Page 66 of Moonlight Hearts

“Ah.”

“You woke me up.”I kissed his chest.“Thanks for doing that.”

“I won’t lie to you, I was debating with myself whether I should.”

I sat up and stretched.“Well, you made the right decision.Are you staying in bed?”

He rubbed his eyes.“Not by myself.There’s nothing worse than spending hours upon hours in bed by yourself, only the sun and moon and stars for company.”

“What a weird thing to say.Uh, should I shower?Do you think I need to shower?”

He patted my arm.“Don’t.I like to know that people can scent me on you.”

I cackled.“You know how you looked at the vampire romance novels I still have in that box in the walk-in?In one of them, one of the vampires would mark his human by giving him his blood, and I think it was called scent marking or something.”

His face was hidden in my shadow, but I was pretty sure I saw him raise his brow at me.“Your point being?”

I shrugged.“I don’t have a point.Why would I have a point?Oh, did you think I was saying you sounded like thatvampirefrom one of my books?”

“Call me a vampire all you want.I still think it’s nice that people whose noses are that sensitive can smell me on you.Ask Elias if he smells of soap to a werewolf.”

“Ew.That’s not something you ask your friend, Soyer.I’ll go brush my teeth and get changed.”

“I’m already regretting it, but I’m not stopping you.”

“Because you’re a good, supportive fiancé.”I got out of bed.Yes, it was dark, but I was still naked, and I had a feeling Soyer could see enough of me to make me blush.

Except as I walked from the bed to grab my uniform from the next room and from there to the bathroom, the sliding screen walls open so Soyer could watch me all the way, I didn’t blush, not once.I was learning that I didn’t need all the embarrassment, and I liked how I felt instead: good about myself.More like myself.Desired by Soyer.

I was almost late for my shift.Ben had been waiting for me downstairs in the foyer, and I felt bad about keeping him waiting, but he’d been chatting with Jules from the looks of it.We’d hurried through the snow, which looked like it was going to stay this time around, neither of us talking much as our breaths fogged in the air.

On the subway, I pulled out my phone, given that Ben was standing guard in front of the seat I was sitting in and making absolutely sure no one was going to disturb me.I texted Rae to let them know I might be running late.

Wow, you text!And you’re late!!

I’ll mark the calendar.??

They’d texted back within moments.I frowned at my screen.

“Uh, sir?”

I looked up from my phone with a sigh.“Seriously, what will it take for you to use my name, Ben?”

His brow furrowed, and I immediately felt bad for snapping at him.

“Uh, Amory.I wanted to say thank you for the Thanksgiving invitation.Ant is excited.We both are.”

“You’re welcome.I know it’s almost last minute, so no matter what Elias told you, you don’t have to feel any pressure to come or stay till the end.It’s really just… I thought it would be nice to do something together.Other than, you know, this.”

He bobbed his head.“Work.”

“I guess.Other than work.”

“Well, we don’t really celebrate, though Ant’s pretty…culturally human, he calls it.”

“Oh.Wait, is—” I cleared my throat, then continued in a whisper.“Is that just you?Or do people generally not celebrate?”

Ben considered that, which was fascinating in and of itself and made so many other questions pop into my head about what holidays pawns and cursedwereconsistently celebrating, if any.