Wild and Free (The Three #3)(75)

Someone who’d taught me how to play checkers when I was seven.

Someone who’d died for me when I was twenty-nine.

I kept talking, held close in Abel’s arms, tangled up in his powerful limbs, until my words drifted away and I went to sleep.

It wasn’t until later that I’d realize, when I was hurting, my man gave me just what I needed.

*

The next morning, sitting in Abel’s lap in the big chair by the window, still in my nightshirt, Abel having tugged on jeans, I listened to him talk as I stared at the sea.

I didn’t say anything. Too much was in my head—what had happened the day before and all he was telling me.

I still didn’t say anything when he was done.

He let me have my silence until he was finished letting me have my silence.

“Lilah?” he called, his arms giving me a squeeze.

“We’re destined to save the world?” I asked.

“Apparently,” he answered.

“Yeesh,” I muttered.

“It’s a lot to take in, *cat.”

He could say that again.

“It sucks. But one thing about it doesn’t suck. It brought you to me,” he stated, and I closed my eyes.

God, he liked me. He really, really liked me.

That was good since I felt the same.

I opened my eyes. “You’re good at finding the silver lining.”

He gave a soft, short chuckle.

It, too, was heavenly.

Then he said, “I gotta know you’re processing this ’cause I gotta brief our families about that shit.”

“I’ll go with you,” I told him and got another squeeze of his arms.

“No. Take your time. Have a bath. They say we can order up breakfast. I’ll take care of that for you. Then I’m gonna go get some blood and, after that, talk to our people. You need to take care of you. Give Snake some of your headspace. Come to terms with what he gave you. I’ll be back.”

“I wanna check in on Chen and Jabber.”

“You can do that after you take care of you.”

“That is taking care of me.”

“No, that’s my Lilah takin’ care of other people. But my job is to take care of you. This morning is yours. You don’t need to think of destiny. Fuck, you don’t even need to give your headspace to Snake. You just need to do what you need to do and have the space and time to do it.”

One could say having a long hot bath in the huge, super-luxuriant bathroom that was all ours, hanging in the equally huge and super-luxuriant bedroom, taking time to get ready, have breakfast, get shit sorted in my head, all in a stronghold of The Vampire Dominion where no one could hurt us and I could stare out at the sea, was not a bad idea.

I cuddled closer even as I moved my head to catch his eyes.

He felt them, tipped his chin, and gave his to me.

“You get the sucky jobs,” I said softly.

His eyes went hard. “Takin’ care of you is not a sucky job.”

Okay, I knew how he felt about that.

And I liked how he felt about that.

So much I felt my nose sting with oncoming tears and shoved my face in his throat so he wouldn’t see me cry again.

He curled a hand around the back of my head and held me there.

“I like you,” I sobbed into his throat.

I felt his body tense, then relax, and there was humor in his voice when he said, “Well, that’s good.”

“Like…a lot,” I clarified.

“That’s good too.”

“You’re very sweet,” I told him.

Abel didn’t reply to that.

My voice was croaky with tears when I went on, “You treat me right, and you’re respectful of my family, and you’ve given me more by giving me yours, and you’re great in bed.”

“That’s it?” he teased.

“You’re hot.”

He shoved my face in his throat reflexively when his entire body tensed again, but this time, because he burst out laughing.

Startled by the sound, I pulled my face out of his throat and watched him do it.

Yep, he was hot.

He kept doing it even as he focused on me, his hand sliding from the back of my head so he could use a thumb to rub the wet on my cheek away.

The laughter was gone when he said gently, “I like you too.”

Fuck, that felt awesome.

“Well, that’s good.”

He grinned at me.

“I missed two,” I told him.

He kept grinning when he asked, “Those are…?”

“You’re a biker, and Dad likes you.”

He continued to grin, but it died slowly as he said quietly, “Let me take care of you, bao bei. Later, you can face the world and all the shit that’s goin’ down. Now, you take time for you. Yeah?”

I nodded.

“What do you want for breakfast?” he asked.

“I’m not very hungry.”

“How about fruit and toast, then?”

God, he was really good at this.

“That works. Plus coffee.”

“Coffee,” he murmured. Using his hand at my head to pull me to him, he dipped to me and touched his mouth to my lips. He moved away but not very far when he finished, “I’ll give you a coupla hours, then I’ll be back.”