One corner of Salvatore’s mouth kicks upward. “Oh, so you’re not the heartless Tin Man after all.”
My gaze flicks back to him, narrowing. “You’re a Wizard of Oz fan now?”
He waves his hand in the air. “Doesn’t everyone see that movie as a kid? I grew up with mobsters, not wolves.”
“I don’t see how I’d be the Tin Man.”
“You’redefinitelythe Tin Man,” he says with total confidence. “Rigid and full of airs and barging through life like you’ve got an axe to grind.”
I’m not sure I agree with his interpretation of the character, but it doesn’t seem worth arguing. “Who are you, then? The lion?”
He snorts. “No, I don’t think courage is ever going to be my problem. You all seem to think I have too much. So I must be the Scarecrow. I’ll admit I could occasionally use a little work in the brains department.Professor Raithis the Cowardly Lion.”
A smile tugs at my own lips, even though I might dispute Salvatore’s “occasionally” regarding his brains. “I guess that fits.”
“Oh, yeah. All that growl but not much bite when push comes to shove.” Salvatore grins at the comparison.
“What about Asher then?”
Salvatore looks at me incredulously. “Have you ever seen a more obvious Toto?”
I have to clap my hand over my mouth against the guffaw that bursts out of me. It might be an unfair observation… but I can’t say it’s not a little accurate.
Unfortunately, I don’t stifle the sound quickly enough. Elodie stirs and rolls onto her back to peer at me beneath heavy lidded eyes.
“What’s going on?” she mumbles.
I brush a few stray strands of hair back from her face. “Nothing. Just Salvatore being Salvatore.”
“Hmm,” she says drowsily. “He is funny.”
The guy in question pipes up from her other side. “I’ll take that only as a compliment.”
I can’t help staring down at the incredible woman who’ssomehow my match as her eyelids droop again. The graceful line of her face, the gilded brown of her skin, the tumble of her hair?—
Her eyelashes flutter, and she focuses on me with a little more alertness. “What?”
Has she forgotten the conversation we just had? “I told you, it was nothing, just Salvatore goofing around.”
“No. Why are you looking at me like that?” She rolls farther toward me and prods my chest with one hand.
Even though I’ve all but said the words already, my pulse stutters with sudden nervousness. Which is absurd, because what I’m feeling is the most natural emotion in the world, what every match should feel for their mate.
Why wouldn’t she want to hear it?
I bring my hand to her cheek, holding her gaze. “I love you.”
The smile that crosses her face shines as bright as the sun. It radiates into me with a surge of warmth like nothing I’ve ever felt before.
She grips my neck and scoots up to kiss me, hard and deep, until I forget how to breathe. Then, with our faces tucked close together, she murmurs, “I love you too.”
From her other side, Salvatore lets out a grunt.
Elodie swats at him. “You know I love you too.”
“Doesn’t make it any less enjoyable to hear you say it, a shíorghrá.”
I’ve heard him use that phrase and a couple others for her before. “What does ah heer graw mean?” I ask, attempting to mimic the sounds.
