“Did you?” Curious, he glances across in my peripherals. “I don’t even remember.”
I shrug. “If I didn’t say it, I thought it.” I lift my chin in Fletch and Tara’s direction. “You wanna go help her? You enjoy them young, right?”
Fury flashes momentarily in his eyes. In the hard set of his jaw. But he tilts his head to the side and stops only when a crack pops audibly in the air. Then he repeats on the other side.Pop. “I’m gonna forgive you for that. Because I’m mature and healed and a better basketball player than you are.”
Stunned, I swing around and study him through fresh eyes. “Excuse you?”
His lips curl smugly. “Are you going deaf in your old age, or just stupid?”
“Better ball player, my ass! You couldn’t even beat me when I was fifteen, and you were a grown ass man three inches taller than I was.”
“That’s not how I remember it. But if you wanna rewrite history tomake yourself feel good, then go right ahead. Cope however you’ve gotta cope.”
“Bitch! I?—”
He throws his arms around my shoulders and hugs me.
“Dude!” I spasm and fight his grip. “What the fuck!? Get off me!”
“Just let it happen.” He exhales a noisy grunt and squeezes me extra tight. “Sink into the hug, Malone. Breathe it in.”
“Get the fuck off me!”
“Bask in my love,” he groans. I swear to fuck, I feel his exhale on my neck. “This is how we heal. This is how we move forward. Then we’ll shoot some hoops later, I’ll remind you that you ain’t shit, and then maybe things won’t hurt quite as much anymore.”
EPILOGUE
Ilie with Archer in the middle of our bed, my leg hitched over his thighs, my cheek on his chest, my heart beating against his ribs. Most pleasurable of all may be the patterns he draws against the ball of my shoulder, or the gentle kisses he lays on my forehead for no reason except that he wants to.
It’s the middle of the morning, it’s the weekend, we’re ignoring the group chat constantly buzzing on my phone—something about Cordoza wanting to discuss New York—and we have nowhere else to be.
It’s my favorite way to exist.
The Checkmate crew has all gone home,without payment, and my building exists now with some kind of high-powered futuristic technology that the rest of my staff are giddy to test.
Personally, I just like that all the filing I’ve been meaning to do for the better part of a year has suddenly been taken care of.
“How are you feeling?” Archer changes the direction of his stroking fingertips, dragging them over my collarbone and along the length of my neck. “You’re on day four of Jen’s wonder drug.” He pulls back and looks down into my eyes. “Still doing okay?”
“Physically, I feel fine.” I exhale a lazy grunt and reach across his broad form, purely so I can fist his shirt and hitch myself up, stopping only when I’m sitting on his hips.Too bad we’re dressed. I consider my sore knee and the stitches that bothered me not all that long ago.They’re fine now. Then I study my husband and the chain he wears around his neck every single day since it was put there. I drag it from beneath his shirt and slide my finger through his wedding ring, purely for something to do. “I haven’t gone this many days without infusing since…” I shrug. “Never in my memory. It feels odd not to schedule my life around the lows just before infusion, and the highs the morning after.”
“Now it’s just all high.” He massages my thighs, digging his thumbs in deep enough to make me groan. “Do you feel sick? Dizzy?”
God, I love him.
“Thirsty? Sleepy? Jittery?”
“Jittery, but only if I take the pill anddon’teat before lunchtime.” I fold closer so our bellies touch and my lips stop a mere two inches from his. “If I didn’t know better, I’d wonder if this was all a conspiracy you’ve cooked up together to ensure I have breakfast every day.”
“God forbid,” he drawls playfully. But because he’s a damn good husband, he lifts his head and presses a kiss to my lips. “Do you regret starting the M&Ms? Wish you could go back to your regular Factor?”
“Not particularly.” I release his wedding band and set my hands on either side of his torso. My hair falls forward, curtaining us inside our own world, so as I brace myself on my fists and rock back just an inch until I feel the solid length healwayshas waiting for me, I grin. “I like not having to schedule my infusions anymore. I like not losing every second night to a pounding headache and exhaustion. What about you?” I grind down against his cock and wish we had started all this without our clothes on. “Do you miss infusion nights?”
“I miss the morning after infusion.” He grabs my ass in both hands and squeezes tight enough to make it sting a little. “Watching you infuse always got me a little tingly, because it was a pretty sure bet I’d wake up the next morning with my cock in your mouth.”
“Pig.” I roll my eyes. And still, I rock over his hips. “You took my medical issue and turned it into your gain. Very Malone of you.”
He latches onto my bottom lip and nibbles, his exhaled chuckle bathing my tongue and makingmetingly all over. “Being a Malone sure is a hardship, Minnnka.” He lifts his chin. “Sit up. I’m gonna take my cock out, then you can sit right back down again. It’s how Malone men conduct conversations.”
