“Once the paperwork is officially filed with the Grand Coven, we’ll come back to it.”
“Okay,” he tells me. “And I have another property I’m interested in and one I’ve been considering selling for the last twenty or so years.”
“Where and where?”
“Anaheim and Miami.”
“Complete opposite sides of the country,” I say with a smile and get out of bed, going to my over-filled dresser. I pull out socks, underwear, and black leggings. “What do you own in Miami you want to sell?”
“A condo building with waterfront views. I’ve been waiting for the value to go up before I sold it. It did, and I got an offer over the listing price.”
“What is the listing price?” I go to my closet, which is stuffed to the brim with my stuff and Lucas’s, and look through my stack of folded black sweaters. It’s cloudy and chilly today, and I plan on doing nothing but snuggle with Lucas on the couch while stuffing my face with all the carbs I can find.
“Fifteen million.”
“What?”
“Fifteen million.” He pulls up the listing on his phone and shows it to me. It’s a twelve-story condo building that went through a full renovation three years ago. It’s gorgeous and is making me want to move to Florida.
“Wow.” I blink a few times, shake myself, and give him the phone back. “And what’s in Anaheim?”
He brings up another listing for a dumpy motel. “I plan to demo it and sit on the property. Fifty years from now, it will be worth much, much more.”
“Another perk of being undead.” I shake my head. “When did you have time to do all this real estate business? You were literally dying only hours ago.”
“When you were sleeping,” he says like it’s not big deal at all.
I set my clothes on the foot of the bed and root around a pile of clean laundry to look for a robe. “Do you have to go there to buy and sell everything?”
“Yes, to sign the paperwork, and I want you to come with.” He speeds forward and wraps his arms around me, pulling me back into bed. “Let’s go on another vacation. Disneyland is in Anaheim, you know.”
“We have plans to go to Disney World next month.”
“You wouldn’t want to go to both?”
I smile. “Of course I would. It’s just…a little excessive,” I say and then hate myself for trying to talk Lucas out of taking me to Disneyland. What the hell is wrong with me?
He inhales, brows furrowing, and kisses me passionately. “You just said it, Callie…I was dying last night.” The emotion that he hid from us all the last few days comes crashing down, and he flips us over, holding me tight against his chest. “I wasn’t afraid of dying, per se, but all I could think about was leaving you and how much that would hurt. Even after I was gone, it would still hurt. And you…you…” He cuts off and kisses me again. “We have some time before the necromancers figure out the spell didn’t work like they planned. I want to enjoy that time with you, because life—even mine—can be taken in the blink of an eye.”
I blink away tears and nod, realizing for the first time that this whole ordeal was so much more than physically painful to Lucas. He hasn’t faced the idea of death, of slowly dying and leaving behind loved ones, in over a thousand years.
“Okay,” I tell him. “Let’s go then. Can we take like a day or two at home first to just chill?”
“Does that include fucking?”
“I suppose it could. I mean…if you’re able to convince me.”
Lucas kisses me again, not needing words to tell me convincing me won’t be an issue. My phone rings, and Lucas sits up to get it.
“It’s Kristy.” He hands it to me, rolling over but not completely off me.
“Hello?” I answer. I texted her and my sister late last night, letting them know Lucas was okay, but didn’t give any details. I was too worn.
“Hey. How are you feeling? I just talked to Evander.”
“I’m good,” I tell her. “I just woke up.”
“And Lucas is still okay?”
“He’s perfect.” I smile at my husband.
“Gross,” Kristy laughs. “But good. I’m so relieved.”
“Me, too. Are you working tonight? I’m supposed to meet up with everyone from last night to go over everything.” I let my eyes fall shut, mind racing with a lie to tell Felix, and come up empty. Hopefully, Evander will have thought of something by tonight.
“I’m at work now but get off at three.”
“Perfect.”
“Want me to bring anything?” she asks.
“No, but thanks. I’ll see you tonight, then. Everyone is coming around seven.” We say bye, and I hang up, seeing that I have a dozen texts from Abby.
“Would Kristy want to go to Disneyland with you?” Lucas asks as I reluctantly sit up. I’m starving and need to take a shower. “You could go out together during the day.”