Page 190 of Lyric & the Heartbeats

With a shrug, he handed her the box. “I know. But I wanted to. You deserve to be spoiled, Lyric.”

Emotion got stuck in her throat, and she swallowed sharply before focusing on the simple brown paper wrapped box in her hands.

The brown paper tore easily, and she ruffled the wispy layers of tissue paper until the treasure was revealed.

And what a treasure. It took her breath away. She froze with the box lid in one hand, and a layer of flimsy papers in the other. “Adra,” she breathed.

She would have lifted her gaze to his, but it was glued to the piece of art in her lap. On a piece of textured paper were gently drawn lines and short strokes of gray that twined and twirled to make a depiction of… her.

Lyric stared down at her own shape, at the image of herself through another’s eyes, and her heart pitter-pattered to a clumsy beat. Color had been added to the drawing, blushes of pink and swatches of cream and splashes of the prettiest orange color to make up her hair. Lyric had only ever felt as magical as she looked in the painting on stage. And Adra saw her like that while she was sleeping? With her hand tucked under one cheek and hair cascading over her shoulder.

“This is beautiful,” she whispered. She finally set the lid of the box down and turned to meet her alpha’s gaze. “When did you do this?”

He shrugged, though his cheeks darkened as he avoided her gaze. “A few days ago. When you fell asleep on the couch.”

Embarrassed was one of her favorite shades of Adra. “You see me so differently than I do myself.”

Worry filled his gaze. “In a good way?”

A laugh tumbled from between her lips, and she reached up to share her humor with him, brushing their lips together. “Yes, silly. That’s a beautiful painting. Thank you. You’re so talented.” She kissed him again, unable to resist the sweet smile curling his mouth and the embarrassment flooding him.

She studied the painting again. Lyric could see how much love and care and talent went into each stroke of the pencil and each dab of paint. Only Adra would be able to take Lyric, who definitely drooled when she slept—most of the time—and turn that ghastly image into something so beautiful.

Where could she put it? Somewhere she could show it off, probably, but part of her wanted to keep it just for herself. Would he let her frame it?

Well, for now…

Lyric grinned and grabbed the painting, stepping around Adra, and pulled a magnet off the fridge with a click. “This will have to do for now,” she said proudly, placing the paper against the chilly surface and laying the magnet over one corner. “It deserves the spotlight.”

Adra grabbed her from behind, and Lyric let out a girlish shout as he pulled her back down onto the couch. “You deserve the spotlight. But I’ll have to show you my sketchbook one day if you liked that one so much.”

Lyric’s heart stopped. “Really?”

“Sure. Why not?”

“I’ll show you my lyric book,” she promised. If he was willing to show her something so private, she could do the same.

His breath ghosted across her neck as he leaned down and painted a kiss on her shoulder. “Deal.”

“You guys know I’m happy with you, right? I don’t need all these bells and whistles.”

“Yes, we are aware,” Adra answered softly. “This is just part of the process.”

“What process? Bonding?”

“Courting.”

Lyric almost snorted. They’d lived together, fucked, bonded, and now they were courting her?

“Doing things a little backwards, are we?” Lyric meant it as a tease, but Adra frowned, his lips curling down in a way that made Lyric’s heart swell.

“If we had met under different circumstances, I like to believe I’d do things in the right order, so you’d know just how much you mean to me.”

“To us,” Emerson corrected.

Lyric’s heart pounded. “I didn’t mean it like that. I love what we have. All I mean is—”

“I know,” Adra said. Lyric curled into him and pressed a kiss to his lips before he continued speaking. “We all know what you mean. But it doesn’t change the fact that we are aware things happened a little backwards here. That just means we’ll be taking you on a lot of dates once we get home.”