The Dragon Marshal's Treasure (U.S. Marshal Shifters 1)

“Fast and hard,” Jillian confirmed. She grabbed at his back. “My treasure.”

Fast and hard for a shifter was something transcendent for a human. Jillian felt like she was being lifted out of her body. It felt like flying all over again, with her being dazzled by what the two of them were doing together but also just astonished at the fact of him, so strong and so gorgeous. She came a second time and then, for the first time in her life, felt herself edging towards a third climax. She gritted her teeth. She would shake apart, she couldn’t, it would be ridiculous—

But it was Theo.

They came at the same time, Theo’s body tight against hers and her body tight around his. Fireworks went off everywhere. Even as they disentangled themselves, she could still feel aftershocks running through her. She was exhausted and now in desperate need of a shower, but nothing in her life had ever been as worth it. She was going to give up her career and philanthropy and devote herself entirely to sex.

Well, she was going to take a sex vacation, anyway. Maybe when they moved.

Now she was so sex-crazed that she was thinking in porn titles: One Hot Housewarming.

But there was one thing she had to say, since they were trying to be clear about what they wanted.

“Could we...” She took a deep breath. “I know this building is a hideous monstrosity and that all of Riell will disown you if they ever find out you live in it, but I really like it. And management always puts out free sugar cookies in the lobby on Wednesday afternoons.” She didn’t know why she thought that would be her strongest selling point. “Could we maybe see if they have any bigger apartments available?”

Theo he

sitated. “I’d been thinking about a house—maybe a townhouse—”

She wouldn’t go so far as to say her heart sank. Most of it, like the rest of her, was still on cloud nine. He was right, anyway. It made way more sense for them to start investing in their future.

“Which is why,” Theo said, “I looked to see whether or not The Steeplechase had any townhouses.”

Cloud ten. “Do they?”

“They do,” Theo said cheerily. He grabbed his phone off the nightstand. “I asked Tiffani to go to a vacant one yesterday as a spy and take some pictures.”

Jillian gasped. She flipped through the photos so quickly that at first she could barely tell what she was seeing. She felt like a kid on Christmas morning. She made herself slow down.

The cherubim-painted gargoyles were present in the form of giant stone lions the management had inexplicably decided to paint like bulldogs. The shutters were all a baffling shade of blinding ochre. The building was mostly brick, except for where it turned into limestone for a quarter of a wall for no apparent reason. Every bar of the wrought iron gate was topped with what looked like an elaborate rainbow-colored swizzle stick. Someone enterprising and highly offended had spray painted TEAR THIS PIEBALD MOTHERFUCKER DOWN on the sidewalk leading up to it. A neighborhood kid had drawn a hopscotch court over that, utterly unconcerned with either the profanity or the request.

“It’s perfect,” Jillian said. “It’s the most hideous thing I’ve ever seen in my entire life.”

“And it has two bathrooms and comes with a billiards table,” Theo said.

“Is it cheap?”

“As you said, it would have to be, wouldn’t it?” He made a small, contented sound as she flung her leg over him and snuggled up to his side. “I can fly you there tonight and we can take a look ourselves.”

“It’s not just that it’s ugly, you know,” Jillian said. “I wouldn’t want the inside to look that way.” She gestured around to illustrate her point. Her apartment might be overcrowded, but it wasn’t entirely unbearable to look at. “It’s just... these places have heart. They’ve been around for years, too. The foundations are good, they were built to last. And they stay up no matter how often someone says they should come down. They just keep being themselves.”

“They’re strong,” Theo said. “Like you. I can laugh at the outside as long as we get to make our part of it beautiful.”

“We can absolutely make our part of it beautiful. All the handmade lace you could ever want.”

“I like the outside being... humble. Whatever we do with our home, it won’t be to brag, it’ll be to make a place for us, a beautiful place. A pearl inside an especially hideous oyster.”

He stretched and then an amused smile crossed his face.

“And it irritates our family,” he said. “That’s a bonus. Izzie will die of embarrassment the next time she visits.”

Our family.

Hers and his: one and the same.

“Just promise me one thing,” she said. “No nutcrackers.”

“Never,” Theo said.