“Good morning, little bird,”Seb whispered against her hair.
“Morning,” she smiled, turning to kiss him softly.
“Hey, what about me?” I chuckled.
“I’m working on it!”
She kissed me gently, but I wrapped my hand around the nape of her neck and kissed her with a fierce, consuming need, desperate to be close to her. Her stomach rumbled and I broke the kiss, grinning at her.
“Sounds like we need to feed you. There’s a diner by the club, does that work for you?”
“Absolutely,” she said, crawling over me quickly, “I’ll meet you downstairs.”
Seb and I laughed at her enthusiasm and followed suit, nearly running into her when she stopped short, just before the door. We stepped to either side of her, watching her carefully as she took in the wall. A deep purple color, the wall housed a collection of instruments from floggers to whips, paddles to crops, dusters to rope.
“How the fuck did I miss this last night?” she asked, eyes wide.
“You were a little distracted,” I smirked.
“Wow.”
She appeared shellshocked and I shot a concerned look at Seb. Was this what was going to make her walk away from us?
“Little bird?”
“Hmm,” she said, stomach growling again, “Terrifying, yet intriguing. Breakfast?”
She walked out the door and I stood, shaking my head.
“We’re never going to have a dull moment with her, are we?”
“I don’t think so, Chase, and that works just fine for me.”
A few minutes later, we piled into the car and headed to the diner. When we got there, we were seated in a booth and we sat on either side of her. The waitress took our order and we each took one of Raven’s hands, kissing them. I leaned over and pressed a kiss behind her ear, eliciting a quiet moan. Seb tucked his fingers under her chin, turned her head, and kissed her chastely. At the sound of a throat clearing, we looked to find an older couple at an adjacent table, watching us and shaking their heads disapprovingly.
Raven’s cheeks reddened and she tore her hands from ours, placing them in her lap. I narrowed my eyes as the couple started whispering, shooting us pointed looks. I took her hand, having to pull a little to free it from her other.
“Sweetheart, don’t let them stop you from doing what you want, from what makes you happy. There are always going to be people who don’t approve of what someone else is doing. If you let others control your life in that way, you’ll never find happiness.”
“Little bird,” Seb said, “we’ve learned that life is far too short to care about what other people think. Do what makes you happy. If those dinosaurs over there don’t get it, too fucking bad for them.”
She smiled and visibly relaxed.
“You’re right. God, you’d think after Andrew’s reaction, I’d have expected this.”
“You just have to decide how you’re going to live your life,” I said, “and then stick to it. We’ll support whatever you want to do here.”
Rather than saying anything else, she turned first to Seb and kissed him softly, her hand on his cheek. She broke the kiss with a smile before turning to me and pressing her lips to mine, a hand on either cheek.
The older couple stood up quickly from their table, chairs scraping across the floor. They threw some money on the table, huffed, and stormed out. The waitress got to our table, her arms piled with plates, shaking her head.
“I don’t want to overstep here,” she said, looking to Raven, “but you are basically my hero right now. Two hot men, sitting here worshipping you? Forget about those two old fuddy-duddies.”
“Thank you,” she said quietly, “you’re absolutely right.”
The rest of our brunch was uneventful as we sat and chatted about anything and everything. We finished up and headed home, collapsing on the couch and spending the day vegging in front of the TV with Raven in our arms.