Gray didn’t take the bait, though. Instead, she just shrugged. “A traitor, a dark witch, and goddamn liar. The devil’s playmate. I’m still on the fence about whether she’s evil incarnate or not, but I’ll keep you posted.”
“Gray, you can’t—”
“What did I just say about that word?” She leaned forward, stealing a kiss I was all too eager to give her anyway. Beneath the heat of her thighs, my cock stiffened again, ready to pick up right where we’d left off.
When she pulled back again, she said, “You know what? Let’s not talk about our fucked-up families for the rest of the night. Deal?”
Gray and I had both cut a little too damn deep—I knew she sensed it, too—and it seemed we’d both had enough soul-baring for one night. It would’ve been so easy to give in to her touch, to laugh at her joke, to let her soothe the ache that tore through my heart, just as I would do for her.
But I was done taking the easy way out. There was something I needed her to know, and it went beyond the love I felt for her, beyond the guilt and shame I’d felt about Carina, beyond the rage I still felt toward my parents.
One thing all of that had taught me was that standing around with your dick in your hand when you should’ve been telling someone how you truly felt was a one-way ticket to endless regret.
Immortal or not, none of us ever knew how long we truly had.
“Gray, listen to me.” I slid my hands into her hair, fisting it, holding her steady. I’d never seen anyone so beautiful, so fucking incredible, and the fact that she loved me—that she’d continued to stand by me night after night—that blew my fucking mind. “The people who gave birth to me? They aren’t my family. Darius, Ronan, Emilio, Spooky?They’remy family.” I pressed a kiss to the corner of her mouth, whispering close. “Youare my family, Gray. The one I choose, every day I wake up alive.”
The admission felt big, important, more vulnerable than anything I’d ever admitted to another being. Family—the kind I was talking about? It was so much more than being in love. Yeah, that was part of it for me and Gray. But it was friendship. It was respect. It was calling each other out on our bullshit, and holding each other close when everything got to be too much. It was being vulnerable and scared because you knew and trusted your heart was in good hands.
It was everything I never had growing up, and never dared to dream I’d have now. Not until the first time she’d told me she loved me.
A tear rolled down her cheek, and she smiled, her eyes twinkling. “You’re my family, too, Asher. Always.”
She kissed me then, deep and passionate and wild, and I wrapped her legs around my hips and rose from the kitchen chair, carrying her into the common room. The few witches who’d been hanging out in there vacated the moment they saw us coming, closing the French doors behind them, and now we had it to ourselves. I laid her on one of the couches and kissed my way down her throat, loosening the buttons on her shirt as I went, the fire roaring beside us.
I’d just unveiled her sexy-as-sin black lace bra when I sensed an unwelcome intruder standing over us.
“I thought I smelled fire,” Darius said. “Apparently I was correct.”
I tore my mouth away from Gray’s silky-smooth skin and glared up at him. “So you’re, what? Swooping in to dump some cold water on my nuts?”
Gray laughed. “You and your visuals.”
“You’ve got two options here, bloodsucker,” I said, repositioning myself between Gray’s thighs. “One—turn around, go back to your coffin, and we’ll all pretend this never happened.”
He folded his arms across his chest, gracing us with his smug grin. “What’s choice two?”
I cut my glance back to Gray, her eyes glittering like twin sapphires. The smile on her lips felt like a dare.
“Yeah, incubus,” she teased, arching up against me until I was about ready to come right there. “What’s option two?”
“Ladies choice,” I said, giving it right back to her. I rolled my hips, grinding my thoroughly-hardened cock against her clit, wishing I’d thought to take her jeans off before the shirt. “You wanna play with fire, Cupcake? Be my guest.”
“Oh, I do, and I will. Darius?” she called out, never taking her eyes off mine, her smile never slipping. “Get naked.Now.”
The command in her voice made me weak in the best fucking way.
The vampire was naked in a heartbeat. By the time I flicked my gaze up to meet his, he was already hard as fuck, a slow grin sliding across his face.
“Alright, little vampire,” he said, kneeling down beside us. “I’m here and at your service. Does this mean I’m well and truly forgiven for last night’s oversight in the woods?”
“Hmm.” She looked at him with a wicked gleam in her eye that told me we were both about to be in some serious trouble. “I’ll let you know later. Now shut up and kiss me before I change my mind.”
Seventeen
GRAY
The fire crackled before us, bathing my incubus and vampire in a flickering orange glow. They were naked, stretched out on their backs on the bearskin rug before the hearth, the French doors shut tight against intruders—including poor Sunshine and Sparkle, who’d been taking turns pressing their muzzles up against the glass as if they’d been utterly abandoned.
