She shook her head. "I would die without him."
"And he would die without you."
She wiped her eyes and smiled at him. "Oh, I'm just tired and pregnant. I hate this emotional hormonal state. I'm sorry to dump all over you when I'm sure it's the last thing you need." Standing on her tiptoes, she pulled him down so that she could hug him.
Ash clenched his hand into a fist against her back as he savored the kindness of her touch. It was rare for anyone to touch him as a friend and it meant everything to him.
"I love you, Ash," she breathed before she kissed his cheek. "You're the best friend anyone could ever ask for."
Except for Nick...
Ash winced as he recalled his earlier anger. He shouldn't have done what he did. It wasn't often he gave rein to his rage. Simi was one of the few triggers that was still left inside him. Up until Nick had sullied her, she had been the only pristine thing left in his life.
Part of him hated Nick for what he'd done.
But the sane, rational part of him understood. Even so, he couldn't forgive what they had done. He was afraid of how it would change Simi. Of what she might become...
"Is Nick okay?"
Amanda looked extremely uncomfortable. "He was busted up pretty badly. I tried to get him to go to the hospital, but he refused. He said he'd had enough broken ribs in his life to know how to tend them. So Kyrian and Talon taped him up and sent him home."
Ash nodded. "Keep an eye on him."
"What about you? Aren't you going to check on him?"
"I can't. At least not for awhile. I need time to get past this and I can't guarantee that I won't hurt him again. God knows, Nick has a true gift for saying the wrong thing in any given situation."
He saw the agreement on her face. "You know he loves you, right?"
"Yeah, but emotions don't have brains."
"No, I don't guess they do."
Ash gently pushed her toward her bedroom. "Go get some sleep."
Amanda took a step away, then paused and turned back to face him. "Ash?"
"Yeah?"
"Why did you put Tabitha with Valerius?"
"For the same reason I handed you Kyrian's soul on the day we first met."
"You have to know that there will never be peace between the two of them. Ever. Tabitha can't bring Valerius into our family. It's just not fair to Kyrian."
"Maybe, but the real question is this: Had you met Valerius before Kyrian, would you still feel the same way toward the Roman? And if Tabitha had married Valerius and then you found Kyrian, how would you feel if she told you that you had to let him go?"
Amanda looked away.
"Exactly, Amanda. In order to have a future, Kyrian needs to let go of the past."
Tabitha sucked her breath in sharply between her teeth as Valerius licked the salted garlic butter off her breast. He laughed playfully with her nipple between his teeth as he looked up at her.
He pulled back long enough to dip another piece of shrimp in butter before holding it up for her to bite into. Tabitha licked his fingers sensuously as she ate from his hand.
"I think we set a record for longest meal in history."
Valerius smiled at that as he placed another shrimp on her right nipple. The butter ran down the side of her breast. He licked it off her skin before he went after the shrimp and devoured it.
Tabitha smoothed his hair back from his face. "See, I knew you Romans were raw with this kind of stuff. I was right, wasn't I?"
"You were right," he said as he squeezed a lemon over her stomach.
Her toes actually curled as he lapped the juice off her.
His whiskers gently brushed her stomach, sending chills all over her. "You are so wonderful," she said quietly.
Valerius froze at her words. No one had ever said such a thing to him before.
No one.
And in that moment, he had a terrifying thought. He was going to have to let her go.
Some unknown force slammed into his chest at the thought. It stole the breath completely away from him.
Life without Tabitha.
How could such a thought slice through him when he'd only just met her? And yet as he tried to imagine going back to his cold, sterile world where people ignored, mocked, and disregarded him, he wanted to shout at the injustice.
He wanted to keep her.
The desire to bind her to him was feral and unreasoning. It was also selfish and wrong.
Tabitha had a family who loved her. Her family had always been a major part of her life. He'd seen it himself. The love. The care.
His family had been a nightmare of jealousy and cruelty. But hers...
He couldn't take her away from them. It wouldn't be right.
"Valerius? Is something wrong?"
He offered her a half-smile. "No."
"I don't believe you."
Valerius lay on top of her and just listened to her breathe. She cradled him with her body and he reveled at the feel of her skin against his. Of her arms and legs wrapped around his bare body.
But it wasn't just his skin that was naked. His spirit was stripped bare as well.
He would give anything to have this woman and she was the one person he could never keep.
It wasn't fair.
Tabitha stroked Valerius's back as she felt his emotions. He was filled with angry despair and she didn't know why.
"Baby," she whispered. "Talk to me."
"Why do you call me baby?" His breath tickled against her breast.
"Does it bother you?"
"No. I've just never had anyone else use an endearment when they talked to me. It's odd to hear it from you."
She ran her hand over the scars of his back as her heart clenched for him. "Were you ever in love?" she asked.
He shook his head. "I only had Agrippina."
"But you never touched her?"