Alicia’s head shoots up and she looks at me, frowning. “Brandon?”
Ah, shit. I forgot to tell her. “He finally answered one of my e-mails. He’s heading back this way to see the baby. And says he’s staying this time.”
Alicia hides her troubled expression when she lays her head down again. Because…well, I don’t know what the hell happened. Except about two weeks after our wedding, Brandon just took off and disappeared—leaving behind his clothes, his wallet, and some claw marks gouged into the wall outside Samantha’s bedroom door.
Alicia’s sister is real hard to read sometimes, but hurt smells like hurt. And although Samantha acted like nothing happened, she was hurt bad.
I know Alicia worries about her. Just like she is worrying now.
Smoothing my hand down her hair, I tell her, “It’ll be all right.”
She shakes her head. “You don’t know Samantha like I do. Leaving was the very worst thing he could have done. And then to stay away so long?”
Taking his sweet damn time, like he always does. This time, he might have waited too long.
But although my brother might take a while to get around to something, he’s also as stubborn as fuck. So if he’s on a path back to Samantha, she’s going to have her hands full.
“It’ll be all right,” I tell her again. “No matter what happens. And, hell. It might be fun watching them butt heads.”
A little giggle shakes through her before she sighs deeply and says, “I just want everyone to be as happy as I am.”
“You’re happy, then?”
Her green eyes shine up at me. “Completely. It didn’t end up being much of a curse, did it? Here I am, with the most amazing husband, the most beautiful daughter, with the best family and friends. I couldn’t ask for more.”
My Alicia wouldn’t ask for more. Which is why I’ll keep giving it. “And you know what I think? You aren’t happy enough.”
She laughs. “No?”
“Nah. Not yet. But I’ll spend my whole life getting you to that point. While you’re making the world a kinder, better place for our kids—and while I’m making sure there’s still a world for them to live in—all that time, I’ll be making you even happier. No matter what it takes. I’ll do it.”
Those glowing eyes are glimmering now, too—with happy tears, and her scent filled with so much love. “I believe you will.”
“Because I will,” I vow to her.
“And I’ll do the same for you.”
“You already have, baby,” I tell her and she laughs again.
“So you haven’t made me happy enough yet, but I’ve made you happy enough?” She bites her lip in the sexy, teasing way she has. “I think that means I win.”
“Good.” I always want her to win. “Though if this is a competition, just remember who flew three thousand miles to get to you.”
She scoffs. “On a plane? If the nights were any longer, I’d have run three thousand miles to you.”
“How’s that?”
“During the full moons.” She lithely straddles my stomach, dragging her claws down my chest. “I used to make it all the way to Canada.”
I frown, not understanding. “You did what?”
“My beast would— I mean, I would try to get to you each time. So I kept trying to run to Alaska.”
My heart’s so fucking full I can barely breathe. “Each time, you ran four hundred miles trying to get to me?”
She nods, something so sweet and vulnerable in her posture now, as if remembering those long and painful months before she tamed her beast. “Something inside me must have known you would be everything to me. And how much I needed you. And how you’d become my whole world. Because I was willing to run across it to find you.” Those happy tears swim in her eyes again. “But you came to find me, instead. And loved me. And changed a curse into the most wonderful, incredible gift.”
My heart bursting open with all the love I feel for her, I sit up, cupping her beautiful face in my hands. My voice is hoarse as I say, “That was all you, baby. And it was me who was given something so damn wonderful, so damn precious. That’s you, and this family we’re starting.”
“We could spend all night arguing about who is luckier, then.” Her soft lips curve into a sweet smile. “How about we spend the time making our family a little bigger, instead?”
Hell, yes. That sounds like a damn fine plan. Not just for tonight, but for the rest of our lives.
So I drag her mouth to mine, and get started.
The End