A nod. A grin. One more passionate kiss, and then Hudson was off, presumably to head back out in search of the fuckers who’d eluded us tonight. I still didn’t know the whole story, but I’d gotten enough from his earlier grunts and gestures to put some of it together. Keradoc’s men were behind the attack, along with a couple of Stone City gargoyles Hudson was more than looking forward to murdering.
“I shouldprobablygo with him,” I said, turning to face her. I traced a long, lazy path up and down her arm. “But I rather like being naked next to you, so… yeah. Decision made. I’m staying.”
“Good. I missed you.” She cracked up. “You work too much. Maybe I should have a talk with that boss of yours.”
“I’d rather you didn’t. And also, don’t mention his name while we’re naked. Not if you want me to stay hard for you.”
“As if you have a problem staying hard for me.”
“Fair point.” I kissed her, lingering just a little longer before I pulled back and said, “How do you feel, anyway? No side effects from your little blood transfusion?”
She rolled her eyes and laughed again. “Yeah, I heard you thought he’d turned me into a vampire.”
“It was definitely a concern.”
“Unfounded, obviously. If I were a vampire, I’d be the one bitingyou.” She rolled on top of me and nipped at my neck, a gesture I happily returned, again and again until she was squealing and flailing against me.
Fuck,everything about her felt so damn good. So damn right.
I smoothed my palms down her back and cupped her ass, and she propped her elbows on my chest and cradled her chin, staring down at me in the moonlight.
Damn, those eyes. Those lips. I was lost.
“Jax?” she said softly, a frown tugging the corners of her mouth. “If Ihadbeen turned, would you still look at me the way you’re looking at me now?”
“How am I looking at you, angel?”
“Like… I don’t know. Like you’d die if I pushed you away.”
“The day I stop looking at you like that is the day you’re planning a funeral,” I whispered, “because angel? It would mean I was already dead.” I captured her face between my hands and kissed her fiercely, emotion rising like a tidal wave in my chest, sweeping me under and sucking me out to sea.
She was everything to me—my woman, my witch, my angel, and though I never thought it was possible to feel this way, I knew, deep down, why I’d been so terrified of losing her earlier—what the bite of that hot, deadly fear inside me actually meant.
The words gathered behind my teeth, the taste of them foreign and sharp, once again terrifying me, as if I needed the reminder of how dangerous those words could be. Everything inside me trembled at the prospect of speaking them aloud—of accepting the promise and responsibility that came with them.
But I had to set them free. I couldn’t deny it for another moment, and I couldn’t keep them locked inside.
I clung to her, holding her tight, breathing in the scent of her.
And then, in a dark whisper, I finally made my confession.
“The first time I saw you in Saints and Sinners, when you staked that asshole vampire at the bar, I started falling for you. And every moment since—every argument, every chase, every kiss, every breathless shudder—has taken another piece of my armor, baring my heart until I finally felt that fear I’d spent so many centuries outrunning. Now I’m naked and exposed and you… You have the power to absolutely fuckingwreckme, and there’s not a damn thing I can do to change that because I don’t want to. Because I’m in love with you, Haley Barnes. And that fuckingterrifiesme—more than every monster in Midnight, more than every nightmare I ever faced in hell. But it’s the truth. I love you. And I will spend the rest of my immortal life making sure you damn well know it.”
Tears glittered in her eyes, and she took my face in her hands and opened her mouth, and I felt it the moment she was going to say the words right back to me—the three that would forever alter the course of my immortal existence. Hell, I could see it in her gaze, that raw emotion, the truth that cut us both to the bone.
My heart damn near exploded with happiness.
But I couldn’t—I justcouldn’t—hear those words from her—not yet. Not in Midnight, when we still had so many battles to fight, so many risks to take. So much fear to face.
I wanted to savor it. To wait for it, even though I couldn’t wait to say it to her.
“Not yet.” I brushed my fingertip to her lips, then followed with a soft kiss. “Tell me when we’re back in New Orleans.”
“But what if… What if we don’t—”
I silenced her with another kiss, another promise. Then, whispering against her lips, “We will, angel. Because Iswearto you, I will burn this realm to the fuckinggroundjust for a chance to see you back in Saint’s kitchen in NOLA, moaning over Cajun Jeb’s jambalaya and yes, Jeb’s the only other man besides Hudson and Saint that’s allowed to make you moan.”
This got another laugh, a smile through her happy tears.
