Page 76 of Awakened and Betrayed
I laugh, but even though he’s trying to play it off as a joke, I realize that he is really is. He picks up on little things that most people miss and reads me, and the others around him, with an eerie accuracy I’ve never seen before. Behind his spontaneous actions and live-for-fun attitude, is an incredibly sensitive soul.
“I’m trying to not be Edward Cullen.”
He looks up at me confused. “Who is that?”
I smile. “We are so downloading some books and reading them together.”
He shrugs and kisses my stomach.
“Edward is a sparkly fictional creature that was full of angst and made all these decisions that just fucked everything up. I’m trying not to do that. I don’t want you guys to hurt, but there’s nothing I can do about it. I can think of ways to put it off, but at some point, it’s going to happen. I said I wasin,and that means for the good things and the hard things. You all know what will happen when we’re intimate. If you’re initiating sex, then I’m taking that as you’re telling me you’re ready for the next hard step. Who am I to tell you that you’re not?”
The barely-there stubble on Bastien’s cheek rubs against my skin as he nods his head.
“Plus, I’ve discovered I really like sex. So, there’s that, too.”
We both crack up and then fall back into companionable silence for a while, just touching and learning the intricacies of each other’s bodies with our fingertips.
“What’s your favorite color?”
I grin at the random question.
“Purple. What about you?”
“Blue, I really like gray, too, but Valen said that’s not a color so he’d never let me pick it as my favorite when we were younger,” he chuckles.
“Gray is totally a color,” I challenge. “You can have that as your favorite; I won’t tell Valen.”
Bastien smiles and nuzzles my abs. The light of the setting sun peeks through the windows and brightens his features, making him glow and even more breathtaking.
“Favorite food?”
‘Ooh, that’s a hard one,” I admit, thinking about it for a moment. “Maybe burgers, I am always down for a burger. And carrot cake; ooh and a good gooey cinnamon roll.”
He laughs. “Well, I guess that covers favorite dessert too.”
“What about you?”
“Pasta, all kinds of pasta. Dessert... probably brownies and ice cream.”
“Mmmmm,” we both groan at the same time and then chuckle.
“What was it like growing up here?” I ask, tracing the dark hair of his eyebrows.
“When Silva wasn’t on assignment, he was always doing stuff with us, teaching us things. We all love the outdoors, and he taught us how to fix cars and fight. He was preparing us to be paladin before we even understood what that was,” he chuckles. “The sisters, Lachlan, and the others, they’re family, at least the only family Valen and I have ever known. Our upbringing was pretty laid back. For the most part, we could do whatever we wanted as long as we did well in school and didn’t cause too much trouble. ”
I laugh at that and Bastien looks up at me, a cheeky twinkle in his eyes.
“Why do I have a feeling that you and Valen caused more trouble than you ever got caught for?”
He chuckles. “Because you’d be right. You’d be surprised what you could get away with when people can’t tell you apart, or they feel bad that you’re a poor motherless child and can’t help your feral ways,” he snorts.
“Do you remember your parents at all? I know you were young when they went missing... ”
“I have some memories, but it’s hard to know if they’re authentic, or if it’s a mash-up of my brain’s wishful thinking and images I’ve seen in pictures. Silva would always tell us stories about our mom. She was wild, always getting into one thing or another, and she gave her mates a run for their money. She was independent and opinionated, and I think if she were around, she would have loved you.”
Bastien’s eyes widen suddenly, and at first, I think it’s because he dropped theLword and feels weird about it, but his breathing suddenly becomes rapid, and he presses his face into my stomach and grabs tightly onto my hips.
“I think it’s happening!” he grits out, and I sit up and wrap myself around him.
