A Gorgeous Villain (St. Mary's Rebels 2)

At this, his eyes go grave. “I will.”

“Promise me.”

“I promise.”

At last, my ire lessens. “I’m going to be your best friend, Roman. And you can’t stop me.”

Those wolf eyes of his flash. “You want to be my friend, Fae?”

My heart races. “Yes.”

“Yeah, I don’t think that’s possible.”

“Why not?”

“Because I don’t know what kind of a friend I’d be when all I’d ever think about is talking dirty to you and making you blush. And kissing those lipstick lips.”

My lips tingle and I bite them as I whisper, “A bad one. You’d be a bad friend.”

He smirks, his vampire skin heating up and his wolf eyes looking so pretty and predatory. “Which one is that?”

My mouth tingles harder. “Blueberry Fairy.”

I have to admit that I only bought it for the name but the color turned out pretty good too with its dark blue shades.

He wraps his wrist around my braid, tugging my head back. “Why?”

“Because I’m a fairy.”

“Yeah, you are,” he whispers. “My fairy.”

“Ever since I was six.”

“Ever since you were six.”

“And you’re my Roman.”

“I am.”

“Ever since you were nine,” I tell him. “So will you keep me then?”

His body shudders with emotion. “Fuck yeah, I will. And I will love you and Halo. And I will make all your dreams come true, Fae. I want you to know that. I know you’re going to Juilliard and I’m not going to stand in your way and —”

I put a hand on his mouth to stop him. “Why don’t you let me worry about Juilliard?” He frowns and I press those fingers harder. “For now, tell me you love me.”

I move my fingers and he rasps, “I fucking love you.”

I smile, winding my arms around his neck. “I love you too. Tell me again that you love Halo.”

“I fucking love Halo.”

“Tell me that we’ll stay together. Forever.”

He swallows. “We’ll stay together forever. Because we’re a family now.”

My eyes fill with happy tears. “Family. Yeah. Now kiss me.”

Chuckling, he does exactly that. He captures my lips in a kiss.

As if he couldn’t wait any longer. I couldn’t either.

I can’t believe I waited for this for thirteen years. I didn’t even know that I was waiting.

But I was.

Because how could I not?

How could I not have felt what he felt? Maybe that’s why he made me want to dance whenever I saw him play, the Wild Mustang. Maybe that’s why I couldn’t stay away from him, couldn’t stop thinking about him despite all the warnings.

Because I was his dancing fairy long before I knew it.

And yes, I have to tell him about Juilliard. About how I got my admission deferred for a year and talked to Miss Petrova about teaching ballet at Baby Blues for the next year. Everyone did so much while I was pregnant and now it’s my turn. And so I’ve got a year before I go after my dream.

A year to be Halo’s mom, to watch her grow up, to adjust to this new life, to be close to all my brothers because I wasn’t for the last two years. And now I’ve got a year where I get to be his. I get to watch him with Halo, him being the best daddy in the whole wide world. I get to watch him go for his dream and I get to watch him love me.

But first I’ll let him kiss me.

Everything else can wait.

She has pretty blue eyes and they’re widened in excitement.

Actually, her whole body seems excited.

Sitting in her high chair, she’s flailing her arms in the air, her tiny fists pumping, as she swings her cute chubby legs. And don’t even talk about the noises she’s making.

I’m convinced that her laughter and her coos, her excited squealing can melt any heart in this world and fill all the empty spaces with joy.

But maybe that’s just me because I’m her mommy.

To be honest though, my Halo is the most joyous baby ever.

Like, she smiles at strangers. She waves at them. If someone waves back — which pretty much all of them do because hello, Halo is adorable — she completely freaks out with happiness, practically dancing either in my arms or in her stroller.

Oh and she loves dogs. Puppies are her favorite in particular.

If she sees one in the park, we have to go and say hi. We have to pet him and let him lick our faces or our hands at least, and we have to tell him how much we love him.

Which I do obviously.

Because Halo can’t talk but she does tell me what to say.

She nods her head at me, which in Halo talk means ‘tell him that I love him.’ If she’s waving her little fists and squealing, then that means ‘tell him he’s the cutest puppy ever.’ But if she also tries to get out of my arms to go crawling over to him, then that means ‘tell him I wanna take him home.’