Page 27 of Shared By 3

I rub my hand over his, feeling the ring I put on his finger just a short time ago. I swallow. “We should get married in spring ... late spring. It will be too hot in summer.”

“That depends on where we get married,” Chase answers against my ear.

“I’d really like a Victorian style house or something. It would be pretty. Especially since I don’t want some huge expensive dress. I’d rather minimize expenses on the wedding so we can have an amazing honeymoon,” I reply.

“You don’t have to worry about money. We can have everything we want. We could do engagement photos in a gorgeous garden or a misty field by a river, maybe under a willow tree or something,” he says, sighing.

I roll to face him slightly. “Anything else you want, baby boy?”

“I want to be on a horse with you. Considering that was one of my favorite dates. Or we could go to an aquarium and do photos there,” he answers.

A smile tugs at my lips, and he grinds in reply. Turning my chin, Chase’s lips ghost across mine. “I can’t wait to marry you, Valerie.”

“You sound very confident about getting there,” I say against his mouth.

“We’re pretty hard to kill, but I’m convinced we’re immortal with you on the team,” he says, chuckling.

I kiss him softly and snuggle closer to him. “I love you.”

“Keep saying that,” he says, encouraging me in a low voice.

“I love you, Chase,” I pant against his mouth.

He groans and kisses me again, and again, dragging out each kiss until I’m dizzy and utterly focused on what we could do in this bed. I stroke over his skin, digging my nails into his shoulders until chase puts me flat on my back and rolls his hips against mine.

“I can’t wait to be your wife,” I rasp in his ear as he kisses across my throat.

Chase pushes the shirt I’m wearing up to touch more of me. My back arches and I reach between us, definitely ready to take our make-out session to the next level, when my alarm goes off. Chase groans and presses his forehead to mine. “Maybe we should have started with this instead of talking.”

I giggle and bite my lip. “Tonight we’ll fix that.”

“A good plan,” he agrees before kissing me again. “You know what else is a good plan?”

“Something I don’t want to do?” I guess as Chase rolls off me and stands up.

I take off the shirt he’s loaned me, sitting there in some of the sexy panties they gave me for Christmas and nothing else. He looks me over and takes a slow breath. “Right now, ignoring the deadline and making you moan until the whole mansion wakes sounds like a much better plan.”

Smirking, I reach for my dress. Chase holds it hostage. “You and Lief. Explain.”

I deflate a little. “He’s quitting, I think. He didn’t even tell me, but your father said he has a replacement. A ...” it hits me then. “He would have told you and Hunter.”

“Baby doll,” Chase says.

I snatch my dress. “And no one told me.”

“He wanted to keep it a surprise, not to mention in our world, nothing is certain until it’s finished. Why would he get your hopes up before he’s sure he can leave?” Chase counters.

“I like to think we don’t have secrets. Sophie’s told me plenty about how her men keeping secrets from her makes her feel and I don’t want us to make the same mistakes that I’ve seen with them,” I mumble as I get dressed.

“We’re not them, Valerie. They’re a different couple in a different world. They’ll make their mistakes and we make ours. We don’t keep work things from you, even when things are quiet. Look at you, back here in the mansion, tolerating our father, putting that amazing brain to work to protect us.” Chase kisses the top of my head. “Is this what you imagined when we hooked up at Sophie’s marriage?”

“No,” I sigh, my shoulders dropping.

“Did you expect to love us all–including Hunter?”

“Hurtful,” Hunter says from the doorway.

Chase rolls his eyes. “Talk to Lief. Hunter, Dad, and I are going to send someone to the location, stay close, and give our answer.”

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