Page 83 of The Reluctant Reaper
“You said!” Now they were both sitting up and tenderly glaring into each other’s eyes. “You said you would never want to have sex with me.”
“No. You didn’t let me finish. I said ‘I would never’ and you cut me off. So I tried again. I even pointed out that you didn’t let me finish. But?—”
“I don’t?—”
“See? You’re doing it again. And when I tried again, I only got as far as ‘I would never’ before you insisted we move on.Youmade it clear you wanted nothing past friendship.”
“Oh, fuck me.”
“What I meant, what I kept trying to say, is that I figured you’d kissed me in the cave as a reaction to being stressed beyond belief. So I wanted to assure you that I wouldn’t take advantage of you in that state. No matter how much I wanted to feel you from the inside.”
“Is that a Nine Inch Nails reference?”
“I wanted you. From. Day. One.” Each word was accentuated with a poke in the ribs. “I. Have. Loved. You. From. D—ow!”
“Let’s just say, going forward, that we were both utter idiots.”
“Agreed. You more than me, though.”
“Shut up, I hate you.”
“No. You don’t. Not even a little.”
“I have no comeback for that.”
“ThankGod.”
They snuggled back together and Amara was beginning to wonder if Round Two was feasible given the time constraints, when there was a sudden thud at the door, which then opened so fast it rebounded and nearly slammed shut in Hilly’s face.
“Alas,” Amara sighed. “Round Two isnotfeasible given time constraints.”
“La Croix told me you expect to be murdered tonight!” Hilly was a flour-dusted vision of maternal wrath as she stomped into the room. “I insist you get up immediately so we can deal with this mortal threat.”
“Jesus Christ, Hilly. What’s the rolling pin for? You know what? Maybe don’t answer that.”
Amara squashed the urge to clap her hands. “Hooray, La Croix came through.” To Gray: “He really is a shameless gossip.”
“Amara Morrigan!”
“I’m up, I’m up. Also, you could be a bit more scandalized.”
Hilly blinked. “You’re an adult who finally had sex with someone you love.”
“Awww.” Gray looked up from trying to cover his unmentionables and grinned. “You lurrrrrv me!”
“Shut up, you knew that.”
“And I’m happy for you,” Hilly continued, exasperated as only Amara could make her, “but we have much more pressing business.”
“Fair. I assume everyone’s here, or you wouldn’t be.”
“In your father’s room, as La Croix requested. On your behalf, I now realize.”
“Good. Thank you. Uh, Gray, after you find your sock, could you find my sunglasses?”
“On it.”
“I apologize for the intrusion, darlings,” Hilly continued as Gray rolled out of bed, then crawled halfway beneath it to rescue one of his socks. Which he waved at her, then fled to the bathroom. “Necessary though it was. Time is not on our side.”
