Page 47 of Light From The Dark

As he lifted his head to check to see if I was alright, a worried expression on his handsome face, I knew, without a doubt, the answer was yes.

Thirty-One

ETHAN

I stayed up drinking a beer,pacing, doing some paperwork, and having another beer—anything to distract me while I waited for the two of them to get back. I never, ever went with Brent on one of his kills. Plausible deniability was a real thing. It wasn’t because I didn’t want to be tried as an accomplice, but so I wouldn’t be forced to testify against him. Since we weren’t legally married, there would be nothing I could do if I were called to the stand, so it was better not to know any details.

The thought stopped me in my tracks as I stared off into space. Casey would know. She would be able to describe, in detail, what and how he did it. Unless they got married. It answered the burning question that had been rattling around in my brain whenever I thought of the future. Texas may allow same-sex marriages, but they certainly haven’t begun to allow more than two people to get married yet. No state did. It wasn’t anything I could see changing any time soon.

That left only one answer to the question: Brent would have to marry our Casey.

I was still grinning when they finally slipped through the door well after one in the morning. Casey looked exhausted but somehow still wired. I stood up from the couch where I had been staring into the dark screen of the tv and stalked over to her, cradling her cheeks in my hands and staring into her eyes.

There were no signs of her being upset. I could find no signs of trauma or fear in the crystal blue depths of her irises. I blew out a heavy sigh of relief and turned to look at Brent without letting go of her face. “How did it go?” It was all I would ask. All I could know.

“No problems.”

I nodded and looked back at Casey. “You okay?”

She lifted her hands up to hold my wrists and gave me a small smile. “I’m good. I just need a shower.” She shifted her eyes to glance at Brent, who had stepped up to my side. She looked back at me. “Want to join?”

I kissed the tip of her nose, then kissed Brent’s lips, telling him without words that I was glad he was home. “I want nothing more.” Kissing her nose one more time, I bent down, placing my shoulder in her middle and scooping her up over my shoulder too quickly for her to do anything more than gasp in shock.

She smacked my ass hard as I walked down the hall with her, so I retaliated by reaching up to find the waistband of her yoga pants and yanking them down her hips. She seemed to be stunned into silence, and I could swear she was holding her breath. I had a lovely view of her ass and easy access, allowing me to take a nice big bite out of the cheek closest, then soothing it with my tongue while ignoring her squeals.

“No sex tonight!” I declared, walking past our bed and turning into the bathroom. “You two need your rest. We all do.” I slid her down and pushed her against the door to the shower. “As much as I would love to give you your first double penetration experience tonight, we all have work in the morning.”

She turned a fiery red and smacked my shoulder while trying to hold back her giggles. “I can’t believe you would say that!”

Brent walked in, already bare chested and working on his belt buckle. “Why not? You know that ass is ours, right?”

She spluttered as she looked back and forth between us. “I thought you were talking about things in the heat of the moment. People say all kinds of things they don’t really mean when they have sex.”

I flipped on the water, making sure I leaned most of my body into hers, letting her take in every hard inch of me. “Sugar, nothing we say to you will ever be in the heat of the moment. Everything I have ever said to you has been nothing but the truth.”

“I love you!” I froze and slowly turned back to face her when she blurted out the words I’d been craving to hear from her lips. She was fiddling with the bottom of her hoodie, her yoga pants still pulled down to her upper thighs, and she was bright pink. I reached up to gently pull down the lip she was in danger of biting straight through. She held my gaze, and I couldn’t help but be proud of her bravery.

“Say that again.” My voice was raspy, so I cleared my throat and tried again. “Sugar, I’m going to need for you to say that again.”

Her eyes softened, losing the trepidation, and she lifted a hand to cup my cheek. “I fell for you so fast, both of you.” She reached out blindly, and Brent didn’t hesitate to take her hand in his. “I am so scared of the future. You know that. I don’t know what’s going to happen. If that man finds me…” she swallowed as both Brent and I growled our denial that it was even possible. “I want to spend the rest of my life here, with both of you. As long as you’ll have me.”

I wrapped my arms around her and jerked her body against mine. “Forever,” I snarled against her lips before taking her mouth in a harsh kiss. I pulled back and looked at her. “We are all taking the day off tomorrow.” My declaration was punctuated by her giggles as I lifted her in my arms. She tried to wrap her legs around my waist, but her pants at her thighs wouldn’t let her spread her legs far enough.

I turned to Brent, holding her out, her legs still dangling. “Wanna help out, babe?”

His smile turned wicked before he gripped the sides of her pants and yanked, not stopping until both her pants and her underwear were completely stripped off and across the room somewhere. She immediately wrapped her legs around my hips as soon as I brought her body flush with mine.

“I can’t leave your mom without help after she was kind enough to take a chance on me.” I rested my forehead against hers and looked into her eyes but smiled at the hesitation and worry I saw there.

“Of course not, sugar. We will celebrate our official relationship tomorrow after work.” After Brent finished stripping our girl, I stepped under the hot spray with her and watched as she tilted her head back, exposing her neck and chest. I took advantage by running the flat of my tongue from the top swell of one breast, up her neck, and then stopped to nip at her ear. Keeping my mouth there, I whispered. “We need to talk about you marrying Brent, too.”

She froze, then tilted her head back down to look at me with wide, shocked eyes. “What?” Her breathy whisper could barely be heard over the sound of the water. I looked over at Brent to see he was working to get his shoes and socks off. Knowing him, he would carry them directly to his closet to be put away in their proper place before joining us.

“He needs to be protected, sugar. You can only marry one of us, and you know all about what he does. More than I even know. As a spouse, you can’t be forced to testify against him if he ever gets caught.”

Her eyes filled with tears, but she nodded eagerly. “Of course I will. I would be happy to.”

I smiled, so much relief pouring through me that I almost lost my grip on her as my muscles threatened to just collapse from the sudden loss of tension. “Thank you, sugar.” I held her close and buried my face into her neck.