Page 59 of Recipes for Life

The silence in the room was deafening, and I could hear my heart beating and pumping the blood to the rest of my body, but if you asked me to move, I wouldn’t be able to.

Murphy lifted himself up on one arm, eyes locked with mine. “You areeverything,”he whispered, and then proceeded to show me exactly what he meant by that. Again, and again, and again.

Chapter 37

Odette

This time when I woke, Murphy was asleep next to me, still clinging to me like his life depended on it, andmaybein some way, it did. A brief glance at the sky showed me it was well on its way to being dinnertime, and we needed to make it back in time for dinner with Lux. In fact, I’m surprised I hadn’t heard my phone at all.

Slowly sliding out from under the sheets so I didn’t wake Murphy, I slowly bent down to pick up my clothes off the floor. Large hands wrapped around my waist, pulling me back into bed, and I found myself laughing like a giddy schoolgirl.

“Unhand me, sir.”

“Never.” He nestled into my neck, which seemed to be his new favorite spot.

“I was going to let you sleep, you looked peaceful.”

“I woke up the second you moved from my arms.” His whispered voice over my neck had me nuzzling back into him.

“What do you say we get dressed and go get our girl, then come home?” I asked and turned my head up to get a view of him.

“Home?” He stared down at me, his voice wavering a little at his question, but his eyes were filled with so much hope and longing.

“Here, the new place you’ve built, the cottage. Home is where you are, and I think I’d like to make up for lost time.”

His lips met mine in a kiss that could only be described asadoring.His tongue coaxed mine out in the slowest rhythm, and he pulled back just enough so he could nibble on my lips. I knew to the outside world it would seem as though this was going fast, but for me, it felt like it was years in the making. Years of trying to find myself, when all I needed was here. I didn’t and would never regret leaving, it was something Ineededto do, but this was where I was always going to end up. Here, with him.

“I’m actually kind of shocked we haven’t heard from your mom yet. We should have been back hours ago.”

Murphy had the decency to blush, and I cocked an eyebrow at him.

“What did you do?”

“I uh...may have shot her a text message telling her we’d be late.”

“And she had no problem with that?”

“I’m sure she’s planning our wedding.” He laughed but then turned serious. “You know you’re mine, right, Odette?That I’m never letting you go? We can take this as slow as you’d like to, but now that I know this is what you want... You. Are. Mine.”

“I know.” I felt the corner of my lips tip up. Being claimed by Murphy was such a heady experience.

“I’ll never hurt you again. Losing you, losing this family…I wouldn’t survive it again.” His remorse and regret were always written on his face, his pain always surrounded him, and I knew this was the truth.

“I know,” I whispered, giving him a look of understanding. I felt the same. Losing him once was enough.

“Mine.”

He lowered his head to kiss me, so soft yet I felt it everywhere.

He pulled away from me and whispered in my hair, “Odette, I won’t be able to deny you, but we really need to go get our girl.”

Sighing, I knew he was right, but I couldn’t get enough of him. It was like I’d been starving myself, and I’m finally letting myself have what I’ve always wanted.

“Who’s breaking the news to your mom that we are coming back here for the night?”

At the exact same time, Murphy and I slammed our pointer fingers to our noses and shouted, “Nose goes!”

I’d barely registered that he was calling it out at the same time but managed to hip check him, so his hand flew to the side to righten his stance as we were walking.

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