“Talon.” She covers my hand with hers, and I curse as her fingers cover mine as I sink into her. She turns her head my way. “I love you.”
“I know, baby.” I kiss her as she leans up for my mouth, and like it happens almost every time with her, she comes, and I jump over the edge with her, always willing to follow her. My hips jerk, and I hold her tighter as her cries fill the air. Sweaty, sated, with my heart pounding hard and my breaths coming in harsh pants, I collapse forward onto the bed, taking her with me, unwilling to lose our connection.
“No,” she whispers when I try to move, sure my weight is too much for her. “Just give me a minute.” She grabs my hand and links our fingers, pulling it up against her chest. I don’t fight her; instead, I kiss the lobe of her ear and relax against her, listening to her breathing slow to normal. “Are you sure about me moving in?” she asks, cutting through the silence, and my eyes slide closed.
“You know I’m sure, baby.”
“Okay,” she says quietly, then her breath evens out and it takes me a minute to realize she’s fallen asleep. Not wanting to wake her, I carefully dislodge myself from her hold and get up, tossing the blanket over her before going to the bathroom. After I grab a washrag and clean her up, I shut off the bathroom light and climb into bed, pulling her against me. She nuzzles into my side and curves her arm around my waist, giving it a squeeze. “I’m moving in, so we need to go shopping,” she says, sounding half asleep, and I smile at the ceiling.
“God, I hate that sound,” Mia, who’s pinned under me, moans, dragging the pillow over her head as I reach behind me for my cell to turn off my alarm. “How is it already morning?”
Laughing, I pull the pillow from her grasp and cup her cheek as her eyes blink open to meet mine. “Do you wanna shower?”
“Since I can’t go back to sleep, I might as well get an orgasm for having to wake up.” She touches her finger to the dimple in my chin then runs it along my bottom lip. “You’ve been running on less sleep than I’ve been. How are you not tired?”
“I’m running on adrenalin. It’s always been that way with me. When there’s work to do, I’m focused on getting it done, because I know there will be downtime when I can do nothing but relax.”
“Except you won’t be able to relax after you finish with Cece’s house, because you still have to finish your build.” She rests her forehead under my chin. “When you have some time off, I think we should go on a vacation.”
“Where do you wanna go?”
“I don’t care, as long as it’s just you and me.”
“I’ll make that happen.” I kiss the top of her hair then tell her quietly, “I’m gonna start the shower.”
“I’ll meet you in there,” she says, and I get out of bed, expecting her to fall back to sleep, but she joins me a few minutes later. And I make the most of that time, giving her an orgasm before getting one of my own.
“Talon, get down here now!” Uncle Asher shouts, and I meet Bax’s eye around the edge of the mirror we’re attempting to hang in Cece’s master bath.
“Yeah, give me a minute!” I shout back, shaking my head. “How many times do you think I need to tell them we’re not upgrading shit before they listen?” I ask as we place the mirror on the wall so we can finish screwing it into place. For the last week, we’ve been at Cece’s house every day, and every day, I’ve had to explain to my uncles that she is putting this house on the market, so the things being repaired do not need to be updated or upgraded.
“Since they keep asking, I’m gonna say until we finish,” he grumbles, taking most of the weight of the mirror as I grab the drill.
“Yeah, well, it’d be different if Cece wasn’t going to sell, but with everything that’s happened, she’s more determined to put this place on the market and find a place to rent.”
“I don’t blame her.”
“Me neither.” I step back and look around the master bath. I didn’t see the room before we started working on it, but with a new mirror, new glass in the shower, and fresh paint, I’m guessing it looks better than it did before the break-in, which will help when it goes on the market, much the same as the rest of the house.
“Talon!” Uncle Asher yells once more.
“Damn, what the fuck did you do?”
I don’t answer Bax. I gather the drop cloths off the floor and leave the room, passing under the scaffolding in the stairway that the painters set up. When I get to the bottom of the steps, I see my family gathered in the kitchen and my cousin Cobi with his eyes on me, his body seeming wired.