Page 67 of The Wildcat

“Who’s him?” Lilah murmurs. “And my goodness... does he have any brothers?”

“Yup,” Gracie adds. “The God of War. But stay far away from that one.”

“God of War?” Lilah parrots back.

“Don’t ask,” I tell her and slowly move to Cross. “Hi, handsome.”

He reaches for me as soon as I’m within arm’s reach and drags me against him. “You look beautiful, baby.”

“He called her baby,” Aunt Nattie snickers.

Mom laughs. “Yes, he did.”

“He can callmebaby,” Lilah tells them both, and I smile at Cross.

“You know my whole family is here tonight, right?”

He looks behind me. “Is that them?”

“Ha. He wishes,” Natty answers for me.

I take his hand and pull him toward them. “Nat, Lilah, this is Cross. Cross, this is my aunt and cousin.”

“Oh, this is going to be so much fun,” Nattie smiles so damn big, she looks like she’s about to swallow her face.

“Okay, you’ve met. Now, can I have a few minutes before this starts, please?” I ask the peanut gallery.

Carys looks at the time. “Ten minutes, Everly. Not a second more.”

“Thanks.” I link my hands with Cross and pull him out of the room and off to the side of the stage, so I can peek around the thick purple curtain. “Wow. The place is packed.”

“Yeah. This place is really something.” He’s not wrong. The top floor of this hotel has a domed-glass ceiling, and we lucked out with a beautiful crystal-clear sky tonight. Not that I would have minded the rain.

The lighting in in here is amazing, and the vibes are so cool and trendy.

It’s perfect for Chloe and Carys and all the designs.

Cross lifts his hands to touch my hair, and I take a step back. “Uh-uh. No touching anything, Wilder. This took hours to do.”

Cross settles for fingering the red bow placed perfectly on top of my high ponytail.

“You gonna let me see what’s under that robe?” he growls, and for a second, I feel like I got my Cross back.

“Nope. Not yet. You’ve got to wait to see like everyone else.” I lean in quickly and give him the tiniest peck, then wipe the bright-red lip gloss from his lips. “How are you feeling?”

“Better,” he grunts. “My eyesight is still fucked. I’m not seeing two of you anymore. But it’s still hard to focus.”

“I missed you.”

His face softens. “Then why did you stay away?”

“Because I had work and practice and needed to get ready for this. And you didn’t want me there, Cross. I’m a flight risk when I know I’m wanted. Tell me enough that you don’t want my help, and I go from flight risk to gone in a heartbeat. And you didn’t want my help.” I run my thumb over his bottom lip. “How are the babies?”

“Kerrigan was upset because Grace taught her class this morning. She wanted to know where you were.”

Well, damn. That hits hard. “I had cheer practice.”

“She wants to watch you cheer. So does her dad.”

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