“It will be.” He slides his hands to my butt. “Inside and out. Your pool will be in, the hot tub too. And the stables if you still want black horses.”
“If someone else takes care of them for me, I would totally have a couple of horses,” I laugh. “It’s hard enough for me to commit to a schedule at work, though. I’d have to make sure someone would be there morning and night to feed them.”
“I’ll hire you a stable boy.”
“Are they still called stable boys?” I laugh. “That term sounds very dated. Though I do like the thought of some strapping young man who throws hay bales around. Shirtless, of course.”
“I’ll hire two of them.” Lucas laughs and leans down to kiss me. “I love you, Callie. Don’t ever doubt that. I lived a life of darkness and shadows until you came in, shining like a star who turned out to be my sun. You’ve given me more than I could ever ask for, more than I can ever return. Whatever makes you happy, makes me happy.”
We kiss and heat rushes through me. I’m physically exhausted but he’s still turning me on.
“I’ll be excommunicated just for being with you,” I say, lips brushing against his as I talk. “So there’s no reason to delay the wedding. Especially because I’m going back to my decision to save myself for marriage.”
Lucas lets out a snort of laughter and scoops me up, playfully tossing me over his shoulder. He turns off the burner on the stove, speeds up to the bedroom and throws me on the bed.
“I want to challenge you.” He kneels above me.
“Challenge me?” I reach for him, intrigued. “How so?”
He parts my legs and slides his hand up my thigh. “I want to see how long it takes before you’re begging for me to fuck you.” He moves over top of me and kisses my neck, soft and gentle, right in the spot that winds me up and drives me wild. “I’ll start out slow, like this.” His fingers brush over my core, rubbing me over my pants. Even still, his touch feels good. “If you can hold out, if you can resist me, then we will wait until marriage. But if not, then I get to fuck you any way I want tonight.”
I bend my leg up, curling it around him. I rake my fingers down his back. “This is a challenge I’m willing to accept.”
The kitchen is sparkling clean when I get up at half past eleven the next day. Lucas was still passed out cold—literally since he forgot to turn on the heated blanket—and I quietly got up and came down for breakfast.
I make eggs and bacon, share it with my familiars, and take a cup of coffee out onto the back porch. I stare out at the woods, trying not to think about anything.
That works so well for me of course.
“Julian?” I whisper and set my coffee down. “Are you out there?” I wait a beat, holding my breath. “Of all the times you watch me like a peeping Tom and you’re not here when I want to talk to you.” Folding my hands, I try to remember the words to Hail Mary, hoping a silent prayer will call my cousin down to me.
“If you can hear me, Julian,” I start, not able to remember the prayer. “Please come back so we can talk. I still have so many questions and if I’m being honest, I feel like I’m just barely holding it together.”
Nothing happens. I let out a breath and shake my head. I go back inside and call the wedding dress store to ask if I can put in a rush order on my dress. I can, for four figures that is. Assuming I’m pregnant and am trying to rush the wedding before I start showing, the woman on the phone insists I get the next size up “just to be safe”. I insist over and over that I don’t need a bigger size and finally she shuts up and takes my money.
The dress will be done in three weeks instead of eight.
Now, if we can throw together a wedding in only three weeks, that’d be great. I go back outside to finish my coffee and think about what Lucas said. He wants me to be happy. Is rushing this wedding going to make me regret anything?
“I don’t think so,” I tell Pandora. It’s not like I’m planning some big fancy wedding anyway. I don’t have that many people to invite, and I wouldn’t want to fill a reception hall with people I don’t really care for just for the sake of having a big wedding. “I just want to marry the man I love.”
I watch the leaves sway back and forth on the trees, mind whirling. I pick up my phone and do a quick Google search, knowing what I need to do. Once my coffee is cold, I go inside and dump it in the sink. Then I head upstairs to get dressed for the day.
I sneak into my room, pulling out clothes from my closet, and try not to wake Lucas up. He opens his eyes as soon as I close my closet door, wincing from the sunlight. I wave my hand at the curtains, bringing them shut.
“Thanks,” he says, still sounding a little tired.
“I need to see Scott today,” I blurt.
“Why?”
“To be sure it was him who sent the hitmen after me. I need him to confess it.”
“Okay,” Lucas says, surprising me. I expected him to put up more of a fight, telling me I shouldn’t go. “I agree, we should know. Is he going to let you get anywhere near him, though?”
“Probably not, but look.” I hold up my phone. “He’s doing some sort of charity golf event today. It’s open to the public. He won’t throw a fit in front of people. Well, maybe, it is Scott. But I’m banking on him whisper-yelling at me so he gets close enough that I can grab his wrist.”
“You’re going to get inside his head.”
“Yes. And I won’t go unarmed, don’t worry.”
“Or alone.” He gets out of bed, zooming over to me. Lucas sleeps naked, and the sight of that gorgeous body, not covered in a stitch of clothing still sends a shock through me every time I see it. “Can you bring Kristy?”
“She’s working, but I don’t think Evander has a summer class today. I’ll see if he can go.”
“Be careful, my love.” Lucas pulls me into an embrace. “I hate that I can’t go with you.”
“I still have a theory about making an amulet to ward off the sunlight. We can test it on Dina.”
“Might as well.” Lucas shrugs. “I’m starting to think she really doesn’t know anything. I’ve been torturing her for weeks now and haven’t gotten anything new out of her.”
“What are you going to do with her?”
“Leave her in the basement a while longer.”
“Then kill her?”
“Eventually. She bit you, and that’s not something I’m going to forgive. Death is too easy for her.” Lucas’s hands go to the hem of his t-shirt I’m wearing. “Were you about to get dressed?”
“I was.”
“I can help with that.” He starts to pull the shirt over my head. I’m feeling a little too tired to have sex right now, though I know once Lucas gets started, I’ll quickly change my mind.
“Callie.” A deep voice comes from the doorway right as Lucas pulls the shirt over my head. I shriek and yank the shirt back down.
“Jesus fucking Christ!” I yell, whirling around.
“No,” Julian says, shaking his head. “I
am not Jesus. I am Julian, an angel of the Lord but not the Lord himself.”
“It’s an expression.” I smooth out the shirt and shake my head. “Knock next time.”
“You called for me. I heard your prayers.”
“Yeah, when I was outside, and you didn’t answer,” I spit back.
“I am sorry.” He blinks and stares at me, waiting for me to go on.
“Give us a minute,” I tell Julian. He nods and walks down the hall.
Lucas smirks, finding this whole thing amusing. “I don’t think you need to call Evander.” He steps away and picks up a pair of gray sweatpants. “Bring Feathers instead.”
“To a political fundraiser?” I telekinetically shut my bedroom door before I take the shirt off again. “He’s kind of awkward.”
“He can also do that teleporting thing, and he can heal you. I’d feel safer if you were with him.”
“I’ll ask,” I say and quickly put on a bra and a maroon dress.
“You look good in dark red,” Lucas tells me.
“I feel too colorful.” I smile and pick up my brush, running it through my hair as I go out of my room.
Julian is in the living room, standing by the couch and looking at the photos hanging on the wall. He’s wearing the same clothes as before, but he doesn’t look dirty or unkept at all.
Weird.
“What did you want to talk about?” he asks, not looking away from the photos as I come into the room.
“So many things, but right now, I was wondering if you wanted to go to a charity golf event with me.”
Julian turns to me, eyes narrowing. “I don’t know that is.”
“Golf is a sport where you hit a little ball with metal, uh, clubs. And the charity event is probably just bullshit to get rich old white guys to donate money to my former brother’s super conservative political campaign.”
“I still don’t know what that is.”
“You haven’t spent much time on earth, have you?”
“No.” He turns away from the photo and looks me up and down curiously. “I have not.”