Lover Arisen (Black Dagger Brotherhood #20)(129)

“I can ask Fritz to get me a suit? A proper one, with a tie and shoes that don’t have steel toes? And then I can take you out properly.”

Erika looked down at herself once again. Then she shook her head. “Actually, I think I’d like to just change into jeans? This is nice and all, and I guess I’ll keep it. But it doesn’t feel like me.”

Her man reached out and snagged her waist. Pulling her close, he lowered his lids and murmured, “So you want to take it off?”

“Yeah. Is that okay?”

Biting his lower lip with his fangs, he purred deep in his throat. “A-okay. And allow me to help you. Call me Mister Zipper, m’lady.”

When he stretched his arms up her back to the fastening, his face went right in between her breasts—and sure enough, the nuzzling and the licking left her liquid inside her skin.

“You’ve made all my wishes come true,” she whispered as the red dress fell to the floor.

“Just wait until I lay you down,” he vowed as he swept her off her feet.

Like only the man of her dreams could do.

As the male she loved did indeed lay her down and settle on top of her body, she smiled even though she wasn’t fooled. There was something else under his shift to a happier mood. But he’d tell her when he was ready, and whatever it was, they’d get through it.

Together, they could get through anything.

True love was like that.





ACKNOWLEDGMENTS




With so many thanks to the readers of the Black Dagger Brotherhood books! This has been a long, marvelous, exciting journey, and I can’t wait to see what happens next in this world we all love. I’d also like to thank Meg Ruley, Rebecca Scherer and everyone at JRA, and Hannah Braaten, Andrew Nguyên, Jennifer Bergstrom, Jennifer Long, and the entire family at Gallery Books and Simon & Schuster.

To Team Waud, I love you all. Truly. And as always, everything I do is with love to and adoration for both my family of origin and of adoption.

Oh, and thank you to Naamah, my Writer Dog II, and Obie, Writer Dog-in-Training, who both work as hard as I do on my books!

In Memoriam to Our Beloved Archieball.