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‘You wanna keep lying to yourself, goddess?’ he teased, and my anxiety eased a fraction at the return of the pet name. It gave me hope that I wasn’t too late to fix this.

‘I’m with you, Chance.You, not him.’

His arms wrapped around my shoulders, and he pulled me to him. I went willingly, snaking my own arms around his trim waist and clinging to him like he might disappear if I let go. It was a real possibility.

‘I’m not letting you go, Kali,’ he spoke into my hair. ‘Whatever that was all about with him, I don’t think he’s letting you go either.’

I huffed into his chest. ‘That’s not really how these things work,’ I mumbled, my voice muffled by his muscles.

He chuckled. ‘We’re dead, goddess. I doubt we have to follow the same rules as when we were alive.’

I pulled back to look up at him, a frown scrunching my forehead. ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’

‘It means we make our own rules now. I’m not going anywhere. Even if you decide you don’t want me anymore, you’re stuck with me. You have always been my forever, Kali. Ican’tgive you up.’

Tears stung my eyes and spilled over without my permission. He bent down to press his lips against my cheeks, kissing them away.

‘I’m not giving you up either, Chance. I love you.’

His smile, though small, was so bright I felt it might set me on fire. ‘I love you, too.’

‘Good,’ I sniffed.

I felt it all the way down to my toes when he pressed a kiss to my forehead, and the sensation brought attention to the fact that I was still very much naked. And so was Chance. I pulled away, enjoying the sight while amusement bubbled up inside of me. He arched a brow when a giggle escaped.

‘What?’

My response was to drag my finger down his abs, circle the base of his cock, then reach under to cup his balls. He moanedwhen I gave them a gentle squeeze, grinding himself into my palm.

‘We’re still naked.’

He hummed in agreement.

‘We got caught.’

Another hum.

I pulled my hand away since he didn’t seem capable of forming sentences when I played with him, and he groaned in protest. ‘No. Don’t stop.’

I grinned against his firm pecs, pressed a kiss to his perked nipple, then pulled away. ‘Morty caught us in the act, and then stirred up drama while we werenaked, Chance. And he didn’t even bat an eye.’

He rolled his lips into his mouth and gave me a look that told me I was a bit slow to catch on. ‘He was hard the entire time, Kali. He liked what he saw and told us as much.’

I felt the muscles in my face twist in confusion. ‘What?’

He laughed then, loud and boisterous, in a way he hadn’t since we were kids, and I couldn’t help but beam back. ‘How can you be so clueless?’

‘Hey!’ I smacked at his impressively large bicep, enjoying the sting. I wondered then just how much he could feel. I hadn’t been able to feel anything until Bianca, yet he seemed to be worlds ahead of me in terms of this whole ghost business. He was a natural.

Grinning, he captured my hand in his and brought it up to my lips to kiss my knuckles. His lips lingered, soft and cool, and I melted at the gentlemanly gesture. That was one thing he had that Blake never did, and it turned my stomach in knots.

‘Kali, I’m pretty sure you have two boyfriends now, and neither one of us is planning on giving you up to the other.’

I blinked at him, my jaw dropping to my chest. ‘What?’

He chuckled again, enjoying my dumbfoundedness. ‘You know, I’m not completely sold on him, but if you saw something worthwhile in him enough to fuck him, then I’m sure there could be worse brother-husbands out there.’

‘B-brother-husband?’ I stammered, then shook myself out of the stupor. ‘We’re not married.’