Page 25 of Kiss of Fury

He carried the boy into his room and settled him on the mattress. Verity eased him out of his coat and removed his shoes. Unsure how to help, he retreated and let her handle the rest.

He stoked up the stove with another herb cake, and, with nothing else to do, went to their bedroom, shed his clothes, and crawled into bed.

Chapter Twelve

Verity kissed her sleeping son on the forehead and tiptoed out of his room. Cabin lights were off, so she assumed Fury had retired.My husband is waiting for me.They’d shared a bed last night, but today they were married. It seemed different somehow.

Her life had changed—new job, new planet, a husband, aliens. But most of all—safety. That was the only difference that mattered. Nobody could take Brody from her. With her son safe, she could handle the rest.

In the bathroom, she brushed rice out of her hair, cleaned her teeth, and then entered the bedroom. Through a skylight, the pinpoints of distant stars twinkled, but the room was nearly pitch-black. She couldn’t see anything. “Are you asleep?” she whispered.

“No,” came the reply.

She bumped into the trunk at the foot of the bed. “Ouch.”

“Are you all right? Do you need light?”

“I’m fine. Don’t turn on the light.”

In the future, she’d change in the bathroom. She groped for the nightgown she’d draped over the mattress. She undressed, her skin tingling with awareness.He can’t see anything.But she quickly pulled her nightgown over her head then folded her good clothes and set them on the trunk. She’d hang them up in the morning.

Peeling the covers back, she slid into bed.

“You get him settled?” His deep voice rumbled in the darkness.

“Yeah. I put him in his pj’s, and he never so much as twitched.” Sensitized skin continued to tingle. His body heat and a warm, masculine scent wafted over her.

“He wore himself out talking.”

“Sorry about that.” Kids could be annoying, especially to nonparents, and she’d foisted her son off on this man. He hadn’t asked for a ready-made family. But it was heartening to see her son revert to his normal outgoing self, instead of the scared little boy who’d clung to her when they’d first arrived.

“No problem. The little guy was excited.”

“Thank you for that. Thank you for…everything.”

“You don’t have to thank me.”

“Well, I’m grateful. I know I forced you into this marriage.”

“You didn’t force me.” He sounded surprised.

“I kind of did. I put you on the spot. You weren’t expecting a package deal.”

“As a friend of mine said, maybe Cosmic Mates gives you what you need instead of what you asked for.”

Even if it were true, it didn’t apply here. Cosmic Mates hadn’t known she had a son. “That friend would be Jason Steel?”

“Yes.”

“You arrived together, right?”

“Yes.”

Ask or don’t ask?Having deduced Steel was the medical miracle patient, she considered pumping Mike for information. Brody acquired his inquisitiveness honestly—he’d inherited it. But although curious about Steel, she was more interested in her new husband.

She couldn’t see in the dark, but she rolled over to face him.

“I was hasty,” he said.

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