Page 180 of Beyond the Blue Horizon

The upper-floor walls were made mostly of massive panes of glass that overlooked the crystalline lake that sat low in the valley in the distance.

A second-story porch with a staircase leading up to it faced this side of the building.

“We here?” Finn peeped from the backseat.

“Yep, this is it,” I told him, my voice shallow.

Theo pulled his motorcycle up on the left side of where I parked.

I inhaled a steadying breath as he swung off, but there was nothing steady about the way I felt when he ambled in our direction.

The intensity from last night had vanished, and that cool, wicked calm was back in full force.

A careless smirk hitched the edge of his mouth as he stared down at me through the driver’s side window while I just sat there like I’d become one with the seat. When I still hadn’t moved after five seconds, he unlatched it for me, and he slung an arm onto the top of the roof as he inclined down to peer inside.

“You coming, or do I have to carry you?” Amusement filled the coarse words. Like he hadn’t bared himself to me the way he had last night. Like he hadn’t left me reeling in uncertainty when he walked out the door.

“Feo!” Finn shouted, kicking his feet. “You comepway, too? You cancawyme.”

A low chuckle skated out of Theo and slipped over me like a caress.

Affection and warmth.

“Sure am, little man. What do you think about that?”

“IwikemyFeocome,” Finn drawled out.

That easiness faded for a flash, and I could so clearly see the impact of what Finn called him ripple along the strong line of his jaw.

“I like being here, too, little man,” he said.

His gaze dipped to me for a beat.

A dark night kissed in glinting moonlight.

“Get me!” Finn squirmed as he pressed his chest against his restraints.

Theo seemed to have to tear himself from the chains that held us, then that easiness resurfaced as he stepped back to Finn’s door so he could unbuckle my son. His movements were sure as he pulled him out and into his arms, and he grabbed his owl backpack from the floor and slung it over his shoulder.

Emotion swelled from the depths.

God. He looked so good with my son in his arms, backed by the blue horizon that felt so close but just out of reach.

“Oh, my heart. Is that our Little Finn?”

The voice coming from above jerked my attention upward to Raven. She stood out on the upper patio, and she clung to the metal railing as she grinned down at us.

The front part of her black hair was twisted up with a bunch of dainty white flowers tucked into the knot, and she wore thislong, fuzzy black coat that she had wrapped around herself like a blanket and went all the way to her feet.

Lips painted red and face full of mischief.

From where she stood, she looked like some kind of dazzling, reigning queen gazing down on her kingdom.

Theo turned with my son hooked on his hip, and Finn’s hand shot for the sky. “I is Finn.”

Raven’s low but tinkling laughter rolled through the air. “Well, I am Raven, and I have been so excited to meet you.”

Reaching over the console, I grabbed the bowl of potato salad I had nestled on the front passenger seat then coerced myself into climbing out of the car.