Sometime later, he lay stretched out next to her, having given up on work for the day. He gently stroked a hand over her hair. He had been so close to losing everything.
A frown marring her face, she softly said, “I’m sorry you can’t be in the sun. I wish there was a way to give that to you. I would do it in a heartbeat.”
His sweet Lilly. She had such a caring heart. He was truly blessed to have found such an amazing woman. His voice filled with emotion as he explained, “Lilly. In my universe, you are the sun.”
Epilogue
One and a Half Years Later
“Trevor,” Lilly groaned at her project manager. “What do you mean they broke the granite countertop? During shipping? Are they going to replace it?”
“They’ll be finding a piece as close to the original color as possible and shipping it within the week,” he confirmed. “The bathrooms will get done.”
Lilly took a deep breath. She was getting way too worked up over a countertop. It seemed almost daily lately that she was talking herself down from a panic attack about something idiotic like this. How the hell did Talan keep it together during the construction of entire casinos?
Searching for her patience, Lilly finally said, “Well, that’ll have to do, I guess. How long does this put us behind?”
“Good news there, ma’am. I’ve discussed it with Mr. Corbett already. We’ll just start a day earlier in the kitchen.”
It had been quite a coup when she’d gotten Magnus Corbett, Toronto’s own celebrity chef, to agree to run the kitchen. She had talked it over with both Talan and the lawyer when she’d seen his list of demands, which included creative control of the kitchen design. He’d specifically requested “none of that open floor design bullshit.” He’d informed her that he hated “guests watching over his fucking shoulder like he was a trained seal.” He was something else.
“It’s Lilly,” she corrected. “Not ma’am.”
“Yes ma’am,” he said.
Lilly rolled her eyes. Talan must have scared the hell out of him. When she’d first met Trevor, he’d been a little bit flirty with her. She’d mentioned it in passing to Talan and suddenly it was ma’am the next time they’d interacted. Talan still denied that he’d spoken to him, but she’d seen right through it. It turned out that Talan was a terrible liar.
As if on cue, she heard the door to the suite open.
He was home! He’d been travelling for the last week. Boy, she thought, he was about to get the homecoming surprise of a lifetime.
“Lilly,” he called anxiously, as he wandered into the new kitchen.
She grinned, and then indicated she was on the phone.
“Thank you Trevor. No other delays?”
She listened as he gave her the status update on the rest of the build-out and smiled when Talan picked up her hand from where it lay on the counter. He pressed his lips against her knuckle right above where her wedding band lay. Every time he did that, it made her heart flutter. Still.
She felt the flutters move to her stomach when he wrapped his arms around her from behind and pressed his lips to her neck. She shivered against him and said, “Thanks Trevor. No, no. That’s it. Talk to you later. Good-bye.”
She quickly disconnected the call and gave a soft sigh of pleasure. That feeling never got old. Even so, she turned around to face him and said, “I missed you, husband.”
He took her lips in a scorching kiss that left them both gasping for air. When they eventually came up for air, he said, “I so enjoy the way that sounds, wife.”
“Good,” she said, a little breathlessly. “Because you’re stuck with me now.”
“Happy to hear it. How are you? Problems with the build-out?”
She waved a hand and said, “Nothing he wasn’t able to handle. I, um, do have some news though.”
“Oh?” he asked as he grabbed a can of synthetic blood from the fridge. “What’s that?”
In the months following her attack, he’d switched almost exclusively to synthetic blood. It was only when he’d become worn down that Lilly had finally been able to convince him he needed to drink human blood as well. The synthetic was enough to sustain a body, but not for it to run in top condition.
She knew he’d done it in deference to her, even though she never would have asked. He’d tiptoed around his nature in an effort to coddle her for months before they’d had a big, knock-down, drag-out fight.
The weekend after Colette’s execution they’d been lying in bed. She’d been fully healed by that point and they’d finally gotten the all clear to make love. His incisors had popped out, but he’d tried to hide it from her. Her dear, sweet man.
She’d had to practically scream at him to bite her before he would allow himself to drink from her. That had started a huge fight. She still shivered at the memory of the make-up sex. It had been phenomenal.
His gaze was steady as he took a swig. “Spit it out, woman. I’m about two seconds from tearing your clothes off right here.
She steeled herself. Focus, Lilly.
“Well, about that. I’m totally game, but you’re going to need to hold off on drinking from me for a while.”
His eyes widened in fear as he asked, “Is everything okay? Are you unwell?”
“I’m perfectly fine. Don’t worry. The doctor just told me that it’s not good for the baby.”
The way he froze was almost comical. She saw the slow grin spread across his face. There was wonder in his voice when he asked, “A baby?”
She nodded, her smile a little wobbly. “A baby. I know we didn’t plan this but—”
He gave her a huge, crushing hug. She tapped at his arm when he began to squeeze her too tightly. He immediately eased back and asked, “I’m going to be a father? Really?”
When she nodded, he scooped her up into his arms. Beaming, he said, “Come with me, my dear. I believe we have some celebrating to do.”
The End
www.michelleroth.net
Evernight Publishing ®
www.evernightpublishing.com
The Darkness Calls Page 14