“Jay, lie down. Please!” Becca begged, and God damn, he loved the sound of her voice. Loved the way she said his name. Loved the way she clung to him. He’d missed her. Felt her absence like a hole in his chest.
“Only if you lie down with me,” he whispered in her ear. Seven years stolen. Ripped away. Carved from their souls. And now that he had her back, he refused to waste a single second of the time they had left.
He wanted her with him. By his side. Always.
Unfortunately, energy waning fast, he did, in fact, need to take a couple of those seconds to sit down before he fell down. Because face planting in front of Becca in nothing but a pair of polka-dot hospital pants? Not a good look. And with the direction things were going in, kissing face with the floor before he had the chance to kiss her presented as a strong possibility.
Not his goal. Nope. He had her full attention, and he intended to keep it that way, but not by being too weak to help himself. Yeah, first things first, he had to somehow get his butt back on the bed. Then if necessary, he’d spend the rest of his days convincing her to join him.
Just one little problem with his plan.
“Get.” Correctly identifying the underlying issue, Becca flapped her hand at the cat occupying the warm spot Jay had most recently vacated.
“When did we get a cat?” Gray asked, eyeing the scrappy ball of fur like it shared similar properties with an atomic bomb.
“He’s a Russian stowaway,” Cody replied, coming in on Jay’s other side to offer some support.
“She is not Russian,” Becca huffed, sounding offended as she took the scissors from Jay’s hand, pointy end first, and used them to shoo away the stubborn feline. It hissed and scooched over a second before he turned it into a pancake by plunking his uncoordinated ass down on the edge of the mattress. “She’s the Grand Duchess, Kitty of Catia. Miss Kitty for short.”
“Jesus,” Gray grumbled. “Did you mainline a bottle of Stolichnaya before you named her?”
“Grace!” Adam barked.
“What?” She snapped back. “It’s a decent vodka.”
“Ignore them,” Eve said, rolling her eyes and addressing Becca directly as she elbowed Cody out of the way to raise the head of the bed. “They’re both socially challenged.” She fussed around him, assisting Jay with a double leg lift until he lay semi-reclined. “I’m Eve, by the way. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Rebecca.”
“Uh…” Becca looked from Jay to Eve’s outstretched palm and back again, then with his go-ahead nod giving her the reassurance she needed, she put the scissors down on the bed next to his hip. With the weapon out of her hand, but close enough to reach if she needed to defend herself, she accepted the friendly gesture, and the two women shook hands. “Most people call me Becca.”
“Well then, Becca, we’re glad you’re here.”
“And where exactly is here?”
“Eve,” Adam warned.
“We’ll get to that later,” she replied, ignoring him and continuing. “Right now, you must be overwhelmed. Let’s put some names to the faces, and when Jamie arrives to examine Jay, we’ll get you something to eat. Sound good?”
Becca didn’t acknowledge, but undeterred, Eve hitched her thumb over her shoulder. “You’ve already met Cody. He was a part of the team that brought you home. He’s big, he likes to tease, and he eats a lot.” She pointed to Gray next. “This is Grace, but she prefers to be called Gray. She’s moody, snarky, and as demonstrated, loves to give her brother a hard time. Which brings us to Adam.”
“Adam?” Becca repeated, suspicious eyes narrowing as she focused her distrustful glare across the short distance.
“Yes. Gray’s brother and my fiancé. He’s a little militant at times, but it comes from a good place, so you don’t have to worry about him. He’s here to protect you.”
“Protect me?” Her palm once again resting over the scissors, Becca’s fingers trembled as Jay covered them with his own. His purpose threefold, he gave her hand a gentle squeeze. One—he wanted to offer her a bit of comfort. Two—he needed to be touching her. And three—he intended to keep her from making a mistake.
Adam didn’t pussyfoot around when it came to Eve’s safety, or Gray’s, despite their bickering, and even though Jay was positive neither was Becca’s intended target, Adam might not be so sure.
“Yes,” Eve replied, sliding the scissors out from under the combined weight of their palms and offering them to Cody. “You’re a part of our family now, and we look out for each other—always.”
“Aren’t all Grand Duchesses Russian?” Cody asked, stuffing the scissors into his back pocket before scooping up the cat that had wandered his way. In return, Miss Kitty of Catia aimed a tiny paw at his face. “Watch it, Duchess. Try to scratch me again, and I’ll feed you to Jeff as a snickety-snack.” He kissed her on the nose and tucked her into his shoulder, and if Jay had the energy, he would have razzed him endlessly for falling in love with a Russian cougar.
Upon hearing his name, the tail-wagging sausage lifted his head, and sniffing the air, he attempted to follow his nose by squeezing his big body between multiple sets of calves to reach his new friend.
“You’re giving me a hard time about Kitty, and you named your dog Jeff?” Eyebrow cocked in Gray’s direction, Becca squeezed closer to Jay, lifting her leg to let Jeff pass. “Kinda calling the kettle black, aren’t you?”
Gray grinned and shrugged. “He’s not my dog, and Mutt was already taken by his owner.”
“Mutt and Jeff?” Becca repeated, the low pitch of her voice indicating her skepticism.
