Page 49 of From the Embers
A fuse ignited, my spine became rigid, and as I spent myself inside her, I dove into the ocean of Bree, praying I’d never return.
We were left panting in a tangled mess of sated sweat.
There’d been a damn good chance that things after what had just happened would be different. For the better or the worse, I wasn’t sure. But catching my breath, naked, and sharing a now wrinkled sheet with the woman beside me, I had a sense that no matter what was to come, there were no two people on this great big Earth who could handle it more than we could.
We were battletested. We’d experienced a baptism by fire—quite literally. To be honest, there was no one I trusted more or had more confidence in than Bree. Though I was terrified she couldn’t say the same.
Settling on my side, I stretched my arm out under the pillow, bringing us nose to nose again. But if there were words left in the English language, my brain couldn’t find them.
“What are you thinking about?” she asked, her usually satiny voice now gravely and hoarse.
How nothing in my life had ever felt so right.
I kept that to myself and went for the humor that came so easily when I was with her. “Those naughty cotton panties. You have found my weakness.”
With a playful smack, she caught me right across the chest.
“Ow,” I mumbled, laughing at her murderous glare.
“Give a girl a break, it’s not like I planned to come up here and seduce you.”
“Oh, but you did. Tell me more about these dreams you had about me. Was I always naked? Or just in the really good ones?”
Under the sheet, she kicked at my leg. “Eason!”
This was the Bree I was falling for. The fighter. The fierce and scrappy hothead. A gorgeous pain in my ass.
“What? It’s a valid question.”
Her weak attempted assault on me halted. “The only valid question is where we go from here.”
Sliding my hand down to her ass, I pulled her against my front. “What do you want me to say? I think it’s a little late for ‘Bree, will you go out with me?’”
Her brow shot up.
I was tiptoeing out onto the thinner ice and I knew it. And I was so fucking happy I just didn’t care. “Okay, okay,” I said. “At home, we just act natural. It’s not like I’d bend you over in front of the kids at the dinner table.”
“Oh my God. I know. But you don’t think we should say anything?”
I pulled her closer and stroked her arm. “I don’t. At least not for right now. Neither of us are going anywhere. There’s no rush to define anything or confuse them. They’ve seen us together. Honestly, they’re the happiest when it’s all five of us anyway.” I pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “Besides, we all know about your policy with sugar in the house.”
She pinched my nipple. “I’m serious here,” she said, her voice not just becoming serious, but revealing her vulnerability. “What if we don’t, you know…work?”
“All right. Relax. It’s good. We’re good. We’re two grown adults who have been through far worse than any breakup could throw at us. I really want to explore this thing between us. So far, we’ve made a stellar team, and clearly getting naked together was not an exception. But on the off chance we don’t work, nothing changes. I’ll write a tragic breakup song about you, make a million dollars, and you’ll have to listen to it on the radio every day for the rest of your life. But besides that, we’ll be fine.”
Her soft laughter made my heart ricochet off my ribs, but it was her words that made it feel like they were breaking. “I’m scared, Eason. I can’t lose you.”
“Hey,” I soothed, drawing her into a hug. “I’m not going anywhere.”
She tucked her face into my neck and clung to my back, her nails biting my back in desperation. “For the first time in a long time, I’m happy. With you, I’m happy.”
“Then, babe, you have nothing to worry about. I promise I’ll always be honest with you, and if this isn’t working out for me, I’ll let you know. With you, I’m happy too. The rest will fall into place, okay?”
She didn’t voice her agreement. She didn’t actually speak again at all. But for the rest of the night, she never let go. That was good enough for me.
In what should have been the worst of days, with the road ahead bound to be rockier than ever, I couldn’t help but feel like with this woman by my side, together, we’d get through it all.
BREE
Almost everything had changed in the last twenty-four hours. I still had no idea where Eason’s head was about Luna. When it came to dealing with personal disasters, I had two speeds: obsession or turbo obsession. There wasn’t a lot in between.
