around me and pulled out my chair. I sank into the seat and tipped my head to smile back at him. He surprised me by leaning in close and inhaling deeply near my ear.
“Did you lie to me, Hannah?”
My stomach dove to my toes. Yet, my pulse raced and my breathing quickened with a thrill of anticipation. I was a little twisted when it came to how I responded to Merdon.
“About what?” I breathed.
“When you said you needed time to prepare for tonight, you knew what I thought.” His hands settled on my shoulders, and his lips brushed the side of my neck, showing me what he meant, just in case I was completely clueless. I wasn’t.
The entire duration of the three-hour drive home, Merdon had continually glanced at me through the truck window. Given what I’d suggested before we’d left the farm, I’d known what was on his mind. He’d been planning exactly how he would make me smell like him instead of Garrett. But my mind had gone a slightly different direction.
“You disappeared while I was showering, Hannah. What am I supposed to think about that?” The low rumble of his voice continued to wreak havoc on my pulse and breathing.
His fingers flexed on my shoulders.
“Was I too rough with you last night?” His nose brushed against the shell of my ear, and I shivered. “Was I not rough enough?”
James cleared his throat loudly.
“I’ll let Ma know to hurry up the meal.”
I blushed as he hurried toward the kitchen and waited for the door to close before I looked up at Merdon.
“Behave, Merdon,” I said, using the same warning tone that he’d used on me countless times. I knew it wouldn’t be enough to get him to sit, though. “I wanted to make tonight special for you. Give me a chance to show you I’m not the Hannah I was last time we tried this. Please.”
He released my shoulders and cupped my chin.
“I already know who you are.”
“Let me guess. I’m yours?”
He grunted then claimed my lips in an aggressive kiss.
“Behave, my Hannah,” he said when he finally released me.
I blinked stupidly at him, panting for air while struggling to form a coherent thought that wasn’t centered around us getting sweaty. The corners of his mouth tilted as he took his seat across from me. He knew exactly what he’d done to me and waited in anticipation for how I’d react.
Reaching out, I plucked up the cards I had waiting on the table.
“First question,” I said. “What’s your favorite color?”
“Yellow.” He leaned across the table and tugged one of my curls.
My heart melted a little.
“What’s your favorite color?”
“Grey.”
He grinned and settled back into his seat.
“Next question. What’s your favorite food?”
“Pus—”
“Food’s here!” Emily said, popping out of the kitchen with two bowls. She set them down and stole the cards from my hand.
“For Mary’s sake, maybe you should wing it.”
I snorted a laugh as Emily rushed back into the kitchen. When I faced Merdon again, I found him watching me closely.
“I see what’s inside of you.”
“And what’s that?”
“Life.”
I smiled and reached across the table for his hand.
“Thank you for never giving up on me.”
He squeezed my fingers in return.
I leaned against the fence, momentarily distracted from my search by the new animals and the progress the fey had made overnight. The pigs roamed their own pen that had a separate entrance to the shed the fey had erected. Not only would the building keep the pigs warm, but they’d even added roosts in case we found chickens. The horses had stalls. As pretty as they were to look at, I knew better than to get too close. They were still skittish, and I could only imagine what they’d gone through before we’d shown up.
It was the birds that really fascinated me, though.
A fey had found them nested in the loft of the barn where they had been trapped when the hellhound had arrived. They weren’t domesticated but wild. The first wild animals I’d seen since before the earthquakes.
“I thought you would sleep later.”
I tore my gaze from the animals and watched Merdon close the distance between us.
“I might have if you’d been in bed too. The girls told me that they barely left their houses the first few days after they gave the green light to their guys. Why’d you leave?”
He looked out over the animals.
“I have no memory of a horse or a pig. They are interesting.”
“They are. I like the birds best, though. I haven’t seen any