Where Winter Finds You (Black Dagger Brotherhood #18)- J.R Ward Page 0,110

thinking of him as. And she and her mahmen had FaceTimed a lot.

After which, she had come home to this wonderful little house.

To her mate.

She looked down at the little box and marveled at Fate.

During the fire, something had happened, something that had shifted her internally—and her new perspective was not just the result of her appreciating life so much more after such a close brush with death. No, whatever it was went even deeper than that. She had an awareness of some other part of herself, something that had always been, she now recognized, just under her surface. Not a separate identity, no. It was more… like a prism of her identity, another facet that enhanced the colors she saw and the people she now knew—especially Trez.

She was just… utterly at peace with him. As if some kind of answer had been given to her. And Trez felt the same.

Somehow, the discord, the strife, the confusion about who she was to him and who he was to her had all washed away. And anytime her mind was tempted to return to the angst, the warmth in her soul, her happiness, shooed away any doubts. All she knew, all she needed to know, was that she was exactly where she needed to be.

With exactly who she needed to be with.

Trez was likewise. As her discharge from the Brotherhood’s clinic had approached, the two of them had talked things out and decided that they would take things slowly. And then they had promptly moved in here together as soon as she was released from that hospital.

They had never looked back.

It was as if they had always lived together. And always would.

“What did you do, Trez,” she murmured as she took off the wrapping paper.

Yes, it was indeed a jewelry box. A little blue velvet jewelry box.

Opening the lid, she gasped. Inside, was a gold pendant… of an angel with diamond wings.

“I figure since we’re believers and all.”

She looked up at Trez, who had settled in the doorway. “You shouldn’t have.”

“But I will, anytime I like.” He smiled as he came forward and took the chain the charm was on out of the packing. Hanging the angel around her neck, he smiled at her reflection in the mirror. “Besides, it’s not like a huge rock or anything.”

“I do not want one of those. I told you.”

“I’m getting you one anyway.”

“But I’m going back for my PhD in another three weeks. That’s expensive.” When he just cocked an eyebrow at her, she laughed, held the pendant out, and looked at the angel. “Where did you get this?”

“Little shop downtown in the financial district. They have a lot of engagement rings there. Maybe we should go look—”

Therese turned away from the mirror and put her arms around his neck. “Kiss me?”

“Are you trying to distract me? Because it’s working.”

Even though they had guests coming in less than an hour, his talented hands found her skin under the towel, and she promptly forgot about all the reasons she needed to rush to get ready.

Besides, this could be the last time they were alone-alone in the house.

She eased back. “Are you sure you want my whole family to move in with us?”

“We have two bedrooms downstairs. And besides, your mahmen needs to be close to Havers’s.”

“You’re wonderful, you know that?”

“Yes, I do, but tell me again.”

Therese opened her mouth to say so, but he put her up on the counter and found his way in between her thighs. There was the sound of a zipper being lowered, and then she gasped.

Every time they made love, it was a revelation. New and fresh.

“I’m so happy,” she said as she arched into her male.

“Me, too,” he moaned as he began to thrust inside of her.

Moving together, her breasts against one of his perennial silk shirts, her thighs split wide around his hips, his bonding scent in her nose, she revisited the sense that a circle had been completed, and they were safe.

Together.

* * *

Everyone came to the NYE party in the house Trez was busy buying for Therese behind the scenes. All the Brothers. All the shellans. The fighters. Only the King and the Band of Bastards stayed back at the mansion for security purposes. But there was all kinds of FaceTiming going on, so no one felt left out.

Although thank God for the finished basement and the wide-screen TV, Trez thought as he got out the first of the champagne bottles from the fridge. Lassiter had insisted