gesturing for her to go up ahead of me, following her up with an ache that grew worse with every step.
“Kais.”
“I’m good. Gonna crash like I haven’t in...well, you know. Thanks, Deyva.”
We stood at the top of the stairs and her eyebrow arched with an uncanny awareness. “Oh, sure, honey. No problem,” she said tartly.
I grimaced and hurried to my own room, ignoring the annoyed huff of her breath behind me, the creak of Stavros' bedroom door.
My room was cold. I mean, partly it was cold because I’d left a window open. But also I was suddenly wishing that I’d just stayed on that mat, sweating and panting with Deyva collapsed against my chest. Fuck if anyone showed up early for training. They could just deal.
I stripped out of my sweatpants, debating on a shower and then discarding the idea quickly. I smelled like Deyva, all dry and sweet and spiced. My sheets were cold, my back still ached from all the work of the day and the drag of Deyva’s nails. Exhaustion was lingering at the edges, but it came with a sour aftertaste. I would wake up by myself. Whatever had just happened in the gym—they call that fucking, I reminded myself—might’ve just been a momentary thing?
I squeezed my eyes shut, suddenly eager for sleep to swallow me up for once, at least giving me relief from my spinning thoughts.
And then my door opened.
“You stupid, restrained, bastard,” Deyva said fondly, walking over to my bed and flipping my sheets back. She was wearing Stavros’ shirt and nothing else and she landed heavily at my side as I gaped at her. “You really thought I was gonna wrestle-fuck you and peace out?”
“But Stav and—”
“I mean, they’re my boyfriends,” Deyva said, eyes wide and innocent as she nestled closer and set her head down on the pillow next to me. “I have to keep them in the loop, right? But they know how I feel about you, and they can entertain themselves for the night.”
I laughed at the waggle of her eyebrows, rolling to face her, reaching under the covers to pull her closer.
“Oh now you wanna cuddle, huh? Mr. ‘Thanks-for-the-Fuck.’”
“Hey, you deserved that thanks,” I said, fighting my grin. “You did real good.”
“Fuck all the way off. Right off the other side. I’m serious,” Deyva said, wiggling and pushing at my chest as I wrapped her up in my arms until I had her as close as I could hold her. She sighed and settled, kissing my throat. “I’ll sort out the sleeping arrangements, but you can just get your ass used to me, alright?”
I nestled down into the top of her head, her horns framing my temples, hair ruffling with my breath. Already I could feel the drowsy weight of pleasure returning, loosening all the tension I’d been carrying around for who knows how long.
“I have nightmares,” I warned her.
“Mm. Then I’ll eat them,” she said.
I fell asleep with a goofy smile on my face.
26
More Blessed to Give
Stavros
“Breaker is fixed,” I said, joining Zach in the kitchen, shaking the leaves off my boots to the mat and hanging my jacket up.
He smiled at me and flicked the stove on, setting down a pot of stew to warm. “Worth it to warm up the loaf in the oven?”
I hummed and shook my head. There would be new loaves baked tomorrow to share with the town, but for now we had only had the remnants of last week’s and it was getting pretty stale. “Probably better just let it sit in the broth to soften up. We haven’t had much sun or wind lately and I think Bethel’s power is low.”
Zach turned away from the stove, immediately grinning at me and moving closer. He was just a little bit taller than me, but slimmer too, and I hesitated over the impulse to press him up against the wall just to enjoy the way he fit against me.
The door opened, and we both swung around eagerly, hoping for Deyva to walk through. Instead, it was Kais, a little sweaty still from training.
“Water?”
“Cold,” Zach said, shrugging.
Kais frowned, but nodded and then looked past us to the stove. Zach and I were only a few inches apart and it never failed to surprise me the way Kais took the shift in our relationship in stride. The most we’d gotten out of him in response had been an arch of his eyebrows and a nod of his head, and he never looked surprised or