Page 140 of The Diamond in the Rough

“I like it, though,” he remarked. “Does it bother you, that she calls you sunshine?”

“Not really, no,” I replied. “It’s just… funny. What sticks to people.”

“It is,” he agreed, then squeezed my hand again. “And who.”

“Who?”

“Yeah,whosticks to you.” He turned to look at me. “Even when you try not to let them.”

My cheeks flushed again. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be,” he murmured. He lifted the hand held in his to his lips, pressing a soft and slightly tickley kiss to the backs of my knuckles. “I’ve decided I like you sticking to me.”

EPILOGUE

She couldn’t standthe screaming. The running. Thenoise. Not that she had much choice, since a dozen six-year-olds were going to make a lot of noise. But she was very much looking forward to when their parents came and got them and she could sit down with a glass of wine.

I smirkedat the second-hand cake knife that Hart had gotten from somewhere, since I couldn’t imagine him attending a six-year-old birthday party. Probably a thrift store or something. Or maybe he’d borrowed it—or I suppose he could have lent it to someone. Taavi did work with kids.

I was keeping myself occupied washing the serving dishes by hand in Beyond the Veil’s kitchen to avoid having to deal with the enormous mess in the lobby.

Nobody had ever explained to me the danger of giving anything to babies.

I hadn’t been the one togivethings to the babies—yes,babies, plural, even though Ward and Mason had alwaysdiscussed adoptingonebaby, but when it came down to it, they couldn’t decide and ended up with two.

I kind of understood how someone might end up with two kittens instead of one. Or birds. Or fish.

I did not understand how you accidentally ended up with two babies unless it was twins, and these two weren’t.

But here we were.

Zane was the older of the two, by five whole days. He was a faun, and his mother had caught Arcanavirus while pregnant. Mason and Ward had been contacted about potentially adopting him after the poor woman had died—and although he’d been born almost two months early, he’d been surprisingly healthy.

Grace was an orc, although she’d been born human, but had contracted Arcanavirus from a sick neonatal volunteer—as had another four babies—and had transformed a day after her birth. Her human parents decided they no longer wanted her and couldn’t get rid of her fast enough. The woman who’d contacted Mason and Ward hadn’t been told they’d already begun the paperwork for Zane, but when they’d heard about her, they couldn’t say no.

So, they had two infants. One of whom had an unbelievable throwing arm for being less than two weeks old. She’d thrown several bottles, two of which had shattered, because Ward insisted on using glass instead of plastic because of toxins, multiple stuffed animals, some teething rings, and three sets of plastic keys.

She’d also torn one of the stuffed animals into shreds.

Zane just chewed oneverything.

Fauns apparently teethe much earlier than human babies.Muchearlier.

Hart and Beck had gotten me to help them plan the whole thing—making sure there was an appointment onthe schedule so Ward and Mason would bothbehere, then helping to email all the necessary people, including all their families and friends.

It was a lot of people.

I wasn’t a big fan of people, so I’d chosen to be helpful by going to the kitchen so I could stay away from them. I didn’t mind, and I was genuinely happy for Mason and Ward, who seemed thrilled with fatherhood, even if also exhausted.

But I was also looking forward to the party being over.

I stoppedwhen I saw him, tall, his dark hair glinting in the early evening sun, golden-brown eyes obscured behind black sunglasses. I watched him notice me, the slight tilt to his head, the shift in his smooth, feline gait.

“Hi,” I said, still a little tongue-tied whenever I saw him again after not seeing him for a few days.

“Hey,” Raj replied, his voice low and smooth. He gestured back toward the direction he’d come from. “Glad I caught you. I was hoping to take you to dinner and a movie… if you’re free.”

I grinned at him. “I’m free,” I replied. I liked it when he took me on surprise dates. He started walking back in other direction, and I followed.