“I miss Hades and Persephone. Have you been keeping up with the Dogs of the Underworld IG?” I pulled out my phone and checked Insta. “This morning they’re playing on the beach.”
I showed him the pictures on my phone.
“They look great, don’t they?” he said with pride. “Look at Persephone sitting there like a little queen.”
“You’re actually a big softie, aren’t you?’”
“Don’t ruin my street cred.”
I kissed Stone’s cheek.
“C’mere, you.” He put my phone in his pocket, backed me against one of the many boulders that defined the path, and kissed me until I forgot where I was—who I was. I opened to him with a moan of submission that reverberated through my bones.
This man.
This man was made for me.
“You kiss with your whole soul.” He gasped and pressed his forehead to mine. “I love that about you.”
“Oh, wow.” My dick thickened beneath the mountain of clothing I wore.
“And I adore how flushed your cheeks are right now.” Stone looked gorgeous too just then. Sexy and louche and a little bit rough. “I want to keep you in this semi-aroused state all the time.”
“Okay.” I leaned against him. “I’m down.”
Happiness had chased away the hunted look he’d worn on theBlood Academyset. He no longer hid himself away as he had when he wasn’t working in order to minimize petty reactions to his scars. On his home turf, he relaxed his guard and opened to me.
I stared, transfixed by the change in him.
“I want your heart, little wolf,” he murmured. “What can I give you in return, I wonder?”
“Just this.” I leaned my cheek against his chest. “Just yours.”
“You already have that.” Stone kept his hand on the small of my back as he led me a bit farther into the trees. Surrounded by aspens, our path took us through round clusters of soapwort, thin spikes of purple salvia and minty hyssop. He focused the binoculars on the trees above us then handed them to me.
“There…” He pointed. “Look up.”
“What am I looking for?”
“See a bird with a black and white head, kind of a tan belly?”
“I don’t…wait. There it is.”
“That’s a mountain chickadee. We get a lot of those. They gosee chick-a-dee-dee-dee.Hear it?”
“Someone should fire the writers.” I heard what he’d described. “Dialogue’s a little on the nose.”
“Smartass. You know what? If I had my way, I’d stay right here and never leave.” Stone looked into the branches above us, frowning. “I’d never face the outside world again.”
“Is something bothering you,” I asked.
“No,” he said too quickly. “Or maybe yes. I don’t know.”
“If you want to talk about it—”
“That’s my problem. Idon’twant to talk about this. You know what it’s like. I put some unpleasant things off, and now it’s too late, and I have to face the consequences.”
“Things that get worse, like cavities?” I turned so my back was against his chest and used the binoculars to search for more birds. “What did you put off?”
