My heart melts with his confession, and I nod, wanting so much to pull him to me, but now’s not the time.
“And your father??
?
He grimaces. “The same. A flash here and there.” He chuckles. “He had red hair.”
“No way.”
“Yeah, his father was Scottish, that’s where my namesake comes from, and his mother was French, so he was a half Scottish, half French mutt, raised in France.”
“You must not look a thing like him.”
“I don’t.”
“How did they meet?”
He takes another tug on the joint and exhales before passing it to me. “Different story for a different day.”
I don’t press my luck and inhale deep. “Do you have pictures of them?”
“A few, but they died before the digital revolution.” He pulls a piece of loose weed from his tongue. “Tatie has some photos locked away in her attic somewhere, but we weren’t much for family photos anyway.”
“Why is that? Because of The Ravenhood?”
He grins over at me, his brow lifting, an incredulous laugh in his question. “The Ravenhood?”
I shrug. “I mean, essentially that’s what you are. Don’t tell me you’ve never thought of it that way. Tyler is nicknamed the Friar.”
“It’s a lot less storybook to me.”
“Because you’re living it.”
“Get dressed. Let’s finish smoking this up top.”
“Up top? Something wrong with your current view?” I glance down and back.
“Yeah,” his eyes slide down my body with clear intent. “I’m out of condoms.”
“Isn’t going topless zee French way?”
His returning look is laced with a hint of possession and has me smiling as I pull on my dress.
Blissed out, I rest in the crook of Dominic’s arm atop his hood as we gaze up at the night sky. I sink into the feel of him, his crisp, sea scent filling my nose. I’m fully lit inside and out with the buzz of the joint we smoked and the feel of his lips, his skin.
Smiling, I turn to him just as he glances down at me, his eyes filled with mirth.
“What?”
“Who the hell are you, and what have you done with my motherfucker?”
He grazes his hand over my nipple before tweaking it painfully. I screech and then burst into laughter.
“There you are.” I settle back in and we bask in the breeze. I swear if there’s a heaven, it’s here with him. “Dom?”
“Yeah?”
“What do you want, you know, for the future?”