“Is that necessary?” I whispered. “She’s taken seven thousand pictures already.”
Mallory feigned shock. “Seven whole thousand?”
I poked her. “Smart-ass.”
Ethan reached out, took my hand. “Outside is fine,” he said, making the decision for both of us. “I’m thrilled to have more time with my beautiful wife.”
That was a powerful word, and on his lips, nearly seductive.
Just you wait, Ethan silently said, echoing the implicit promise I’d made to him earlier.
Eagerly, I promised him. I have plans for you, Sullivan.
The bright flash of his answering magic lifted goose bumps across my skin.
“We’d better get this done as soon as possible,” Mallory said, grinning at us. “Before they start vamping each other among the stacks.”
Ethan’s smile left little doubt that we’d already explored that particular activity, albeit in the House’s library, rather than this one. “We’ll manage,” he assured her.
• • •
I squeezed my feet into my shoes again, let Lindsey stuff rebel tendrils of hair back into my updo. Catcher came out with Mallory, and when Lindsey was done, Amit offered her a gentlemanly arm.
“You’re becoming an expert escort,” I told him as the elevator whisked us back down to the first floor.
“One of my many skills,” he said, leveling his deep brown eyes at Shay’s camera when she tried to snap a shot.
We walked out of the library’s big brass doors, went down the street to the El train trestle that rose above Van Buren.
“Here,” Shay said, pointing to either side of the steel trestle supports, lit from above so light pooled on the sidewalk. “Ethan on that side, Merit on the other.”
“And we’re doing this,” he said, and stepped on one side, leaned a hand against the steel structure.
“Give me a pose, Merit,” Shay said.
I curled my hands into claws and bared my teeth, heard the responsive click of a camera shutter. I guess she liked it.
“Ahem,” Ethan said, and I glanced at him. He gestured toward the trestle. “Waiting for you, wife.”
“Don’t get huffy, husband,” I said, and mirrored his pose.
Shay took pictures, then gestured to the stairs that rose to the El station. “Go up to the tracks,” she said. “Then look down over the railing.”
We did as she requested. Shay walked into the middle of the street, aimed her camera up at us.
“Do something romantic!” Lindsey called out, and before I could respond, Ethan’s hands were on my face, and his lips were planted on mine. He snaked an arm around my waist and pulled me against the solid length of his body, and the arousal that hardened between us as he deepened the kiss.
Soon, he said to me, the word echoing around my head like a marble in an empty box.
“I believe it’s time to get the honeymoon started,” he said when he finally pulled back again. Since my body was molded to his, my mouth swollen, I wasn’t really in a position to argue.
“Sure,” was all I managed to say. And weakly, at that.
“Let’s switch positions!” Shay called out.
“Not in this lifetime, sister,” I murmured, and kept a grip on Ethan’s hand.
Ethan chuckled with masculine satisfaction. “No worries, Sentinel. You’re the only woman for me.”