No Quick Fix (Torus Intercession 1)

“This is a serious conversation,” he informed me. “Open your eyes.”

I whined, but it was a quiet one.

“Now.”

I did as I was told.

“We can have everything the girls want and still do it next weekend. I’ll tell Mal when we get home. You tell Huck.”

“The ring won’t make me anymore yours than I am now,” I promised him.

“I know,” he agreed, kissing me deeply before he stopped to look into my eyes. “But then I won’t need to fuck you through the mattress every time I get jealous.”

“I knew you were jealous.”

“Yes, you’re very smart.”

I scoffed and he smiled.

“I want you to always know who loves you, and I feel like if I imprint it on every inch of your skin, then there’s no way you could ever forget.”

“I could never forget, so I’ll take the power fuck without the double helping of fear and jealousy next time, all right?”

“It’s a deal.”

We got married when we got home, and I never saw Locryn Barnes.

And now, as I stood at the kitchen counter, drinking coffee, having changed into jeans, a gray t-shirt, and the blue zippered cardigan Emery loved me in, showered and shaved in preparation for the imminent arrival of Emery and his parents from the airport, I should have been nervous, but I wasn’t. I hoped they liked me. I would bend over backward to get them to, but if they didn’t, that was okay too. Emery was head-over-heels crazy in love with me. I saw it in his face when he looked at me, felt it in his hands when he touched me, and heard it in his voice whenever he said my name. I felt the same.

The girls loved me, even though I drove them bonkers, and Winston was on the fence about me since I took over brushing his teeth with an electric toothbrush. It was so much easier and faster.

My best friend loved me, plus all the new ones I’d made in Ursa, and I felt like I had Andrea’s blessing too since, when we got married, the light came through the window and hit the chandelier, showering the room in a rainbow of color. It didn’t get much better than that.

I heard the car coming up the driveway, headed for the garage behind the house.

“They’re here!” Olivia yelled, running by me toward the back door.

“Wait until your father parks the car,” I warned her.

“Oh, Brann,” she whined, because clearly I was ridiculous. “You worry too much.”

“I can’t ever worry too much,” I told her as she reached the door. “I love you.”

She turned and smiled at me over her shoulder as April walked up beside me and took hold of my hand.

“I love you too, Brann,” Olivia told me. “But you know that.”

“I do.”

“I love you too.” April sighed, squeezing my hand, not moving from my side.

“Me too,” I said, having to take a quick breath because they were messing with me, making me all…. “What the hell is going on?” I groused at them, rubbing my eyes.

“Just wanted you to know,” Olivia snickered before she threw open the door and darted outside. I heard a woman gasp her name.

April gave my hand a last squeeze before following her sister.

I took a breath, saw the prism of color on the ceiling from the chandelier, and headed out to meet the rest of my family.

“There he is,” I heard Emery say.

It was all I needed.