He shrugged. “We can if you want.”
“I think I do. You’re right. This is the perfect place to clear my head.”
He tugged on my hip and sat down behind me. “Come sit down, baby. Let’s relax.”
I let him pull me down between his legs, my back against his chest. He wrapped his arms around my shoulders and took a deep breath. We sat like that for a long time, just letting the warm breeze blow past us, quiet in our own thoughts.
Mine were centered on the perfect man behind me and his gaggle of sisters I’d come to love as my own. I wondered what he was like growing up. Was he silly with them like he was with me? Or serious like he had to be the rest of the time? Knowing how quickly he had to grow up, I figured it was probably the latter and it hurt my heart.
Finally, I broke the silence. “What were your parents like?”
He took a deep breath, his chest bumping into my bare back. “They were great.”
I snuggled deeper into his embrace. “Tell me about ‘em.”
He took another big breath, and I wondered if this was painful for him to talk about. Maybe I shouldn’t have brought it up.
“You don’t have to if you don’t want to,” I added.
He leaned down and kissed the top of my head. “No, it’s okay. I want you to know more about them.” He squeezed me tighter. “They would’ve loved you.”
My heart warmed and broke at the same time.
“My dad, Curt, was kind of strict, but also really fair. You always knew where you stood with him, you know? He always told you exactly what he expected of you and it was never more than you could handle. He was the strong, silent type. He was never the loudest one cheering you on, but he was there no matter what.” He was quiet for a moment before adding, “But I think what I miss most are his Sunday breakfasts. No matter what we had going on, Dad would wake up early on Sundays and cook us all pancakes.” He laughed softly. “We called him the Pancake Sensei.”
I laughed too and waited a moment as the words settled around us. “He sounds like a great guy.”
Abraham sighed. “He was the best.”
“What about your mom? Her name was Lacy, right?”
He nodded against my head. “Aah, my mom. Where to begin?”
I could hear the sadness in his voice, and it made my heart pinch in my chest. I wrapped my arms around his and held on as tight as I could.
“I told you she loved to garden. She always had tons of fresh fruits and vegetables for us and, believe me, with five kids, she needed all the food she could get.”
I could feel his smile against the side of my face.
“And she was a great cook. She even gave Nana a run for her money.” He sighed, and his arms tightened around me. “She was also the sweetest woman I’d ever met. Never had a bad word to say about anyone. She was kind and so loving. Always helping whenever she could. She was the first one to show up at someone’s door with soup when she heard they were sick, or load up a set of new parents with more casseroles than they knew what to do with, so they didn’t have to worry about cooking.”
He was quiet for so long I thought he was done, but then he spoke again.
“But I think my favorite part about them was how much they loved each other. If you’d asked my mom, she would’ve told you my dad hung the moon all by himself. They were so in love and, in turn, they loved us so much it felt bottomless. They were my best friends.”
My nose burned with unshed tears, but I held them back. I had no right to cry in this instance. This was Abraham’s family and his loss. But my heart still thumped painfully in my chest as I thought about everything he’d been through.
He took a huge breath and let it out slowly. “What about you? You never talk about your parents.”
Damn. I guess I set myself up for that. I could already feel the muscles in my neck tensing. “What do you want to know?”
He paused a moment before craning his neck to look at me. “What’s the matter?”
I sighed and looked away. “It’s nothing. I just don’t like talking about my parents.”
He nodded against my head. “I know you told me they sent you away when you were young. That had to be hard.”
I blew out a deep breath. “Yeah. That sucked.”
He chuckled softly behind me. “What was it like living with them before that?”
I shrugged. “Lonely.”
He hugged me tighter. “Because you were an only child?”
“I guess that was part of it. If I’d had a brother or sister, it probably wouldn’t have been so bad when my parents blatantly ignored me.”
He froze behind me. “Ignored you?”
I shrugged again. “Yeah. They were too busy with their own lives to worry about me.”
“Then who took care of you?”
“Nannies.”
“What about if you had a function at school? Parent teacher conference or a play or something?”
“Nannies.”
His arms tensed around me. “Did you guys eat dinner together at least?”
I laughed but there was no humor in it. “That would be a no. My parents mostly drank their dinners, and I ate mine in the kitchen with the staff.”
“You ate dinner with your parents’ employees?”
I nodded. “It wasn’t so bad. Those were the only real people in that house.”
“What do you mean by that?”
I took a deep breath and tried to figure out a way to explain my shitty parents. “My mom and dad are all about appearances. It’s the only reason they even had me. They’d been married for years and their friends and family were starting to ask questions about why they didn’t have kids yet, so they had me. It was probably the biggest mistake of their lives.”
Abraham’s arms tightened before he spun me around to face him. “You are not a mistake.”
I shrugged and looked away. “That’s not how it felt.”
He grasped my chin and turned my face to meet his. “El, you are the single greatest thing that has ever happened to me. I can’t imagine a life without you. A world where your brilliance doesn’t exist. If your parents weren’t grateful for you, I’ll make up for that tenfold.”
The tears were back, and this time, one fell. It streaked down my face, warm and wet, before Abraham caught it with a rough finger.
“Why are you crying, baby?”
I sniffed. “Because you’re so sweet. Because I’m so lucky to have you. Because I love you so much.”
His eyes softened, a small smile curling his lips. He pulled me into his hard chest and held me so tight, it felt like he alone could hold all my pieces together.
I didn’t realize how much my upbringing still affected me. How much I still cared about my parents and their opinion of me. How much I still wanted to matter to them.
I needed to let that go though. They were who they were and nothing I said would change them. I’d given up on that a long time ago.
Besides, with this beautiful man and his family, I didn’t need the love or approval of my own. I’d found a better set than I’d been born into and I knew they’d support me no matter what. They were the antithesis of my parents and I loved them even more for it.
Chapter 12
I sat in Abraham’s lap for a long time while he held me. It felt almost therapeutic. Like his arms could undo the years of neglect.
I sniffed and pulled back so I could look in his eyes. It was dark, but there was enough light from the moon for me to see their brilliant blue color. The love shining in their depths made them even more beautiful.
“Baby, I’m sorry about how your parents treated you. It wasn’t fair that they let strangers raise you. It wasn’t fair that they sent you away at the first sign of trouble. You didn’t deserve any of that, but all of it combined is what’s made you into the woman you ar
e today. A woman I’m so in love with I can’t think straight. I promise you’ll never feel unwanted ever again. I’ll love you enough to erase everything they’ve done.”
The tears welled up in my eyes again as I watched his perfect mouth say such perfect words on the most perfect night of my life. I thought that had been the night he proposed, but this was better. Deeper. Realer.
It was in that instant that I decided to drop the fated mates thing for good. It didn’t matter. I didn’t care if we were fated to be together or not. There was no one I would rather be with. No other place I’d choose to be, besides curled up on the lap of this man. He’d become everything to me without the magic. Our bond was just as strong.
I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled his face to mine, pressing my forehead against his. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I love you.”
His lips tilted on one side. “I love you too, baby.”
Hearing that word on his lips after everything else he’d said tonight was like throwing gasoline on a fire. A chill coursed down my spine and I squeezed my legs together. As if sensing the shift in my mood, I could feel his erection straining to life between us.
I removed one arm from his neck and wrapped my hand around his growing length. He sucked in a sharp breath and his bright eyes met mine.
“What are you doing, El?”
I squeezed the base and slowly moved my hand up and down. “What does it look like I’m doing?”
He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. “It looks like you’re trying to get fucked.”
Another chill swept down my spine and I rotated my hips on his lap. “Maybe I am.”
He growled low and wrapped his arms around my hips, lifting me up, positioning himself, and sliding me down onto him. He filled me while I tried to remember how to use my lungs. When he was fully inside, he leaned back on the rock beneath us and smirked.
“Fuck me, El.”
I clenched around him as another tremor wracked my body. But I did as he asked and moved up and down, twirling my hips and grinding onto him. Sweat beaded on our skin as we touched, and sighed, and moaned, and loved. Soon, I froze on top of him as my climax ripped through my body. Abraham squeezed my hips and thrusted upward as he came with me.
I collapsed onto his hard chest, my body still twitching with my orgasm. His hands dug into the hair on the back of my head, one rubbing soft circles and one just holding me.
We laid there quietly for a long time, my thoughts as lazy as his fingers across my scalp. Neither one of us were in a rush to go anywhere. But then I had an idea, and I picked my head off his chest to catch his eye.
“Wanna go swimming?”
He raised a brow. “Do I want to swim with my naked fiancé under the stars? Hell, yes.”
I giggled and pushed myself into a sitting position. “I think we should jump again.”
He climbed to his feet and offered me a hand up. “You gonna jump on your own this time?”
I shook my head. “Nope. I wanna do it your way again.”
His smile got brighter before he scooped me into his arms, and I wrapped my legs around his waist. He walked over to the edge of the boulder where the small stream trickled into the lake.
He squeezed my waist. “You ready?”
My heart was pounding, a heady mixture of adrenaline and being so close to Abraham. I nodded, my cheeks hurting with how wide my smile was.
Abraham took a few steps back then darted forward, launching us off the edge. He spun us upside down once, and I screamed while he laughed the whole way down. Finally, we sliced through the water and he let go of my waist to grab my hand.
We kicked to the surface, our heads breaking through at the same time. We gulped down air as we smiled at each other.
“What the hell was that?”
“Thought I’d spice things up.”
I splashed him. “Next time, warn me when you’re planning on practicing Olympic diving.”
He chuckled and swam closer until he could wrap his arms around me. “Admit it was fun.”
I rolled my eyes. “It was fun.”
“You wanna go again?”
“Hell, yes!”
He smiled and slung me onto his back before swimming for the shore. I wrapped my arms around his neck and said, “You know, I can probably swim just as fast as you now.”
He turned his head and scoffed. “No one’s as fast as me.”
I laughed and slapped him on the shoulder. He was so arrogant. Why did I find that so attractive?
We finally made it to the pebbled beach where we scrambled up the boulders and stood at the edge.
Abraham turned to me. “You wanna jump together again?”
I nodded. “Yeah. This time, let’s see if you can flip twice.”
He smiled wide and pulled me into his arms. “I bet I can do three.”
He did, in fact, do three. After that, we must have jumped another dozen times, each one more fun than the last. When my skin had pruned, and I was pretty sure both ears were waterlogged, I finally threw in the towel.
I crawled onto the beach and lay back on the smooth pebbles. “That’s it for me,” I panted. “You can go again if you want. I’ll watch you from here.”
Abraham shook his head and sat down next to me, his large hand wrapping around my bare thigh. “You wanna head back?”
I looked up at the stars above us, so much brighter and plentiful than in Raleigh. In the city, it was easy to forget how magnificent the night sky could be. How calming and humbling it was.
As I stretched my neck to see as many constellations as I could, I realized this trip to the lake had done its job. My head was clear, I was thinking straight, and I knew what I wanted.
I looked over at Abraham patiently waiting for me to answer him. It was then I knew I’d cleared up two things tonight.
The first was he and I were in love. No magic could confirm or deny that. He was the only person for me, werewolf or not. I was incredibly lucky that I found him, and I’d never let him go. Ever.
The second thing I realized was I wanted to give working with Callie a shot. It excited me and scared me so much that I knew it was the right choice. Knew it was the path I was supposed to take at this point in my life.
When I got up in the morning, I’d send emails to all the firms who’d offered me a job, thanking them but passing on their offers. After that, I’d find Callista and tell her she’d got herself a new lawyer.
My heart pounded and a smile spread across my face as thoughts about my new job raced through my head.
“I’m gonna take the job with Callie.”
Abraham’s brows rose. “Really? El, that’s great!”
I bit my lip. “You think so?”
Abraham grabbed my arm and pulled me into a sitting position. His big hands cupped my face as he looked at me. “Yes. I know so. I think this is a great next step for you. And I think you’re gonna love working with Callie.”
“I am, aren’t I?”
He pulled me into his arms. “I’m so proud of you, baby. You’re gonna be so amazing.”
My heart clenched as he proclaimed his deep faith in me. I didn’t know what I’d ever done to deserve it, or why he thought so highly of me, but I knew I’d work hard to prove him right. To never let him down.
He climbed to his feet and pulled me along with him. “Come on. Let’s go home.”
A warmth filled my chest at the word home. Had any place ever truly felt like home before the lodge? Had I ever really felt comfortable anywhere else?
Without another word, we shifted back into our wolves and took off through the forest. We were in no rush, so the way back took even longer, and I used that time to fill my head with the serenity of the woods at night. Of the feeling of running free through the trees. Of spending the night with Abraham.
W
hen we made it to the lodge, we shifted back and shrugged on our minimal clothing. His arm wrapped around my waist and we walked like that back up to our room. We reached our bed and disrobed again before crawling beneath the sheets. I slept better that night than I had in a long time.
The next morning, I woke up with a list of things I needed to do. Abraham and I showered together quickly. Or as quickly as you can when your shower buddy can’t keep his hands to himself and brings you to orgasm twice before you have a chance to rinse the conditioner from your hair.
I wasn’t complaining. Honestly.
We walked down to breakfast hand in hand.
“You know, when I’m working with Callie, I won’t be able to take lunch with you every day.”
Take lunch was code for afternoon quickie. I didn’t care how many people already knew what we got up to, I would never admit it.
Abraham squeezed my hand and pulled me close so he could whisper in my ear. “That just means I’ll have to come to your office on my lunch breaks if I want to bury the weasel.”
I laughed and pushed him away. “You’re disgusting.”
He chuckled and pulled me back into his side with an arm around my shoulders. “It also means I’ll be making your office soundproof.”
Now, that was a good idea.
“You’re renovating the office?”
He rolled his eyes. “What, is Callie gonna hire someone else to do it?”
I nudged him in the ribs. “I knew your company would be doing the work, I just didn’t realize the big guy himself would be there. Smartass.”
He laughed again and kissed the side of my head. “This project is for my sister. There’s no way I’d leave it to anyone else to do. I trust my men, but this is family. Of course I’m gonna be there throwin’ up sheetrock and layin’ down flooring with everyone else.”
I didn’t think it was possible, but my respect for him grew in that moment. I’d always known family was important to him, but this was above and beyond. I was sure Callie didn’t expect him to pick up a hammer and build her an office, but that was exactly what he was going to do. And the fact that he’d be getting down and dirty with all that came with constructing a set of offices was actually kind of a turn on. I’d have to make sure I spent some time down there while he worked.
Rise Page 10
