Dealers' Choice - Susan Hayes Page 0,70
they’d see it done. Family was important, and he’d like to meet the beings who had raised the female he fallen in love with.
Love. Even now he’d said the words, it was still a surprise to him. After he’d been freed, he wasn’t sure he would ever be capable of feeling that kind of emotion for anyone, not even his family. But he was. Xori had helped him with that. She’d believed in him even when he’d been certain he had no future at all, never mind one that included her. She’d given it all back to him. First she’d helped him reconnect with his family, then with friends who had become family. And now there was Xori, the female he wanted to create a family with.
Her hug turned into a kiss that dragged him out of his thoughts and into a reality where he was naked and tangled up with the most beautiful female in creation. He rolled them over so she was pinned beneath him, making the bed creak in protest.
“What kind of paperwork do you think I’ll have to fill out if we break this bed tonight?”
“Let’s try not to find out. Archer’s still grumpier than a Nantari rhino with a toothache over the fact we didn’t wait for Rossi and his team like we promised.”
She laughed and raised her head to kiss him lightly. “He’ll get over it. He’s spent enough time around the Nova Club cyborgs to know that was never going to happen. None of you would ever stand by and wait while someone you cared for was in trouble.”
“Never,” he agreed. “And apparently, neither would you. When I saw you charging the guy about to shoot us…”
“I was protecting the beings I care about.” She touched his cheek softly. “Because I knew that if I didn’t do something, I’d lose you.”
“Vic told me you’d said that. I didn’t realize you knew.”
“Despite everything I did to help you, you were still convinced you weren’t worthy. Not of a good life, or happiness, or love. You kept finding ways to punish yourself. It hurt my heart to see you do that to yourself, and I was frustrated I couldn’t seem to reach you.”
He turned to kiss her fingers. “I think we can safely say your message got through. I’m done with all that.”
She smiled at him, her eyes softening. “I hope so. But if you’re not, if you ever feel doubts, I can help you see all the ways you’re worthy.”
“That’s what I wanted to ask you. I want you to do that thing again.”
She frowned slightly. “You want me to take away the darkness again? Are you sure?”
It was his turn to smile. “No, love. There’s no need to take it away. I want you to see for yourself that it isn’t there anymore.”
Her frown vanished, and she lay her hand gently on his cheek. “I have your permission?”
“Always.”
He felt her connect with him. It was subtle, but he sensed her energy around him, and he realized it was familiar. It was the same feeling he’d had on the Enigma, when he’d known she was there even before he’d seen her dash through the doors, and before that, when they’d been pacing the deck of the Faerie Queene. Later, he’d have to ask her about that. How had they been able to sense her when she was the empathic one?
She uttered a soft sigh. “It’s gone. How?”
“You’re, my shining star, Xori Virness. You drove away the darkness with your light.”
There were tears shimmering in her silver eyes as she stared up at him. “That is the most beautiful thing anyone has ever said to me.”
He grinned and leaned in to kiss her, but stopped a hairsbreadth from her lips to whisper. “I’m sending a copy of this conversation to Vic right now. Got anything you’d like to add, apart from the fact that I’m clearly your favorite?”
She laughed and nodded. “Fox, wherever you are, whatever you’re doing, I want you to drop it and get over here. I miss you.”
Ward copied the memory and sent it to his brother without further comment.
“Five minutes,” Vic responded only a few seconds later. “And when the hell did you learn to be that charming?”
“I was made like this. Pure perfection. They must have forgotten to upload that part of your program.”
“Vic is on his way. If you need anything, food, a drink, or a pain-blocker, now’s your chance, because once we let him in, we’ve got plans