He sticks out his hand, palm facing up.
I place the present on it and say, “Happy birthday. You can look now.”
Mako glances at his hand, frowning at first. When he peels open the foil and sees what’s inside, he does indeed shriek like a little girl, attracting several startled looks.
“Is this what I think it is?” He gawks at me in astonishment.
“Yep.”
“How?” he demands. “Did Reed get this?”
“Nope. I procured it all by my lonesome. While being held hostage, no less.” I grin. “I honestly impress myself sometimes.”
Mako continues gaping at the gold chocolate bar in his hand. Speechless, for once.
“I made friends with one of my captors in Tierra Fe last week,” I explain. “Convinced her to break into their stash ofgranos de sol.”
“I love you,” declares Mako. “I’m in love with you. I want to marry you and bear your children. I mean, I want you to bear my children. I just think we should have children together and get married.”
I stare at him. “No,” I say. “But happy birthday.”
With an ecstatic whoop, he lifts me into his huge arms and swings me around. As I fight for my life, Gray strides over, grinning at the display.
“You gave it to him, I gather.”
“Yes,” I confirm as Mako finally sets me on my feet. “And he screamed like a little girl.”
“He does that,” Gray agrees.
“I don’t even care that you’re making fun of me.” Mako breaks off a piece of chocolate and pops it into his mouth, then moans as if he just experienced the best orgasm of his life. Slowly letting the gold substance melt on his tongue, he looks from me to Gray, his face hardening with tenacity. “This doesn’t absolve the person who deprived me of this joy last year.”
“Of course not,” Gray says.
“I won’t rest until Raven Persimmons has been brought to justice.”
“Wouldn’t expect anything less of you, brother.”
I spend the rest of the night with Gray, stealing kisses and caresses, laughing at his silly jokes. He keeps pulling me away to dance, I think he just wants to be close to me, but I don’t mind one bit. I pass my bottle of grange to Luisa and allow Gray to tug me into his arms.
“You look like pure smoke tonight,” he murmurs before burying his face in my neck. I shiver when I feel his mouth on me, nibbling, teasing.
“Don’t start anything we can’t finish right now,” I warn, though neither of us has been in a hurry to finish things even when we are alone. We haven’t had sex yet, which I think is unusual for both of us. We both have the tendency to jump headfirst and deal with the consequences later.
When we return to the group, someone hands me my bottle back. I’m hot from the dancing and the bonfire, so I swig the rest of the grange, grimacing at the weird aftertaste. Whoever made this batch used too much sugar. It’s so sweet, it makes my teeth hurt.
I toss the empty bottle in the fire, and the flames crackle and soar up to the sky as the glass disintegrates in the pit.
“Do you want to go back to my quarters?” Gray rasps in my ear.
I peer up at him, a little breathless. “I would love to.”
We say our goodbyes and head for the trail, but after a few steps I realize I’m not breathless from anticipation.
I’m breathless because it’s hard to breathe.
My heart starts beating faster, and then faster and faster. My stomach flutters, panic suffusing my veins.
“Something’s wrong,” I croak, staggering forward.
