“We’ll make new orgasm memories in a new bed,” he promised. “And in the showers, floors, and all the walls and tables.”

“Wow! You’ve really thought this through.”

Lowering his head, he kissed her lightly. “I am always thinking of ways to get inside you.”

She giggled and caressed the side of his face with gentle fingers. Her eyes searched his as her body stayed firmly closed around him. Killian did not mind. Being enclosed in her arms, her legs, her sex and lips was the only place he ever wanted to be again.

“How does it feel knowing you’ve tamed the wolf, little lamb?”

He expected her to laugh or tell him great. That she was done with the beast. But she kissed him softly and whispered, “I don’t want to tame him. I fell in love with him first.”

Chapter 36

As nerves went, hers were shot. Every second thrummed with a rigid anticipation that made her want to be sick. The late spring morning was bright with so much possibility it hurt to even look at. The breeze was cool as it whispered around them, encouraging or deterring, she wasn’t sure, but it danced through her unbound hair, sending the curtain across her face. She shoved the strands behind her ear and went back to cradling herself.

“It’ll be all right, love,” Killian whispered into the back of her head. His arms tightened around her from behind, compressing her already queasy stomach with his clasped hands. “Just a few more minutes.”

He’d been saying that for nearly an hour. She was beginning to think he didn’t know she could tell time. But she didn’t push. She let him hold her as they stood far below his home, hidden from view in a tucked away road surrounded by trees, watching as the sun rose over the top of his hill. It crashed into the walls of his home and pooled into the fountain of his mother. The whole thing made Juliette want to cry and it wasn’t even her house.

In the car, a non-descript two door Coupe in an unassuming white, Vi was peering up at the estate through the back window. Her face was set, but Juliette could just make out the tense lines around her mouth and the slight twitch as she nibbled on the inside of her lips. She hadn’t said a word since they loaded the car in the pre hours of butt crack dawn, other than to assure Juliette that she was fine. Juliette really wanted to believe her, because if she wasn’t, then it would be Juliette’s fault. She wasn’t entirely sure Vi even fully understood what was happening. What if she regretted it later and resented Juliette for tearing her away from the only home she’d ever known? The thought made her sick. They’d finally begun to make progress. They were finally as close as sisters were supposed to be. She honestly didn’t think she’d be able to handle it if the girl hated her.

“Vi—”

“If you ask me one more time if I’m okay, I will cut you,” Vi muttered, without taking her eyes off the hilltop.

“That isn’t what I was going to ask!” she protested, but the false cheer in her voice made her a liar. “Not only,” she amended.

“Uh huh.” Vi sighed. “How much longer now?”

“Five minutes,” Killian said, preoccupying himself by nipping lazily at the column of Juliette’s neck.

They couldn’t leave. At least, that was what Maraveet told them. They had to wait for the exact right moment, which seemed like it would never arrive. But that wasn’t even remotely the least odd command they’d been given as Maraveet shooed them away from the property and told them not to come back.

“Are you sure no one’s home?” she asked anxiously. “Did all the men leave last night when you told them to?”

“I watched them all leave,” Killian promised. “By the time they return, we’ll be gone.”

“What about Frank?”

“Frank left too. He wasn’t happy about it, but I told him I wanted the house to myself and he was to return the next morning.”

Juliette lifted her eyes up to his face. “He’s going to be devastated when he arrives and—”

“Frank’s smart. He’ll know and he’ll be okay. It’s time for him to retire anyway. Move to the Bahamas or something and find a girlfriend.”

“Does it have to be your house?” She sighed. “Mine is—”

The explosion ripped through the silence with a deafening boom that rocked the entire hill. Chunks of debris burst from the head of the great, crimson cloud and rained below. Black and red tangled together against the flawless blue in a war of fire and smoke clashing for dominance. Killian’s beautiful manor crumbled like a house of cards to the ground, leaving nothing but hungry flames to devour what was left.

Juliette cried out. Her hands flew to her mouth to stifle the rest. Killian’s arms tightened around her. His heart remained steady against her back even while hers raced. He nuzzled the side of her head with his face.

“Come,” he murmured into her ear. “Let’s go.”

“Maraveet … she was up there…”

“She’s long gone. Trust me.”

He pulled open her door and gently tucked her inside. He never even paused to glance back as he circled the hood and got behind the wheel. They set off without speaking a word as everything he had ever known burned in the rear view mirror.

It was hours and miles later as they abandoned the steel and glass of the city for the flat nothing of the country that Juliette finally turned to him.

“Are you okay?”

An aura of calm had settled over him. Halos of black still clung to the edges, faint, barely there at all, but there was actual peace in the lines of his body, serenity in the curves of his face. He looked so happy that her question felt stupid.

“Never been better.”

Something in his calm relaxed the weight settled on her chest. She relaxed in her seat and allowed herself to finally feel the excitement and relief of starting over, of leaving all her demons behind.

“So, any idea where we’re going?”

Eyes never leaving the road, one hand abandoned the wheel to reach across and clasp hers. It was drawn over and a kiss was brushed against the heel.

“I promised you Europe.”

Epilogue

Six years later…

“Dinner!”

Salty sea breeze wafted off the Mediterranean to wash her summons back in her face, dragging strands of hair with it to blind her as she squinted against the smudge of orange and red conjuring the heavens beyond the walls. Across the yard, the two figures sat unaware as the day melted into evening and their little corner of the world slowly settled. They sat in the heart of the garden they’d planted together, surrounded by an array of blossoms as the setting sun painted them in a soft, golden light. Seeing them never failed to make her heart miss a beat.

“Want me to get them, miss?” Aniela poked her head out through the open terrace doors, her gnarled hands twisted in a dishtowel. “The food is almost finished.”

Juliette shook her head. “It’s okay. I’ll get them. Thank you.”

Abandoning the patio, she picked her way down the steps and along the cobblestone path. Her slippers made no sound as she broke off and padded across the grass. Killian’s low murmurs greeted her before she even reached them.

“That’s how spring is made,” he was saying when she got close enough.

“Trolls?” Four year old Callum peered up at his father with big and dark eyes. Locks of unruly black tumbled across his small brow, shadowing the furrow of concern knitting his eyebrows together. “Can they get under my bed?”

“No,” Killian assured him. “That’s what the elves are there for. They make sure the trolls stay far away from the house.”

“I don’t like trolls,” Callum confessed.

Chuckling, Killian lowered his face and brushed a kiss to the top of their son’s head. “Don’t worry. I won’t let anything hurt you.”