Page 47 of Reverie
“No, H,” I reply. “We deserve each other. Because our happiness is our birthright, and we’ve been denied it for way too long.”
He kisses me, and it’s the sweetest, most tender action I’ve experienced in a while.
Because in his kiss, he vows so much. He vows to love me. He vows to cherish me.
He vows to be mine.
Mine. All mine.
“There’s so much we need to talk about, and I’m not even sure where to begin,” I murmur, finding words to speak. I pull away from him, and he gives me a chagrined look.
And it’s true: Idon’tknow where to begin. There’s the fact that his mother has returned from the dead.
There’s this talk of The Legion and The Resistance and who is actually on our side and who wants to see us dead.
There’s the reality that things were not good between us when all this happened.
“First, let me feed you,” he says. He guides me to the stool and kisses the top of my head when I’m seated. Then he takes time to find the dishes and spoons and ladles soup into the bowl.
“Here you are, baby,” he whispers close to my ear as he places the hot dish in front of me.
He stares at me hard, and I realize he’s waiting for me to actually eat, so I lift the spoon to my mouth and take a delicate taste.
After I take three sips, I put my spoon down.
“Okay, I’ll choose the topic of discussion. There are three things I want to talk to you about. First, Rio and Jared. Do you know how they are?”
Hunter cracks his neck from side to side.
“I saw Rio. He’s fine.” He looks past me for a moment before returning his gaze to me. “I heard Jared was in the medical bay still, but he’s going to be all right.”
“Thank God,” I say, releasing the tension in my spine. Even though I literally held Rio at gunpoint, I really like him. I don’t want him to die. Same for Jared.
“Jared needed surgery, but they were able to get to him in time to save his leg.” Hunter makes a strange face.
“Holy shit,” I whisper. Falling silent, I stare at the Italian Wedding Soup and get vaguely nauseous the more I think about last night.
There was so much fucking blood. Blood everywhere.
Rallying myself, I say, “Okay, so my second question is?—”
“Take at least three more bites of your food. Then I’ll answer your next question,” he says.
I lean on my open palm, elbow on the table, and quirk my eyebrow.
“Oh, really?” I say lazily.
He simply nods at the soup and folds his arms across his chest, widening his stance.
“Fine,” I grumble, quickly shoveling one, two, three spoonfuls into my mouth. “Happy?”
“I’ll be happy when you finish the bowl,” he says, lowering his voice to that sexy growl that always manages to make me wet.
Down, girl.
“Okay, my second question is…can we go home?” I bring my thumb to my mouth, ready to bite the nail. I lower my hand.
Hunter quirks his mouth to the side, thinking with his arms still crossed. Inhaling deeply, he says, “I don’t think so, Sunbeam.”