AllFreeNovel
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“I knew how much it meant to you for them to be there, and I couldn’t make that happen without putting the people you love in harm’s way. This was the next best thing, and though you don’t know them yet, I knew your parents wouldn’t want to have missed their daughter marrying the most handsome man in the land… so…” She grins wide, and the tears dry up at my cocky twist on the answer. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen her smile at me this way, but it warms my heart.
“Thank you,” she whispers, and the tears rise once more.
Reaching for her, I tug at the satin slip hanging loose around her body, pulling her closer so she can stand between my legs. “You’re very welcome, Love. I’m pretty sure I’d have done anything to make you smile the way you just did.” Tearing my eyes away from hers, I stand to my full height, forcing her to take a single step back. “Now, I believe I owe my wife a dance.” She searches the room for a moment, though I’m not sure what she’s looking for.
“But there’s no music.”
“We don’t need it.” Her eyes round as her lips part, only for her to wipe the expression off her face a millisecond later, but I saw it. I caught her bewilderment and for it, I’ll be thanking Finn when we return to Solaria. “Finn lent me your music box thing. The one with all your earthly music the two of you are so fond of. Low and behold, I found a few I knew.”
“He told me that most of the songs Hell shares with Earth come from the prisoners in Purgatory. They hum them so loudly, you can hear them in the warehouse full of souls.”
“True, or the reapers or the old watchers overhear them during their time on Earth,” I say, taking her hand and leading her toward the open area of the room.
She nestles against my chest, and I lean my cheek against the top of her curls as we start to sway. The quiet hangs around us beyond the shuffling fabric of our clothes and I start to hum. We rock to the tempo of my voice and I push her out, twirling her beneath my arm before bringing her back against my chest. Her face is an inch away from mine, and I bring our hands to my lips.
“Did you recognize it?” I ask, kissing her knuckles.
“Marry Me…by Train I think. I don’t think I’ve ever heard you sing, hum from time to time, yes. But not sing.”
I can feel her anticipation, and the curiosity shines in her bright blue eyes. “Would you like to?”
“Yes. I wish to know everything about my husband. His strength and his flaws… histalents.”
“I desire the same, but we have an eternity for that. No one is expecting us to learn it all right away. There are things I’m still learning about you and I’ve studied you for over a year. Granted, I was gone a lot, but I did try to make up for lost time when I could.”
Her eyebrows pinch as she tilts her head. “Studied?”
“Yes.” She wets her lips and I can see the gears turning in her eyes as her mind spirals down a rabbit hole. “I like figuring out your tells. The gestures you do when you’re nervous, the faces you make when you think. The things you do when you’re horny and don’t want to admit it, or when you like something.” My hand fishes through her curls, gathering a chunk of it in my hand at the nape of her neck. “I desire to know it all.”
Lowering my lips to hers, my heart flutters. Alice quickly pulls away, leaning back just enough to look me in the eye.
“I donotmake a face when I think.”
I chuckle low, glancing away to keep from laughing. “You do. It’s adorable, to say the least. Just as you make one when you’re pissed and sometimes it’s so hard to take you seriously unless your hair is dancing with flames. It’s in those moments I find I’ve never been more attracted, yet terrified of someone at the same time.”
My heart swells, and I’m not sure if it’s my doing or hers–if I’m feeling her emotions echo through the bond connecting us.
“I love you,” she whispers, reaching up to trace her knuckles across my cheek bone. My eyes flutter closed, drunk of the sensation of it.
“I love you too.”
34
Alice
Having sparked the fireplace to life, we finally settle onto the couch, watching the molten hues of the flames flick and roll in the hearth. My feet have never hurt so bad… Heels are the bane of my existence. I can count on my hands how many times I’ve worn them in my life and all of those times have ended with my feet aching.
I’m currently curled against Kai’s side, one of his strong arms wrapped around my back and holding me close while my legs stretch across his lap. His other hand strokes between my knee and hip before trailing down to squeeze the ball of my foot. I nearly moan from the pressure and his head jerks toward me.
“Are you okay?” His voice is smooth like silk and floats over me, easing the tension away.
“Perfect. Thank you,” I say, closing my eyes and soaking up the feel of his hands massaging me.
“Hmmm, what are you thinking about?” His hands squeeze and knead up my calves
“How good this feels. Being here with you, and yourtalented hands.” I’m sure he’s going to take it as an innuendo, and follow it up with something dirty that downright makes my heart skip and my breath hitch in my throat, but at the moment, I wouldn’t be opposed. “You?”
Kai’s quiet for far too long before he finally answers, stopping his hands succession up my thigh. “The deal.”
