Page 113 of Tempting Fate

Jamie snorts. He leans up and kisses me, soft and sweet. The mark on his face is all but gone now, but I’m still careful not to touch that cheek in case there’s any lingering hurt.

“We just have to convince Em,” he says when we part.

“Better idea would be not to wake me up at six in the morning,” a gravelly voice says.

Jamie’s eyes go wide, but he can’t suppress a grin. I lean up and look at Em. He’s barely awake, eyes narrowed, and right now he reminds me of some angry housecat.

“Sorry,” I murmur. “Go back to sleep.”

Em huffs. He settles down again, then wraps his arm around Jamie’s middle, dragging Jamie back against him. Jamie cackles. “What, am I your teddy bear now?”

“Shhh,” Em says. He presses his face to the back of Jamie’s neck. I smile, content to watch them for now. “I’m sleeping.”

“You’ve been awake the entire time, haven’t you?” I ask.

“Maybe,” Em replies, and Jamie reaches back to poke him in the side in retaliation. “Noooo, don’t do that.”

“What do you think, then?” Jamie asks. He raises an eyebrow when I shake my head. “About all of us. The pack. Everything.”

Em kisses the side of Jamie’s neck. Will he have a mating mark there sometime soon? Desire curls in my stomach. I hope so.

“One more reality check,” Em says. He opens his eyes and lifts his head. “I need an outside opinion. Just to make sure I have my head on straight.”

I nod immediately. “Anything you need to know…”

“I know,” Em replies. He smiles and when I lean in, he waits for me, tilting his face up expectantly. I keep the kiss as short and soft as the one between me and Jamie earlier. When we part, Jamie is watching us, breath coming a little faster.

Em leans down and kisses him, too. Then he settles back in and sighs. “I’ll meet Cate later this morning. At least she can check if I got a concussion or something.”

“When would you have got a concussion?” Jamie asks, bewildered.

Em shrugs. I shuffle over, closing the less than one-inch gap between all of us.

“Whatever you need,” I say.

“Sure,” Jamie agrees. “Just don’t forget we’re going over to Kieran’s in the afternoon.”

Chapter Forty-Four

Emerson

In the end, I convince Cate to meet me at a café. Well, Hallowed Grounds, despite its surly owner. Meeting somewhere outside is probably for the best. Jamie offered to leave the house—to go to Patch’s place, I presume—but I don’t want to force him out like that.

Truth is, I need some space. It’s difficult to remember that once I’m sitting in the café waiting for Cate to arrive because all I want is to be back with the pair of them again, snuggled up in bed like we were this morning.

But no. Jamie had it worse yesterday, of course, but I haven’t seen Gideon in over a decade. It’s not how I expected to meet my older brother again, that’s for sure.

Cate arrives ten minutes after I do and all but runs over to envelop me in a hug. She nearly knocks me over, but the relief that floods me to have her here is overwhelming.

“Hey. Hey! You’re shaking.”

“Y-yeah, I—” I shake my head. Cate helps me sit back down and then takes the chair across from me. Her red hair is all piled on top of her head like she ran out of her flat this morning, and she’s wearing a big sweatshirt and a pair of joggers I’ve never seen her in. When she sees me eyeing her outfit, she frowns. “What?”

“You don’t normally dress like that.”

“Okay, giving you a pass because clearly you’ve been through it, but you weren’t exactly clear in your texts if you still had to leave, so I put this on to help you move, dickhead. What’s going on?”

Ah, fuck. Well, she’s seen the video. Both of them. Surely, they can’t expect I’d hide the truth from her?