“Well, it isn’t like I have much choice, do I,” he says quietly and goes back to his staring at the carpet. I can feel his pain and anger and I wish I could ease it for him.
After a few seconds, I say, “Great, we are agreed. We will move on in three months. Should be enough time to get all your affairs in order.”
“How will we just disappear?” Jess asks worriedly.
“G6 crash,” Devon says shortly, his arms still crossed defensively. “Simplest way to do it, no survivors, no bodies.”
I nod, having come up with the same conclusion.
“Oh,” she says quietly as the enormity of what we are about to undertake hits her. I turn to Cole and squeeze his hand reassuringly. This will be a huge deal for him as well and I need to ensure that he is okay with it all. He smiles back to let me know he is fine, so I dismiss the meeting after Devon says, “Lizzie, I need a word with you.”
I know I am in trouble with him over the CK thing, but I need to deal with it so I ask everyone to leave us alone so he can y
ell at me in private.
“I know what you are going to say,” I say, pre-empting his strike, “but don’t, okay, please. It is done and that’s it.”
“How do you know what I am going to say?” he asks with a curious look at me. “You have no idea what I want to say to you.”
“Devon?” I ask him. “What is with you?” I really don’t care for this attitude of his.
He swoops in on me suddenly and gathers me in his arms. He kisses me and I kiss him back. I cling to him as I have missed him, and I want him back as he was before. He cups my face and pushes me back against the billiards table, grinding his hips against me. I let out a little noise of yearning and he deepens the kiss, lifting me onto the edge of the table.
“Need you,” he whispers, still kissing me.
“Take me,” I whisper back.
He pushes me down flat onto the table and stands in between my legs. He pulls on my hips to get my backside right to the edge of the table and slowly pulls my panties down. He undoes his pants as I watch him, hungry for his touch. He slowly inserts himself into me as I wrap my legs around him, pulling him closer. He closes his eyes as he savors the feel of me.
“Oh, Lizzie,” he says. “You feel so good.” He steps back from me, withdrawing himself, and I know what he wants from me. I Shift and he is back inside me as soon as I am Elizabeth. “I’ve missed you so much,” he says. “It has been too long.”
I completely agree. The last time we were together was in Miami with Cole. It feels like a lifetime away. He is pumping gently into me, taking his time with me even though he knows there are people waiting for us. He needs this and I need him. I reach up and pull him down to kiss me and then he speeds up, pounding me into the table and making me orgasm in a spectacular ripple through my body. He groans as he feels it and lets himself go, pouring himself into me.
“I love you,” he murmurs.
“I love you,” I say back to him and he smiles down at me.
“I love it when you say that to me,” he says, now completely back to his normal self as he pulls me up and adjusts his clothing. “I am feeling rather hard done by with all these new charges you are stacking up.” He says it lightly, but I know he still isn’t happy about Cade. “And don’t get me started on husbands.” His eyes cloud over. I sense he has more to say about that, but he stays silent.
“I know, baby,” I say, giving him a hug. “I will make it up to you now that you are home. You are never to leave for as long as that ever again.”
“I won’t,” he promises me, and we are both happy again to be back together. “But you do owe me an explanation,” he says.
I Shift back to Liv before I forget and exit here looking like Elizabeth. Cole and CK would not be amused.
“I know,” I say. “It just happened. Literally. Cole suggested it yesterday and bam! There was a handfast at Cassis.”
He is looking at me in shock. “Cole suggested it?” he chokes out.
“Yeah,” I say, nodding. “I was surprised too. Well, floored actually, but he wants me all the time and so does CK, so he came up with this.” I note at this point I am talking to myself as he has gone completely zombie on me. He is gazing over my right shoulder with dead eyes.
“How could you?” he asks sadly. “How could you do this to me?”
“What?” I ask in confusion and then turn around as I realize he isn’t even speaking to me. He is looking at Cole, who had quietly pushed the door open and is standing in the doorway looking uncertain and more than a little confused.
“Devon,” he says as he comes closer, with a look of sadness now. He clearly has some idea what is going on now whereas I have none. “We need to talk.”
Devon shakes his head at him and turns his back. I look at Cole questioningly and he whispers to me to leave them alone. I go, under protest, and with a burning curiosity as to Devon’s actions, I enter the library. I sigh as I see the damage caused by my parents’ argument. Broken lamps, turned over tables, even a smashed window that I never even heard break. Must have been during Sebastian and CK’s tussle. Then I shudder as I remember what else they got up to in here. I don’t want to touch anything. I am about to leave and find Esther to come and scrub this room top to bottom, when I feel a pop behind me. Ah crap. I really don’t need her here at the moment.