Page 100 of Seek Him Like Shelter

And I found myself smiling anytime I opened a drawer or cabinet and saw her things right there next to mine.

“Well, we finally got his logos made up, and the new website up and running. Along with his socials. I can’t imagine how busy he is going to be in the next few weeks with the holidays coming.”

“Yeah, we should make sure we get our orders in early,” I agreed, wincing as the staple gun started up across the hall, interrupted only by the occasional burst of air from the compressor.

“You know,” Elizabeth said, reaching to pull off her headphones and set them on the coffee table before climbing over my lap. “There is one perk to all that noise,” she said, leaning in to press her lips to my neck. “We don’t have to be quiet.”

That was definitely a perk, I decided, as I grabbed her, turning her and rolling her under me, my lips sealing over hers as her legs went around my hips, using me as leverage to rock against my cock.

By the time we were done, I was suddenly not so annoyed by all the noise anymore.

Elizabeth - 1 year

“There could have been a couple more oral scenes, that’s all I’m saying,” Saff said, throwing up her hands as Islah’s cheeks went bright red.

Even after a year of our monthly bookclub meetings, and Saff’s shamelessly outspoken takes on, in particular, the sexual aspects of the books, Islah still managed to get embarrassed by it.

“I mean, it’s fantasy, right?” Saff asked, reaching for the bottle of wine sitting in the middle of the table, and topping off all of our glasses. “And in my fantasies, the hero goes down on his woman more than twice in the book. That’s all I’m saying.”

“You have a point,” Lore agreed. “It’s not really even that much of a fantasy. That should be, you know, the standard.” It certainly was in my relationship.

“Exactly,” Saff said, nodding. “So, what are we reading next? I vote for the vampires. I’m getting sick of royals. Oh, poor you, you have all the money and power and you’re so sad because some douchebag doesn’t want to feel you up…”

“To be fair, the past few books have all been a lot heavier on the court intrigue than the romance plots,” Lore defended the books.

“Exactly. Why isn’t anyone being slammed back against the wall and railed so hard that all the servants in the castle feel the need to go to confessional?”

“Okay,” Lore said, nodding. “We can do the vampires. If Elizabeth is cool with that?”

“Fine with me,” I agreed, just happy to be along for the ride.

After being alone for so long, with only work connections to lay claim to, having friends was still new and exciting to me. I was always reading, thinking of how Lore was going to dissect a complicated plot point, or Saff was going to insist that the sex position the main characters engaged in was physically impossible.

“I mean, if they’ve been alive for three hundred years, hopefully they’ve learned how to lay some pipe, right, Elian?” she asked, making me turn to see him frozen in the living room, brows raised.

“I’m… early,” he decided, starting to slow walk backward.

“No, no. I have to go hit the bookstore before I make dinner,” Lore said, lifting the heavy book off of the table and cradling it to her chest. “Do you want to come, Saff?” she asked.

“Ah, no,” Saff said, suddenly seeming a little more shut down. “I, ah, have plans,” she added, making Lore and I share a confused look. But we knew better than to try to pry things out of Saff.

Besides, she was grabbing her book, and rushing past Elian already.

“Did I interrupt?” Elian asked as he watched Lore follow Saff out. “I know you look forward to this,” he added as he brought his bag over to the island and started pulling out ingredients for dinner.

We shared that task now, though he definitely had more recipes in his arsenal than I did, so he tended to cook more often than I did.

Though I’ll go ahead and toot my own horn and say I found I had a skilled hand with baked goods, where Elian was still pretty hopeless with that task.

“No, we were pretty much done,” I said, eyeing the heavy cream and block of parmesan. It looked like Alfredo was in my future. My stomach let out a hearty growl at the idea.

I placed my hand there, seeing the gorgeous marquise-cut diamond sitting on my left ring finger, a promise of a future we’d been working toward ever since I’d officially moved into this condo, and wondering how long it would be until my belly started to go round. I was hoping it at least stayed flat for another two weeks, or my seamstress was going to have a fit since I’d already had my final fitting.

I never imagined myself having a large wedding. Mostly because I didn’t have any family that I was close to any more.

But, I guess, now I did.

Elian’s blood and extended family was now mine to share. And they were more than enough to fill up the church.

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