Page 505 of Lodestar

I shot him a winsome smile. “I’ll make you more soup.”

“If we stop for apple pie at Aoife’s bakery first, then we have a deal.”

“I thought she’d stopped baking it to make something more interesting now that she’s gone viral again?”

“She always bakes it for me,” he preened.

Snorting, I watched him eat then asked, “You ready for our appointment later on?”

His gaze flickered to the clock. “It’s online, isn’t it?”

“Unless you feel like time-traveling back to earlier this morning so we could catch a flight to Lyon, sure.”

“You’re extra snarky today.”

I folded my arms against my chest. “You worked all night.”

“Are you pouting?” he inquired, peering at me like I was a bug through a microscope.

“I am.” And I wasn’t ashamed of it.

“You worked all night too.”

“Only because you did.”

“Okay?”

“I like sleeping with you.”

His grin turned cocky. “Sweeter words have I yet to hear. My woman likes sleeping with me. Do I get a gold star?”

“You can get a black eye if you’d prefer?”

“Nah, I’ll take the gold star.”

“And I meantsleeping. Not fucking. Though I like that too.” I cleared my throat. “With you.”

I wasn’t sure I’d ever want to do that again with anyone else. Just the thought made me want to puke.

“You used to be the best I’d never had,” he said softly, trying to grab my hand then yanking my arm when I wouldn’t unfold it from my chest before pressing his lips to my knuckles. “Now you’re just the best.”

“‘Just?’”

He winked. “You know what I mean.”

I hid a grin. “I know what you mean.”

“We’ll sleep tonight. In bed. So you don’t have to make soup instead.”

It wasn’tinstead. It wasbecause of.

I wasnota nurturer. It wasn’t in me to be like that. But Conor… ah, hell, I wanted to make sure he was okay.

In fact, it was becoming aneed.

So many people had been taken from me.

My mom, then my dad thanks to Jorgmundgander’s sweep-up process, then family I hadn’t even known were fighting in my corner…

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