Page 134 of Cherish

He looks like he wants to argue with me more, but when I give him my patented I’m-very-serious-about-this look, he just throws up his hands. “Fine. What do I need to do to take it back? Say that things are going to be really hard?”

“Yeah, right.” Now I give him my are-you-kidding-me look. “Like that will be enough to fix things with the universe.”

He returns my look with interest, but when I don’t back down, he just sighs. “All right, then. Fine. What do I have to do to make you happy?”

“It’s not me you have to make happy, Hudson. It’s the universe.”

He rolls his eyes. “Of course it is. So what do I have to do to makethe universehappy?”

“You can start by spinning around five times and throwing some salt over your shoulder. It’s not a perfect fix, but it’s a start.”

“I can’t do that, Grace. I don’t have any salt.”

He’s used my name twice in as many minutes—a definite tell that he’s completely annoyed with me. I don’t let it stop me one bit. “Well, you’re going to have to find some. You can’t do the thing without it.”

“Do the thing?” He raises one sardonic brow. “That sounds so scientific. And where exactly do you expect me to find salt? This isn’t a kitchen.”

“I don’t know.” I pretend to think as I get increasingly absurd with my demands. “Are there bath salts next to the tub?”

“Bath salts?” he repeats, looking beyond annoyed. “Seriously, Grace? Are you just fucking with me now?”

“I am, absolutely.”

“You want me to turn around and throw bath salts over my shoulder? I’m a vampire, not a fucking witch. What do you think that’s—” He freezes, eyes narrowing to slits. “What did you just say?”

“You asked if I was fucking with you,” I tell him with a prim look. “And I said that I definitely am. Absolutely.”

“Seriously?” He looks completely shocked, which is kind of the point of this whole thing. I mean, a girl’s got to keep her mate on his toes, doesn’t she? Plus, messing with him keeps my own anxiety under control.

“Seriously.” I nod.

He shakes his head, starts to turn away. And then leaps across the room and tackles me to the bed.

I crack up and start kicking my feet in an attempt to dislodge him as he climbs on top of me. But I’m laughing too hard to put up much of a fight, and eventually he gives up and moves off me.

“You’re going to pay for that one day,” he says, staring at the ceiling with a bemused frown.

“Am I?” I ask as I roll over on top of him. “Am I really?”

“You told me to spin in a circle five times and throw salt over my shoulder,” he says with an annoyed sniff that gets me way hotter than it has any right to.

“Better than telling you to streak naked through Vegaville.” I pause as I imagine what that would look like. “Although, I feel like maybe that was a miscalculation on my part.”

“Oh it was, was it?” He reaches up and tangles his fingers in my hair.

“Definitely,” I answer as I kiss him until the annoyed smirk fades away and he starts kissing me back.

Eventually, he pulls away and asks, “So, you’re okay with everything? You feel good?”

“I feel great,” I answer with a grin. Then, tongue totally in cheek, add, “After all, we just have to find a tree. How hard couldthatbe?”

Hudson groans in annoyance, then drags me back down for another kiss. And for now—in this room, at this time—it’s more than enough.

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