Page 108 of Devilish

I flipped it over and carefully broke the wax seal. My mouth fell open. “Is this…”

Lucien looked over my shoulder. “An invitation to the royal wedding?”

“Indeed,” Theo said before tossing back the rest of his drink.

“This isn’t a gift for Kai,” Lucien said. “This is a gift foryou.”

Theo brushed his hand over his shirt and shrugged. “What can I say? The more, the merrier.”

“Bullshit,” someone coughed, and I looked over my shoulder to see Lachlan steering Cooper toward us. “More like the more buffers you can bring, the better.”

“Does the why of it all matter? It’s a gift,” Theo said, and held his empty glass in my direction. “Yourgift.”

“I’d love to go,” I said, sliding the invitation back into the envelope. “Monaco’s amazing, and I’ve never been to a wedding before.”

Lucien took the invitation from me, set it aside, and then reached for my hand. “We’ll think about it, how’s that?” he said.

“You can’t turn down royalty,” Theo replied.

“We can if The Veil’s grand opening happens to be that weekend.”

Theo’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t you dare. I know for a fact it won’t be ready by then.”

With a chuckle, Lucien drew me to his side. “We’ll see about that, won’t we? Now, if you all don’t mind, I’d like a moment alone with the graduate.”

40

LUCIEN

“JUST WHEN I thoughtyourplace had the best view in the city,” Kai said as we stepped out onto the balcony high above Manhattan. It was officially fall, and there was a crisp chill in the air that signaled the start of my favorite time of year.

“Ourplace,” I corrected him.

Kai turned to face me and leaned back against the balustrade. “Ours, huh? You plan on keeping me a little while longer?”

“You know better than that.” I caged him in, and he moved up on his tiptoes and lifted his chin, angling for a kiss. I swept my tongue inside for the taste of him I’d needed all day.

He hummed against my mouth, the sound he made when he was his happiest, most contented self. That sound was one I lived for. I had told Kai I wanted to bring a smile to his face every day, and now I’d added that sweet hum to the list too.

“I can’t believe you did all this for me,” he said, and then shook his head. “Actually, Icanbelieve it, because this is the kind of thing you do. I just don’t know what I did to deserve it.”

“You don’t have to do anything to deserve our celebrating you.” I took hold of his hand again and led him over to one of the moon-shaped wicker porch swings we’d had installed for nightgazing. “If you need a list, though, let’s start from the beginning. For the fact that you’re here in this world. That’s reason enough for me to honor you every day of your life.”

Kai tried biting back a smile, but it broke free anyway as we settled onto the cushions. He curled up beside me, half in my lap as I wrapped my arm around him. “Thank you,” he said.

“Oh, I wasn’t done.” I counted off on my fingers. “It’s for passing your GED. For surviving when the odds were against you. For bravely trying new things.” When I went to add another finger, Kai chuckled and grabbed my hand, holding it in his lap.

“Okay, okay.” He kissed the tip of my nose. “You’ve made your point.”

“Not even close.”

Kai rested his head on my shoulder and looked up at the sky. With the city lights never sleeping, it was hard to enjoy the stars in the same way we had in Monaco, but it was still beautiful in its own way.

“I don’t think I can point out Cassiopeia tonight,” Kai said. “Guess we’ll have to go to that royal wedding after all.”

I chuckled. “We don’t need an excuse for another visit.”

Kai snuggled into me, resting his cheek against chest as he so often did, fitting in my arms as though he were made just for me.

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