Page 28 of #Beautiful

“How you feeling today, babe?”

I smile at him and nod. “Better. I’m sorry again about last night. I really don’t know what happened.”

Palming the back of my head, Declan kisses my forehead. “Hey, don’t stress about it. Recovery is a process, not a one and done. You’re still doing a thousand times better than you were, and you should be proud of that, babe.”

My heart literally melts at those words. Setting my fork down, I clasp his face in my hands and kiss him hard. It’s easy to get lost in him . . . When Darcy isn’t here, that is.

“Please, spare my eyes. I love you both, but ugh, he’s still my twin.”

Declan chuckles and gives me one more quick kiss before sitting back in his chair and digging into his food as we all focus back on the show. This right here is the most peace I’ve felt in forever. When it’s just us, here at home, it’s like I can pretend all the bad stuff hasn’t happened, and it’s just a life full of sunshine.

We all know that isn’t realistic. I mean, even flowers can’t grow without rain. I’m just hoping that next semester, we can get a bit more sunshine and a little less rain. That isn’t too much to ask for, in my opinion. This food is more than I could ever ask for, though, and I feel like my and Declan’s life after college will be extremely well fed since both of us can cook. These hash browns are delicious, and he beams with pride when I tell him so.

After we’re all done eating, Declan moves the tray with all the dishes to his dresser, and that’s when he snuggles in the bed with us, climbing behind me so I’m resting back on his chest with his legs around me. And this is exactly how we plan to spend the rest of the day with the snow falling outside, the heat nice and toasty in here, and not a care in the world.

At least for today.

Chapter 24 - Declan

Lena didn’t get sick after breakfast or lunch today, and even though I’m not making a big deal of it, I’m extremely proud of her. She really has spent all day snuggled in my bed with Darcy watching that damn show, though. I, on the other hand, watched a half an episode before there were things to do. Dad and I went shopping for Mom. She doesn’t like driving while it’s actively snowing, so she’s been in the kitchen most of the day. Our island is covered in Christmas cookies.

Right now, I’m watching her make the batter for cream puffs. It’s one of my favorite desserts, and every holiday, Mom makes a croquembouche decorate for the holiday. It’s basically a cream cuff tower that’s glued together with caramel. For Christmas, Mom always decorates it with powdered sugar and mini-shaped cookies and chocolates. Yeah, she’s a crazy person in the kitchen this time of year.

As I’m watching her, something hits me. “Mom?”

“Yeah, honey,” she says as she turns toward the oven and slides in an entire tray of cream puffs.

“The cinnamon rolls . . . Is it possible that the sugar made her sick?”

My mom turns around and stares at me for a moment, her brows bunched together. “Huh . . . Now that I think about it, maybe. Lena doesn’t really eat overly sweet stuff to begin with, and when she started logging and purging, she certainly wouldn’t have had sweets in her diet.”

“Because I made breakfast this morning, remember? And she kept that down fine. For lunch, I made her and Darcy burgers, and she was good with that, too.”

Mom moves cookies from one of the cooling racks to a plate as she nods. “You might be on to something there, honey.”

“What are you on to?” Lena runs her hand up my back to lightly drag her nails across my neck, a shiver running down my spine. I suppress a groan as she leans over and kisses my neck gently before sliding into the seat next to me.

“Um,” I say, reaching over to cover her hands with mine, “yesterday, Mom and I were thinking that maybe it was the sugar.”

Lena looks at me confused. “The sugar?”

“Yeah. I mean, those rolls are super sugar heavy. Mom isn’t exactly light-handed on the sweets. And you didn’t eat a lot of sugar even before all this. Maybe it was just too much on your stomach as you’re recovering, you know.”

She stares at me for a few seconds and then slowly nods. “I guess that could make sense. Plus, I did kinda inhale the thing. So, maybe on desserts, I just need to go for the less sugary ones and take my time with them until my stomach is back to normal.”

I lift my hand and cup the side of her face, leaning in the kiss her, letting my tongue tease her lips. As much as I want to push this kiss a lot further, I pull back because Mom’s in the room, and it’s still odd to me to show too much affection in front of my parents. Her eyes are focused on my face when I do, and I can tell just by that look what kind of thoughts are running through her beautiful little head.

“I love you,” I whisper, planting a kiss on the tip of her nose.

“Love you, too,” she says, and I put my arms around her, holding her to my chest.

I want a lifetime of this. Not just holding Lena, but having her trust in me to keep her standing when her legs want to give out. Now that I have her ring secure, which I still need to show my dad, and probably text a picture to Lena’s father, I want to figure out the how. Lena isn’t a bells and whistles person, so I’d like to figure out something. I might need to rope Candice and Jackson into helping me.

“What are we doing today?” she asks, pulling me from my thoughts.

Looking down, I smile and kiss her softly. “Whatever you want. I have no plans.”

Lena quirks her eyebrow at me. “That’s because you snuck off to Christmas shop. So, that means I still need to.”

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