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The guys around her got their breakfasts, and she finished hers. She tried to stand, but each had a hand on a thigh. Kane smiled at her. “More coffee?”
“Please. Oh, and another fork.”
Kane smiled. “Sure.”
Amelia smiled. “Well, Henry is sorted, so I can get going as soon as I eat.”
Henry’s face crumpled. “But I have enjoyed being with you. I was hoping you would stay.”
Amelia shrugged. “The weather is nice, but I don’t want to put my hosts out.”
Syar shrugged. “It is no skin of my nose. We have plenty of room, and Keoki and Keahi’s house is just about finished.”
Amelia asked, “What was wrong with it? New build?”
“Storm damage that we didn’t fix until it was necessary, which it now is.” Keoki smiled. “We have been on tour for so long that it didn’t seem urgent. With volcano day coming, we thought it would be nice to have a place to crash until the time comes, and then we can leave a nice, shiny home for us to come back to.”
Eliana nodded. “How nice. Just leave it there, and you can just come back whenever you like, and it will still be in the same condition and waiting. How pleasant.”
Ven looked at her. “Elly, what is going on?”
She smiled brightly. “Nothing. Just got marked again by these two bozos’ beasts, and they are going to leave again. I love that. It brings everything full circle. Doesn’t it?” She paused. “Maybe Rickart would be willing to subdue the marks again or Niko or Jack.”
Keahi got hot, and Nalu got cold. It was disconcerting.
She was taunting them. She knew it. When Kane brought her coffee and the fork, she smiled pleasantly. She drank the hot coffee in one draught, took the fork in her fist, grabbed the other fork, and jabbed one each into the hands that held her down.
They released her, and she got loose. She looked at Ven. “Call me if you need me. I will be working otherwise.”
Ven nodded, and as Eliana left, she heard her friend tearing a strip off the alphas. She went back to the nursery, got her pen and notebook, and found a hammock on the edge of the deck. She settled in, cleared her mind, and started writing. Her heroines always had better endings than she had. She owed them that much for paying for her house, car, and peace of mind.
She flipped page after page and scribbled away. She paused her writing. “You are staring.”
Three large figures came out of the shadows.
“Now, you are looming.”
“Out of all the things that the dragon has done, I regret you the most.”
Eliana lifted her head. “Wow. There is no walking that back. I regret you, too.”
He growled, ran his hand over his hair, and then to her surprise, he kissed her.
She yelped and pushed at him, but he wasn’t holding her. The only place they touched was their lips. She held still and ignored her body warming and relaxing. She loved the way he tasted, and her heart was breaking. She had been stuck, and he had been catting around while she was stuck. She reminded herself of all the women he had been in the tabloids with, and that worked to calm her down. Her body went cold, and she turned her head away.
He nuzzled her neck. “What happened there?”
“My brain just replayed every woman I have seen you cuddled up with on red carpets for the last decade. That pretty effectively stopped any interest I had.”
He froze. “We were no longer together.”
“You weren’t with me, but I was stuck with a giant scar on my back. I had a few attempts to have social interactions, but when they touched that mark, they pulled back as if burned. So, I wanted someone else, anyone else, but couldn’t have them.” She felt the fury boiling over. “Do you know how frustrating that is?”
He stared at her. “I am beginning to get the idea.”
“Great. Stay celibate for ten years, and then we can have a conversation.”
“I don’t want to.” He looked at her sadly.
