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Calder rocked it with his heel, his head tilted to rest against the back. “This should be downstairs like a lot of this furniture. I’d sit in it all the time.”
“That’s the plan. Returning all of this to being used. Or sold if you guys want. There are some high-quality pieces of up here.”
“I doubt we sell anything. There’s too much…sentimental value.”
And like that, it all came rushing back. Reincarnation. Generation upon generation of death as they fought the pestilents.
They were fighting them now. Would they all die again? Were Lucien and Calder coming down to their very last days if they didn’t find their soul mates?
Gio tried not to think about it, but it was like trying to keep your tongue from touching a sore tooth. His brain kept circling to it no matter how painful it was.
“I know it’s a lot to take in,” Calder murmured, his sweet voice barely more than a whisper.
“Are you a mind reader too?”
“No, I can just see it on your face.” Calder frowned and shook his head. “I’m sorry.”
Gio had been turning toward another piece of furniture so Calder couldn’t read his too expressive face, but his gaze returned. “For what?”
“For dragging you into all of this. For burdening you with this knowledge and putting your life in danger. Lucien and I never wanted any of that for you.” Calder scowled and cursed softly under his breath. “We’re drawn to you, and it’s selfish. The more we’re around outsiders, the more danger they are in. We should have known better. We should have—”
“Stop it, Calder.” Gio closed the distance between them and placed his hand on Calder’s cheek. He brushed his thumb across his bottom lip in a slow, lingering caress. “This isn’t your fault. I have no regrets.”
As soon as the words left his tongue, he knew they were true. He wasn’t simply saying it to make Calder feel better. Yes, he’d had a moment of panic and doubt before Calder’s appearance, but now that he was looking at the man, touching him, he knew that all the fear and insanity didn’t matter. Keeping Calder and Lucien safe were the only things that mattered. How he was going to do that was an entirely different matter.
“Grey can help, though. He can make it so you don’t remember anything. It’ll be like we never met, and you can go back to your life. A normal life.”
For the first time in too many hours, Gio smiled. “Don’t you know normal is highly overrated?” He bent and slid the tip of his tongue across the Water Weaver’s bottom lip. Calder’s breath hitched and those perfect lips parted like Gio had whispered the secret password. Kissing Calder was like tasting a bit of the divine. Of course, kissing Lucien was tasting a different type of divinity—something wild and powerful.
He deepened the kiss, loving all the little whimpers of pleasure that sneaked out of Calder.
Fuck, he smelled good. Fresh and clean. Gio wanted to pull him into his arms, but he was still aware of the man’s tender condition, so he made do with cradling his face with both hands as he made love to his mouth with his tongue.
Gradually, his fingers drifted up into silky hair that felt like cool satin. He dragged his mouth from his lips to jaw, kissing his way up to the soft flesh behind his ear. A faint strawberry shampoo scent drifted to his nose from Calder’s hair, and Gio smiled. He’d always remember that smell. To hell with Grey and his powers. Nothing could ever erase this memory from his brain.
No, he was going to find a way to help Calder, Lucien, and all the Weavers save the world. There were going to be more of Calder’s timid smiles and Lucien’s bold confidence. More strawberry shampoo.
But what about when they found their soul mates?
He would have to step aside. Let them go.
Of course, that was easy. They were just friends with some very fun benefits. This wasn’t anything more than that. There was no way in hell he was getting dragged into something where he didn’t ultimately belong.
Kissing Calder now was simply about making him feel better. He could let them go. He could let them both go.
That evening, Gio sat sipping coffee at the table in the breakfast nook with Grey and Cort while Lucien and Calder cleaned up from dinner. A smile played on his lips as he watched them working so easily together, laughing at each other’s teasing.
“You’ve worked a miracle,” Cort said suddenly.
Gio blinked and turned his gaze to the grinning man. “What?”
“A week ago, a dish would have been broken, and we would have been physically separating them by now,” Cort continued.
“Or one of them would have stormed off by now,” Grey added.
“That’s…crazy.” It was too hard to believe. Yes, there had been some ugly tension early on, but after their first night, everything seemed to come together. He couldn’t imagine Lucien and Calder at each other’s throats. He shook his head. “That’s not me. They just needed to learn to talk to each other.”
