Garrett opened his mouth to protest, and then glanced from his father to his mother and back. A pink blush wandered from his neck to cover his angled face. “Um, yeah. I’ll do that. ’Bye.” He turned and all but ran in the other direction.
Cara chuckled. “You’re terrible.”
Talen swung her up in his arms, where she belonged. “Let me show you how terrible I can be.” His mouth took hers even as he hurried for their quarters. Reaching the door, he kicked the heavy steel open. “I missed you.”
She smiled, her eyes a deep blue. “I missed you, too.”
The world was all right now that she was where he wanted her. “I’m so glad you’re home, my mate.”
Then his mouth descended on hers again.
Max Petrovsky frowned at the angry brunette currently shouting at him. His Sarah wasn’t a shouter. Why in the world was she yelling? Finally, she wound down, pretty brown eyes sparking.
Her eyebrows lifted. “Well?”
Shit. He’d been so surprised at her yelling that he hadn’t listened to her words. “Um . . . I’m sorry?”
Her gaze narrowed. “For what?”
He shuffled his humungous feet. “For whatever pissed you off so much.”
Wrong answer. He knew it the second the words left his mouth. The woman grabbed a vase to throw at his head.
At that point, he’d had enough. Plucking the flying vase out of the air by the little handle, he went for his woman.
She backed up, eyes widening.
Putting the vase down gently because he knew it was one of her favorites, he grasped her by the upper arms and lifted her until they were eye-to-eye. “Now tell me again what’s wrong.”
Her lips pursed. “What’s wrong is that your best friend, and almost-brother, Kane Kayrs, is a complete ass who needs to pull his head out of his butt and make Amber happy.”
How the hell was that Max’s problem? “And?”
“And you need to talk to him and get him to fix this.”
“Why in the world do you think I can get him to fix this?”
Her voice softened. Her pretty chocolate eyes darkened. “You see things, Max. You notice things nobody else does, which is why you are such an excellent hunter, and the bodyguard most trusted around here.”
Charm. The woman was trying to charm him. Based on the warmth sliding through his veins, she was succeeding. “What else, Milaya?”
A light pink covered her freckled face, and not from him calling her “my pretty one” in Russian.
Max frowned. If he was reading her right, and he was, that was guilt in her eyes. And her big defense was a yelling offense that had quickly turned to charm, which was totally working on him. “What did you do?”
Her eyes widened and those long eyelashes fluttered. “Do? What do you mean? I didn’t do anything.”
“Sarah.” He lowered his voice to the growl he used when training the young vampires on the field.
She shivered and swallowed. Her tiny fingers began to play with the buttons on his shirt, while her gaze concentrated on his neck. “Well, I may have helped Amber, ah, sabotage Kane’s lab.”
“Sabotage?” Everybody knew not to mess with Kane’s lab. “Are you crazy?”
She shrugged. “Maybe. But Emma and Janie helped.”
“What did you do?”
Then she told him. Sure, he tried to keep a stern face, but when she got to the part about the monkey, he couldn’t hold in the laugh. He laughed until his eyes stung.
Winding down, he sat and pulled her to straddle him. “Kane is going to get you all back . . . you know that, right?”
Sarah shifted on him, rubbing her core against Max’s already aching erection. “I thought maybe you’d protect me.”
He threaded his large hand through her silky hair. His heart was at peace whenever she was near, and he thanked God daily for her. Yet a vampire had to have some fun. “Now, why would I do that?”
She grinned, slowly undoing the buttons on his shirt. “Because you love me.”
“That I do, Milaya. But it’s going to cost you.” His fangs dropped low.
Damn if her smile didn’t widen.
Dangerous women, all around.
Across the ocean, Connlan Kayrs rubbed a broad hand through his hair, glad the mass was finally reaching his shoulders again. He had yet to pay back Moira for singeing it all off. Sure, he’d been trying to mess with one of her spells, but the little witch hadn’t needed to booby-trap the spell.
While he liked Ireland, he was more than ready to go home.
Studying their spacious penthouse with the amazing view of the Liffey, he stretched his neck. Okay, this was home also.
He kicked back on the sofa, his gaze on the water, his boots on the sofa table.
His witch walked leisurely in from the kitchen, her hands full with a tray.
His eyebrows rose. “You made dinner?”
“Aye. Get your boots off my coffee table.” Her green eyes flashed with irritation.
“Our coffee table.” He dropped his feet to the polished wood floor.
“Our coffee table.” She slid the tray before him. “I figure we’d better eat all the steak we can before heading to Realm headquarters.” An adorable grin lifted her saucy lips.
Suddenly, he was hungry and not for steak. A quick grab had his woman on his lap.
She laughed, shoving at him. “I cooked, now you eat.”
He ran his mouth along her smooth skin. “I’m not giving up steak just because Kane mated a vegan. Period.”
“I know,” Moira breathed, tilting her head so he could continue his wanderings up to her ear. “But we might want to cut down for a while until she gets used to all of us.”
“No.” Conn nipped her ear. It was nice to see the smile on Moira’s beautiful face. He levered back to study the woman who held his heart. “Thank you for coming to headquarters with me. I know you’d like to stay here.”
She nodded. “Jase needs us, so we go. Once he’s better, we can come figure out what’s wrong with Brenna.”
Brenna Dunne was Moira’s youngest sister and a member of the council who ruled the witches. She was also an amazing artist. Lately she’d been pale and greatly overworked, so Moira had wanted to lighten her burden.
Conn tugged Moira’s hair out of the constricting braid and feathered her wild curls on her shoulders. “We’ll come back and help Brenna as soon as we can.”
“I know.” Moira reached for the plate, feeding him a piece of steak. “I do hope things have settled down at Realm headquarters by the time we arrive.”
Conn sighed. “Kane is the smartest person on the planet. I have no doubt by the time we get home that he’ll have figured out he loves the woman. I mean, he has to.” Thoughtfully, Conn grabbed another piece of steak to feed to his woman. “But if he doesn’t, I guess we’ll have to beat some sense into him.” Now that sounded like fun.
Moira punched his arm. “You’re such a brute.”
He allowed his fangs to drop. “Let me prove it to you.”
Amber finished wiping off the table, her mind spinning. Okay, letting the animals go and giving Walter an entire case of string cheese might have been a bad idea. Had she gone too far?
Sure, she wanted Kane to want her around, and hopefully he was figuring out that no matter what havoc she caused, he wanted her.
At night, he really wanted her. The sex was amazing and full of emotion.
Why couldn’t the stubborn vampire see it was love?
Suddenly, he filled the doorway to the kitchen.
A scratch marred his forehead. He wore dark jeans with a T-shirt, and his hair curled over his nape. He’d obviously just showered.
Amber tossed the dishcloth to the sink, forcing a polite smile on her face. “Hello, mate.”
“Where’s Hilde?”
Amber shrugged. “She went to teach Janie how to play bridge. What happened to your face?”