Page 35 of Thanking Her Brother's Best Friends

Lightning and fireworks,I wanted to say.Everything I'd dreamed about, and then some.

"Chocolatey?" I responded instead, alluding to the mousse cake that we'd done sinful things with. "What the hell am I going to do with the rest of the cake?"

My stomach rumbled as I finished speaking. Aiden sat down beside me and handed me a fork. "After the workout we've just had, we deserve a good meal. By the way, your desserts are truly otherworldly. If we lived in the age of werewolves, even the Moon Goddess would be visiting you for your baked stuff once a month."

"There's an idea," I replied, taking a mouthful of the dark-chocolate goodness. "I'd totally give her a special discount."

"And me?"

"You just got the discount of the century."

That made him laugh, and we fell into an easy, companionable silence.

"So... about the pregnancy bit."

"Oh," I said, shrugging. "That was nothing. After Oliver, my doctor pretty much told me I'd never have another kid. It was an ectopic pregnancy. I..."

I let the words trail off. This wasn't something I really talked about, and even now, the mere mention of the words made my eyes sting.

A year ago, a paparazzo asked me a question that would haunt me forever. He had also been the only pap I'd been horrendously rude to.

"If you have another kid, who will you love more, Selene? Do you think it's true what they say about firstborns? That you'll always love him most?"

My response involved telling him to shut up and take his stupidity somewhere else. Because to me, I could never imagine having two kids and not loving both of them just as hard.

What good was love if I'd have to divide it into portions? We weren't designed to feel it in quantities—I couldn't love Ollie fifty-one percent and another kid forty-nine.

I'd love both of them a hundred fucking percent each. But that wasn't a possibility.

I told Aiden the story, and he listened to me intently before wrapping an arm around me. "Reporters are assholes. Most of them don't even think before throwing questions at you. But then again, Selene, not everyone needs to know or understand who you are from within. Not everyone needs to get that you're made of sacrifice, and that involves the deepest kind of love which doesn't seek to quantify itself."

I rubbed my eyes to keep the tears from falling and sighed. "You're right. I let life get to me sometimes, but honestly, Ollie is worth every fucking thing."

"Someday, I'd love to come meet him. I remember him from Ben's wedding. Takes after you. He's going to be a complete heartbreaker someday."

"I'll make sure to beat him with a bat if he tries to be a perv," I replied, laughing. "There's an unusual thought for a mom."

"It'd be a better world if more parents thought that way, so no, you're good." He leaned in to kiss the side of my head and pushed an errant lock of red hair behind my ear.

"Plus, you're like the prettiest person in the entire bloody world, so I'm only half-listening to you."

"What's the other half of you doing?"

"Thinking of how stellar tonight was and wondering what the hell I did to deserve it."

I chuckled. "I guess you showed up at the right time."

He placed a hand over his heart and gave me a mock sigh. "And here I was, thinking it was all because of my rippling muscles and searing smile."

"That too," I replied, laughing.

He took my left hand and ran his eyes over a tattoo near the wrist. It depicted a wrist holding on to a blooming vine.

"Ascension," I said in response to his unasked question as he traced the skin over the tattoo. "My idea was that no matter where you are or how life is treating you, the basic instinct of each human being is to push forward. It is a good instinct."

He nodded. "Worth holding on to."

I sighed. "We should be getting home, Aiden."

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