With dough all over her fingers, she awkwardly wrapped her arms around me, trying to keep from rubbing it on my shirt while still swallowing me in the comfort of her arms. “I love you. So much. It’s me who’s grateful. Me who received the gift.”
“I think we’re all on the receiving end of that.”
Pulling back, she smiled, soft and adoring, and then she was letting her gaze move over to Rhys who wound around the island.
Coming closer.
Clearly on a mission.
“There’s the birthday girl.”
His hulking body filled up the space, and the air squeezed from my lungs, and then my knees were straight giving out when he wrapped me up in all that bristling strength and hauled me against his body.
Oh my goodness.
His heart thundered. Maybe as hard as mine.
It wasn’t like I hadn’t spent the last five nights in these arms. It wasn’t like we hadn’t lost ourselves in each other again and again. It wasn’t like I hadn’t explored every inch of this body the same as he’d been exploring mine.
But he’d never touched me like this in front of the family.
Never had he made such a claim.
And at first it seemed almost playful.
Normal with the way he hugged me and kind of whipped me around.
But there was no missing the way the air changed. Zapping with an electric charge as he continued to hold me. As our movements slowed. As he buried his nose in my hair and his hands splayed out over my back.
I fell into it.
Just gave myself over. Because I refused to be afraid. This man might demolish me in the end, but I was taking that chance.
And then that crackling turned to a thunder, and I pulled back to find my brother glaring daggers at us from the other side of the island.
So much for happy birthdays.
Rhys set me back onto my feet while discomfort spiraled through the room.
“Happy birthday, Mags. It’s a big day.” Rhys said it as casual as could be as he ambled toward the coffee pot.
“Thanks. It should be fun,” I peeped, way too high, all kinds of flustered as I smoothed out my shirt.
This was stupid.
My brother didn’t get to be mad.
But I also had no right to put Rhys on the spot when he’d made it clear this was only temporary. No reason to burn the bridge between the two of them when they had to be together for the rest of their lives.
They’d seemed halfway friendly as of late.
I shook myself out of it the best I could.
Out of the wash of need.
Royce glowered, his dark, dark eyes flitting between Rhys and me.
“Hey you. I was just comin’ to find you. Is Amelia still asleep?” Emily broke into the discomfort.
“Yeah. Just checked on her,” he grumbled.
Emily wove her way to him like she could cut through the uneasiness. Disperse it into nothingness.
She popped up on her toes and kissed him.
He rumbled something against her mouth before he pulled back.
He smiled at me. Worried and soft. “Happy birthday, Mag Pie.”
“Thank you.”
Emily spun away, all sways and swishes of her hips as she sashayed back to what she’d been preparing. If anyone could distract my brother, it was her. “Breakfast is almost ready. And like our Daisy said, it’s gonna be somethin’ special.”
“Yups. It’s my nana’s specialist birthday recipe.”
Violet tried to hide it, but I felt her flinch. Felt the gush of her pain.
It crested through my body, and I eased that way, and from behind, I hugged my friend tight where she stood at the stove flipping pancakes. “You miss her.”
Violet glanced back at me with tears in her eyes. “So much. But I know she’s here.” She waved a hand around the room. “And I know she’s here,” she said as she touched her heart.
“She is.”
She swallowed it down, and then she and Daisy were shooing me away so I wouldn’t ruin the surprise.
They were a mess of clanking dishes and whipping metal bowls and laughter. I watched the scene with so much joy from the edge of the room, while Rhys watched it from the opposite side. And I couldn’t help but wonder what it might be like. How good it could actually be if we somehow truly found our way to each other. If we could meet in the middle.
Daisy hopped down and clapped her hands with a squeal. “It’s ready!”
Racing for me, she grabbed my hand and gave it a tug. “Come on. You have to sit down in your special spot.”
She led me to the head of the table just as Leif and his family came bustling in through the front door.
Melanie came jogging downstairs, too, and Richard joined the mayhem a second later.
I sat down at the head of the table.
Surrounded by these amazing people.
I’d thought for so long I’d never really have it. That it would forever be Royce and me against the world, him with his fierce sword drawn and his armor shielding me.