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My mother lifted a hand to her chest, confusion written all over her face, making me feel like an asshole for snapping at her. “I—I’m sorry. I didn’t realize I was bringing up a touchy subject—”
“No, Mary, it’s okay, really. You have no reason to apologize at all,” Lyric assured her gently. “The truth is, I did have a sibling. A younger brother, Cal. But, um... he passed away.”
The dining room grew so quiet you could have heard a pin drop. My mother sniffled a few minutes later, her face awash with guilt and sadness. “Oh, Lyric. Honey, I’m so sorry. I never should have—”
“Please don’t, Mary. You did absolutely nothing wrong other than want to get to know me, and I’m grateful for that, truly.”
Christ, this woman. She was so fucking incredible it took my breath away. I removed my arm from the back of her chair just long enough to grab the bottom and jerk her closer to me so I could wrap my arm around her shoulders without either one of us having to get up. I’d have given anything in that moment to pull her into my lap, but she was still holding Ava. Leaning in, I pressed a kiss to her temple and inhaled deeply, breathing in her intoxicating scent.
“It’s getting a little easier to talk about him. He was the most wonderful person there was, and I like sharing pieces of him, so please don’t feel bad.”
My mom’s eyes were glassy, but she smiled, adoration shining bright for my girl. “What a lovely sentiment, sweetheart.” Right then I knew without a shadow of a doubt, I had my family’s full acceptance of the woman in my arms. She’d won them over simply by being her, just like everyone who was lucky enough to meet her.
ChapterTwenty-Two
HOLTON
It had beentwo weeks since the dinner at my parents’ house, and if I thought things between Lyric and me couldn’t get any better, I had been sorely mistaken. Every night I went to sleep with the smell of her on my sheets and that silky hair in my face guaranteed I’d sleep like a log, and every morning I woke up with her in my arms was the perfect start to the day. Even the bad days were tolerable as long as I had her.
And don’t even get me started on our sex life.
I’d never had such hot, passionate, primal sex in my goddamn life. With Lyric, there were zero inhibitions. With her, I was able to set free that long dormant part of me I kept from everyone else in my life. In public I was still the steadfast dependable deputy, but with her, I could be as rough and wild and out of control as I wanted. And she was right there with me, every step of the way.
I pushed her boundaries, and even some of my own, but she never once balked or shied away. She loved every single thing I did to her then turned around and begged for more.
But it wasn’t only about sex. I wanted every single piece of her. I wanted her to be mine in every way humanly possible. I’d never been happier than I’d been these past couple weeks, and I knew there was no way I’d be able to live without her now that I’d gotten a taste of what my life would be like with her in it.
She was buried so deep beneath my skin she was carved onto my bones, stitched into the fabric of my very being.
And that scared the fucking shit out of me, because I knew how precarious life could be. After Carla Sanford, I knew it could all be taken away in the blink of an eye. After what had happened at her house and the fact that we still had no goddamn clue who’d done it, I was starting to lose my grip on logic. The need to protect Lyric from everything bad in the world was so strong it damn near stole by breath.
I felt like I was waiting for the other shoe to drop. Things had been going so well, I couldn’t help but question if that meant something terrible was just around the corner.
I also knew I needed to come clean about why I’d run from her the first time around. It was something I’d been avoiding, not wanting to cast a shadow on all the good that had surrounded us lately, but it was time. Hell, it was nearlypasttime.
I sat back in my chair, swiveling it left and right, the stress ball in my hand getting one hell of a workout as I resigned myself to telling her everything late tonight.
For now, I had a job to do, and I needed to give it all my focus. I went back to the paperwork that never seemed to go away when the deputy on the front desk called back into the bullpen.
“Yo, Clarke. You got someone here to see you.”
My heart kicked out an extra beat in the hopes it was Lyric coming to pay me a visit, but when I looked toward the front of the station I spotted Deva standing at the front desk.
I stood from my desk and waved her in. “Hey. Come on back.” I met her halfway across the bullpen, giving her arm a squeeze as she popped up on her toes to press a chaste, friendly kiss to my cheek. “Good to see you, Day. To what do I owe the pleasure?”
She smiled kindly, but I saw something shrewd behind her eyes. She was here for a reason, but I didn’t know if it was a good reason or one that would end up pissing me off. “I was just over at the library visiting with Lyric and thought I’d pop in on my way home.”
I arched a single brow and crossed my arms over my chest. “Uh-huh. And now therealreason why you’re here?”
She rolled her eyes at being caught. “Damn you and your intuitiveness.”
“It’s not intuition, it’s training. And I’d be a pretty lousy cop without it.”
She huffed dramatically. “Okay, fine. I came here to talk to you if you can spare a few minutes. It won’t take long.”
My brows pinched together. “Is everything okay?” My heart suddenly skipped a beat. “Is something wrong with Lyric?”
“Everything’s fine. Lyric’s fine. I’d just like to talk to you... in private, if that’s all right.”
