by Honor James
Grabbing her bag, he stepped back. “We’ll get the boxes later,” he said, putting a hand to her lower back and encouraging her toward the door. Unlocking it, he disarmed the system and then hit a few of the lights. “Take a look around, honey. Get to know the place,” he suggested. “I’m going to grab a cup of tea. Do you want something?” he asked as he wandered toward the large and modern kitchen.
She turned around in the foyer, taking everything in at once. “Water please.” She didn’t do tea. She didn’t like the bitter taste of it. She followed him, her hands touching this and that, but she stopped before a fireplace mantel in a sitting room. She was drawn to the pictures there and smiled. “Are these your brothers?” She touched the face of Janos, his easy smile and laughter clear.
Glancing through the opening to the sitting room as he put the water on to heat, he nodded. “Yeah, that’s them. Laszlo is the grumpy-looking, stern oldest brother. Benedek is the one that looks as though he’s lost in thought,” he told her as he grabbed her a chilled bottle of water and moved to her side. Pointing, he continued, “That’s Miklos, and this other space cadet is Kristof, which just leaves the most handsome and dashing of the bunch”—he pointed at his chest—“me.”
“I have to agree.” She smiled but she heard the pleasure in his voice, she heard the love in his voice, and grinned. “You are all so handsome, such an amazing family, and you see a gruff older brother and I see one protecting his family.” She touched the image of Laszlo’s face with a gentle finger.
“You see one lost in thought and I see a dreamer ready to change the world.” The same motion, a gentle brush in turn over Benedek’s image. “You see space cadets and I see men that would die for their brothers. I see a family of love, created and honed in the fires of loss.” She turned to him. “And before me I see you. I see a man I fell in love with in dreams and one who is offering me a lifetime of dreams, offering to give me my heart’s desire in a kiss, in a touch.”
“Always,” he promised her softly as he handed her the bottle of water. “You’ll like them, I think. Laz owns majorities in a shipping company and plays the stock market like a maestro conducting an orchestra. Ben owns a small chain of bookstores and is an author in his own right, but don’t let him know I told you that,” he murmured. “Apparently it’s supposed to be a secret or some nonsense.” Shaking his head, he shrugged.
“Mik is a Detective with the NYPD, has one of the best solve rates around apparently, or he could be blowing smoke, not really sure. And Kris is a medical researcher with more doctorates and degrees than even he can remember but plaster a full wall in his office. He definitely got all the brains in the family, kind of a geek, soft spoken, but he’s great. They’re my brothers, my blood, my family, and my best friends,” Janos murmured, looking at the picture.
“I’d kill without a thought for all of them and lay down my life to save any and all of them.” Looking down at her, he smiled. “That goes double for you, Mina.”
Mina blushed and nodded. “And I would do anything for you as well, Janos.” Taking the water from him, she opened it and took a drink. Finally she licked her lips and sighed. She was getting hungry, but the water would fill the void. She was a pro at that one.
Chapter 21
“Come on into the kitchen with me for a second,” he said, tugging her hand. His water was boiling as they walked in. Pulling the kettle off the heat, he poured it into the tea pot and dropped in a couple of bags of tea before covering the whole thing. “I was thinking of doing a pizza for dinner if you’re interested,” he said, opening a drawer that was in actuality his freezer.
“I have meaty, cheesy, meatier, something green…” He frowned and grabbed that one. “Bloody hell,” he muttered, “Mik must have left this here.” He showed her the spinach and Asiago cheese one. “What’s the lady’s choice for food?” he asked her, looking up from where he was crouched.
She snickered. “Is he the only herbivore?” She looked at the pizza’s though and said, “Meaty please.” She had only ever had the Tombstone pizzas that tasted like cardboard, and these looked much different from that. “Which kind is your favorite?” She grinned and then said, “I can’t think of the last time I had pizza.”
“No, he’s not an herbivore, but when he’s on the job he only eats vegetarian. Says it keeps his senses sharp. But on the weekends you’d better count the cows ’cause he’s likely to eat through a herd,” he said, grabbing a meaty and a cheesy.
“I’ll do up these two and we can work our way through them,” he said as he cracked open the packages and started the oven to heating. Sliding the pizzas onto the pans, he set them aside before grabbing a cup and pouring a cup of tea. Dumping in a spoon of sugar, he looked to her. “Are you going to look at the rest of the place?” he asked her, taking a slow sip.
“I want you to be with me when I do, Janos. I want to experience each moment of firsts with you, and learning our new home would be one of the firsts that I would love to have with you. I want a lifetime of firsts with you, Janos, if you don’t mind?”
Shaking his head, he smiled. “I don’t mind. Once the oven heats I’ll toss in the pizzas and then we’ll have twenty minutes to do a quick tour.” Finishing his first cup, he pulled out the tea bags and tossed them before covering it back up. “You think it’s weird I drink tea, don’t you?” he asked with a grin at her confused look. “I work in a bar all day and more often than not smell like alcohol each night. Tea is refreshing and cleansing,” he revealed. “It actually, depending on the leaf blend, clears out my poor nose so I can breathe freely again.”
“The only tea I have ever had is bitter, so I tend to stick with water and once a week I will have a Pepsi.” She grinned. “I have milk a couple times a week, too. I love milk. Just how cold it is and how good it tastes.” She shrugged. “I like it a lot, but I really like water, too. Just the clean and refreshing taste is so very nice.”
Lifting a brow, he poured another cup of tea and stirred in the required amount of sugar before sipping. Nodding, he offered it to her. “Take a taste and let me know what you think,” he said. Once she had the cup, he turned and slid the pizzas into the oven before turning back to see her sniffing it. “It won’t bite.” He chuckled, moving closer. “Just take a little sip and see if you like this better.”
She sniffed the hot tea and brought it slowly up to her lips. She took a small sip and closed her eyes, licking her lips and letting her eyes blink open quickly. “Really? This is tea?”
Chuckling, he nodded. “Of course it’s tea. There are hundreds of different kinds. This is orange white tea. It’s new and one I really like since the white teas aren’t as bitter as the greens or blacks. I do have some loose black tea, but I usually use that for when I want a drink after a particularly hard day and put in a little dollop of joy.” Moving, he pulled out a second cup and poured himself a new one, adding the sugar before waving his arm before him. “Come on, sweetheart, let the tour continue,” he said, picking up his cup and following after her as she began to walk through his house.
Chapter 22
She held the cup cradled in her hands as she started through the house. “You live here alone?” Well not anymore, now he had her to share the space with, and later, later she would tell him that she was staying, forever. “So far I really like everything. I love the woods used, the dark reds of the–what kind?” She couldn’t figure out the difference in woods, but she liked it whatever it was.
“Mahogany and cherry,” he told her, pointing to each as he added, “The one that has more pink tones is the cherry, and the more chocolate in color is the mahogany.” Putting his hand at her back, he indicated the next room. “This is my office away from work. Next to it are two guest rooms and then the master suite. Across the hall is a half bath for company since there’s a full bath between the two guest rooms.”
“And the master suite has its own bathroom, too?” she intoned as she looked into the office and then walked in, grinning. “I c
an tell that Max comes in here sometimes.” Well, she hoped so, because if not, his OCD would seriously drive her to distraction.
Shooting her a look, he frowned. “Why do you say that?” he asked, looking around at everything and trying to figure out what she was seeing that he wasn’t.
When he asked why she thought Max came in, she pointed to the bookshelf. “Not in alphabetical order but in size order, largest and heaviest at the top and working their way down to the shortest and lightest at the bottom.” Max was a great guy, but he had a serious issue with size and ensuring that everything was all properly aligned.
Focusing on the bookshelves, he groaned. “I swear, I turn my back on him for two minutes and he has the whole place reorganized, bugger.” Shaking his head, he moved over to them and muttered, “I may have to nail his feet in place when he’s here next.”
Stifling the giggle, she shook her head. “What, you don’t like it?” Personally she liked alphabetical, liked to be able to go right to a book, but that was just her.
Turning, he looked at her. “I prefer being able to find stuff personally. Whenever he does this it takes me a month to get them back into alphabetical order by author. Or I hire some kid from the area and pay him to do it for me.” Leaning back against a chair, he sighed. “I love Max, but this could make me kill him one day soon.”
She laughed and shook her head. “I will fix it, Janos, no need to hire anyone.” Her arm around his waist, she hugged him tightly. “Don’t worry about it. I will fix it and if he decides to try to do it again I will smack his hands with a rubber band, deal?”
“You don’t have to, Mina. Personally I’d make him do it, but I can’t stand his whining. Besides, some of those books outweigh you, I’m sure.” He pointed to the big ones at the top. “Why he insists on putting the heaviest at the top is beyond me. Every time I have to rearrange it I end up hitting myself with one, at the very least one.” He shook his head.
“It’s a visual thing. When you look at it, your eye is drawn to the largest thing first, in this case to the top of the bookcase.” She shrugged. “You can send Maxi over to fix it and I will make sure that he does.” She wanted to be a part of his home, his life. She wanted to help him where and if she could at any given time.
“That may be harder than you realize, but I’ll let you take on that challenge.” He grinned at her. “Now, let’s get moving. You still need to see the rest of the house before we have dinner.” Indicating the door, he followed after her. “You can worry about the horror that is my office later.”
“Right, I will worry about it later. I will get Maxi on it and have it all taken care of.” She grinned and gave him a look and confidently added, “He will be afraid of me. I have a Wolf that will growl and get after him if he makes me cry or upsets me.”
“Damned straight,” he said with a little growl next to her ear as he pushed open the door to the master suite and hit the pot lights, leaving off the main ones for now. “Welcome to my boudoir,” he told her with a deep chuckle.
The sound sent a shiver of delightful need down her spine. However, when she walked into his bedroom, her mouth fell open. “And you slept in my little not-even-there bed?” His bed was massive. She couldn’t believe actually just how large it was. She looked up at him and said, “We could sleep in this bed with a marching band and no one would ever touch.”
Looking down at her, he chuckled. “Did I mention I really like being able to spread out a bit?” he asked, still laughing slightly. “And I slept there because you were there, my love,” he told her as he eased up behind her and wrapped his arms around her. “If you weren’t there you couldn’t pay me enough money in the universe to sleep in that bed.”
She leaned back against him and closed her eyes in a gentle sigh of happiness. “I have to agree, Janos. I think that I am really, really going to like being able to be in that bed with you.” She frowned. “Wait, you said you like to stretch out, does that mean that you won’t be cuddling up close to me when we sleep?”
“Oh honey,” he grinned, leaning his head down to bite her neck gently. “I am going to cuddle with you a lot. But I must stretch before we do anything. I need to be limber. I wouldn’t want to pull anything after all. It would seriously suck to be out with an injury,” he told her softly.
She snickered. “Now I think you are making fun of me.” Turning, she looked up at him and let her fingers move over his stomach, her body aching now for something other than food. “Janos.” The single word of his name fell from her lips with such need that she was sure that it had her very soul wrapped in that one word.
“Yes, love?” he asked her softly, licking his lips with a smile that grew as her scent told him she was needy. “Behave yourself, honey. I need to eat or you really won’t like the results. And since I don’t want to hurt you,” he said as the buzzer went off. “Come on, let’s eat in front of the fire I’ll start and then”—he gave her a heated look—“then you can play more.”
She had no idea what “play more” meant, but his look said all she needed to know. Shivering, she nodded. “That sounds nice, eating in front of a fire.” Her stomach chose that moment to growl loudly, showing its displeasure at not eating for more than twenty-four hours. “Food sounds really good, Janos. The rest can wait, I promise.”
“Not too long, I promise.” He chuckled, stepping back and taking her hand. “Come on, love, let’s go and grab the pizzas so that we can eat before your stomach gets rude.”
Guiding her from the room, he hit the lights and led her to the kitchen. Moving easily, he pulled the hot plates out and slid the pizzas onto the cutting board. With quick movements he sliced them and then put them onto big plates.
Handing her a pizza, he grabbed a couple plates and napkins, tucking a bottle of water under his arm. “Come on, love,” he said, moving to the living room and sitting before the fireplace. Setting everything safely up on the coffee table, he turned to the fireplace and soon had the fire going.
The heat of the fire had her eyes closing and her melting. “This is something I could get used to, Janos.” Being fed, being warm.
When she opened her eyes, she smiled. “I want you to know that I am not with you because of your money. I want to be with you because of who you are, but I have to admit being able to have full meals every day and not worrying about heat in the winter will be very nice.”
Glancing at her as he passed her a plate with two large slices of meaty pizza, he licked his fingers. “What do you mean, love?” he asked her softly, knowing he wouldn’t be happy with whatever the answer was. Taking a piece of each, he handed her a napkin before settling at her side to eat as he waited.
Chapter 23
She shrugged. Now that the words left her mouth she was appalled at herself. “Never mind, I’m rambling for no real good reason at all.” Taking the pizza, she waited until he had his, and when he did, she took the first bite, closing her eyes and moaning in thanks. “Oh, this is good” was said around a mouthful of the meaty goodness.
Letting it go for the time being, he sat beside her and ate his own slices. Every now and again he passed her another piece or took a couple more. Later he’d ask her about her comments, but he’d have to play it carefully so she didn’t get defensive or figure out how to avoid the question again.
It was nearly half an hour later and both pizzas were fully gone when she leaned back against the plush cushions and smiled. “I don’t think I have ever been this full in my life.” She felt all limp and sleepy as she sat there. “I will help you clean up, soon.” Her eyes closed and she moved closer to him, seeking the heat from him.
Wrapping his arms around her, he kissed the top of her head. “I really hope you’ll tell me one day, Mina,” he murmured softly. He knew she’d know what he was talking about. “I hope you’ll trust me enough to tell me, but I won’t push, sweets, I promise. If and when you are ready, I’ll be here to listen,” he said, pressing a second kiss to her cheek.
“It’s n
ot something that I am proud of,” she whispered and sighed. “There were times I would only have enough money to pay for my rent, bus fare for the month, and a few days’ food.” She shrugged. “And the second winter I lived in my apartment, Mrs. Smith decided that I needed to pay for my own heat, so sometimes I didn’t have any.” She didn’t have anything to hide from him, at least she tried not to.
“I’m sorry, love,” he said softly, rubbing her arm gently even as he fought to not snarl at the injustice. She was a sweet and innocent girl that had been blatantly taken advantage of. Hugging her closer, he shifted and put his back to the couch as he eased her into his lap to hold her close. “But no more, all right? You need anything, just ask me please,” he requested gently. “I don’t want to take away your independence, but I don’t want you worrying about the little things in life because you’re concerned I’ll think you’re taking advantage. You’re not. You’re my mate and you’re entitled to everything I have.”
“I will try,” she said with a sigh. “I will try, Janos, I really will, because I want to be able to come to you. I want to be able to come to you and not have to worry about anything other than being with you. I want a job because I wouldn’t know what to do without one. However, it will be nice to be able to not have to worry about how much I have to spend on groceries in a given week.”
“Then never, ever look at my bills,” he told her honestly. “It would likely give you a heart attack,” he said with a grin. “But you must remember that I’m a Wolf. We crave meat. That’s where most of my bill is in truth. Just don’t look and I’m sure we’ll be fine, and if you ever want or need something, add it to the list on the fridge.” Kissing her gently, he stroked her cheek. “Are you going to be okay with all this?”
“I will be fine with it,” she said simply as she leaned her head to his shoulder before admitting, “I will love you always, Janos, and once you have fattened me up nicely we will finish the rest of it.”