in his blazing eyes all but set my veins on fire. “Fuck yeah,” he said, then fisted my hair oh so delicately before pressing his lips to mine.
I sighed against him, at the familiar taste of him, and at the way his stubble brushed against my skin when he parted my lips and sucked on my tongue.
I leaned forward and kissed him harder, making him moan.
“I was going to make a joke about how I can smell your arousal,” he began, then kissed me again. “You know, like how Rhysand and the other faes can in the books, but then the scent of your perfume hit me right in the nostrils, and I forgot all about it.”
Good Lord…
I have created a monster.
I moved back a little so that I could look at him, and when he winked and wiggled his brows at me, I tipped my head back and laughed.
This is my life – my crazy, ridiculously perfect in every way that matters, life.
And yeah, I did face some tough-ass shit to get to where I am, but every choice, every step I took in certain directions to make my past decisions, led me to Myles.
He fought for us, made sure there was an us, to begin with.
For years I thought that my silence was the only thing I needed in order to find comfort and peace, but I didn’t realize what I was missing out on until Myles all but fox-trotted into my life and practically flipped it on its axis.
He said he wanted me, and did everything to prove the same.
He didn’t give up; he gave me the strength to be stronger than I was.
And, I have never once even thought about what would have happened if things had been different, or what would have happened if Av? had hired someone else to renovate the kitchen and build the library, because really, I don’t wanna think about that; I don’t wanna know what would’ve happened, or what other paths would have opened up for me.
I’m happy – so fucking happy – with my beautifully silly guy, and I wouldn’t have him any other way.
He was, after all, my everything; my forever.
My infinity.