Page 145 of Unveil

Orion crouches beside me, then bumps my shoulder and nods farther into the cabin.

“You remember how you took down that one Wilde? The darts to the leg?” He whistles. “Served him up on a platter for me to come in with the assist.”

“Yeah.” My laugh is watery, but it comes easy, like it always does with him. “We’re a good team.”

“That one was all you, reckless girl. You were quick on the draw with those darts. Almost like you already had it planned.” His eyes narrow. “I’ve wondered how many times you’d thought about doing that to me.”

I snort. “Too many. You really should’ve paid more attention around the girl who hated you.”

“Nah, you never hated me.” His lips twitch playfully. “You wanted to, sure. But you didn’t, did you?”

My mouth tugs up. “Well… Itried.”

“Thought so.” His grin makes butterflies flutter in my chest.

That’s the thing about Orion. That grin? It’s rare for everyone but me. I’m the carefree party girl, the free bird, the one everyone counts on for a good time. But I get to be quiet with him. He’s serious with everyone else,sofreaking serious. But with me, he laughs. He keeps me down-to-earth. I help him soar. We’re the perfect balance.

Benoit would’ve loved him for me.

My eyes drift back to the floor, and I exhale.

“You ready?” Orion rises slowly, still reverent for my fallen friend, and holds out his hand.

I take it without thought. My gaze lifts, pausing where we connect, then travels up to the gentle concern furrowing his brow.

I clear my dry throat. “I’m ready.”

He helps me stand and hooks an arm around my shoulders, leading me toward the lake.

As much as I don’t want to move on, we’ve done everything we can do by this point. I hate this holding pattern—God, I hate it—but I have to live. I would want that for them if they were in my shoes, so I know they’d want the same for me.

So I am ready. Ready to find happiness where and when I can, and that’s always been in the man who looks at me like I’m his whole world.

The one who’s now grinning like a fool, leaning up against a tree by the lake with the waterfall behind him.

“You said before we got here that you had something you wanted to tell me?” I frown, looking around to see if I can figure out his plan.

His lips purse before he looks from me to the tree and back again.

“Don’t you see… ah.” He snorts. Then he picks me up and twirls me, making me squeal and my dirt-speckled tennis skirt whirl around like a tutu. But at this height, I finally see it.

Black paint is slathered over the tree trunk, hiding the red that was underneath.

By the time he’s put me down, confusion creases my brow deep enough for my future Botox injector to have a conniption. Meanwhile, Orion looks pleased as hell.

“This is Fury land now?” I ask, pointing up.

“Not just that.” His lips quirk up. “It’s our land. Once my family claimed it, I bought it.”

My jaw drops. “Just like”—I snap my fingers—“that, huh?”

His smile turns predatory, and he stalks toward me in that way that makes me feel deliciouslylike prey.

“Just. Like. That.” His eyes darken. “I hope you realize by now, I’d do anything for you. Walk through fire. Jump off cliffs… give you back the place we fell in love. I couldn’t stop the bad that happened here, but I want us to relive the good, make new memories too. We haven’t had that feeling of ‘just us’ since we left. I wanted to give that back to you again.”

His intensity makes my heart swell and my lower belly throb with a tantalizing swirl of feeling cherished and desired all at once. I open my mouth to thank him, but a tree is suddenly at my back, and Orion’s hands brace on both sides of my head. His slow, deliberate steps had backed me into his trap without realizing.

I bite my lip because he looks positively feral—jaw tight, eyes dark, tanned biceps straining his T-shirt and inches from my face as he cages me in. Like giving me this gift has turned him on. That, combined with his hungry gaze, and I’m ready to climb him as if he’s the tree behind me.