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Nat nodded. “For a few hours, yes. I can’t exactly work front of house looking like this, but I can still do the books. Which, for once, are showing black ink instead of red ink.”
“It’s the lava cake,” Emiel said with certainty. “My lava cake saved your restaurant.”
Nat ducked his head, a half-smile tugging at his sensual lips. Had I ever seen him smile before? Christ—Ihadn’t, had I.
I gave myself a sharp, internal shake. Because I should not be staring at the unbruised side of Nat Bell’s face while thinking what an attractive smile he had. Goddamn it, this was exactly why having him here in the house was a terrible idea.
“The lava cake definitely isn’t hurting our bottom line,” he agreed, before turning his full attention back on me. “Byron, I’m really glad you’re out of the hospital. And I’m aware what an uncomfortable situation this must be for you. I’m guessing you probably want to rest today—but when you’re ready, I think you and I need to have a talk with Mia.”
I couldn’t help the way my eyes slid closed, but in the aftermath of, well,everything, it felt like all the fight had gone out of me.
“Yeah,” I said on a sigh. “I guess we probably do.”
FORTY-FIVE
Mia
MY BOYS WERE HOME SAFE, and I was having trouble trusting that it was finally okay to let go. I’d been so tense for so long... my omega nervous system had laid down tracks that were proving difficult to escape.
I’d find myself arriving at the restaurant to open it up for lunch, and having a moment of full-blown internal panic that we were about to lose the business. Then I’d remember that the reopening had been a smashing success, and money was rolling in night after night.
I’d send the employees home at the end of the shift, only to get hit with an adrenaline surge because Nat was missing... but Nat was hiding in the back office running payroll numbers, because he didn’t want people to see his bruised face.
I’d get back to the pack house, and my heart would start racing when I thought about Luca’s old gang trying to steal him back—but Blake Berlusconi was dead, his refrigerated body lying in a hospital morgue somewhere.
It took me too long to realize that my mind was running in familiar ruts as a way to avoid thinking about the future. Because all of the sudden, that nebulous future felt disturbinglyimminent. It was awfully hard to procrastinate dealing with my ruptured marriage when my husband was living under the sameroof as the various guys I’d been sleeping with. How on earth were the six of us supposed to mold this situation into something that wouldn’t become a total clusterfuck?
Emiel had picked Byron up from the hospital while I was at work this afternoon. Unsurprisingly, Byron was fast asleep in his room by the time Nat and I got home after closing the restaurant for the night.
“I told him the three of us needed to talk soon,” Nat said quietly. “Although, thinking about it, maybe it should be thefourof us. It’s pretty clear he and Luca have something complicated going on.”
And at least now, I had a valid excuse for the way my pulse pounded fast and thready in my throat.
“Yeah,” I agreed breezily. “Sure. I suppose we should do that one of these days. When he’s, y’know, feeling better.”
I cringed internally at how pathetic and wishy-washy that had sounded. Before I could make things any worse by opening my mouth again, I darted forward and brushed a chaste kiss to the unbruised side of Nat’s face. Then I hurried off to the second-floor bathroom without giving him time to respond.
The addition of a sixth person had strained the capacity of even Zalen’s giant house. Nat had offered to crash on a sofa or even in the utilitarian basement, but I’d given him the guest bedroom instead. I was sleeping in Luca’s nest with him, since both of us needed the physical reassurance in the aftermath of the kidnapping.
When I changed into sleep clothes and slipped into Luca’s room, it was to find him still awake. That part wasn’t unusual—he’d always been prone to insomnia. But finding Emiel hanging out in the nest with himwas.
“Hey,” Emiel said. “Sorry. Bit of a rough night. I’m just keepin’ him company.”
Luca made a wordless noise of agreement. He was curled up in one of his beanbag chairs looking pale and wan in the dim illumination from the fairy lights. His shoulder had improved enough to ditch the sling, but he still had good days and not-so-good days after what had almost been done to him in that warehouse.