Rock Wedding (Rock Kiss #4) - Nalini Singh Page 0,92

want to beg for mercy. And her face, it glowed with happiness.

“Enough,” she said after three songs, her breath coming in pants and a delighted heat on her skin. “The pancakes will get cold.” Rising on her toes, she pressed her lips to his. “Let’s eat.”

It turned out she’d already made the bacon as well. He went to the fridge, pulled out a carton of the fresh blueberries they’d bought together, put a small bowl by her plate—after washing them. Who knew what chemicals were on the fruit?

“I know.” Sarah laughed. “Vitamins and shit.”

The word “shit” sounded so incongruous coming from Sarah’s lips. “Exactly.” Popping a few blueberries into his mouth, Abe took his seat.

Then they had an ordinary, everyday breakfast together, neither one of them having anything major planned that day. Sarah was all caught up on her business paperwork, and since she was now successful enough not to have to cover absences herself, she could afford to take time off when she needed it. The only thing that might require her attention was if she got a call from a current or prospective client—she dealt with all those herself.

Abe, too, was free, he and the guys having decided to take a break with their songwriting sessions for the new record.

Midway through breakfast, Sarah admitted she was craving a hot chocolate, so Abe got up and made her one. He’d seen the good-quality dark chocolate she had in her pantry, and he was able to jury-rig a double boiler to melt it just right. He even knew how to use the handheld frother she had in her cutlery drawer.

Her eyes, which had widened when he reached for the block of chocolate rather than the mix she’d tried to point him toward, turned as huge as saucers when he put his creation in front of her, the delicately frothed top dusted with chocolate.

Taking a little sip, she sighed that dreamy little sigh he usually only ever heard in bed. His cock jumped. Ordering the damn excited thing to settle down, Abe retook his seat and enjoyed his wife’s bone-deep pleasure.

Another sip, her eyes closing for two long seconds before she lifted her lashes again. “When did you become a barista?” Her voice was husky, her pupils dilated. “This is the best hot chocolate I’ve ever had.”

“It’s my one and only specialty.” A wave of memories as bittersweet as dark chocolate. “Tessie loved hot chocolate, so I learned to make them. Otherwise, she’d have me going out at the crack of dawn to buy a ‘real hot chocolate with foofs.’” He indicated the frothed milk to explain the last.

Sarah’s expression went soft, her dark eyes liquid. “You did that for her?”

“Yeah. She was my baby sister, you know?” So small and always so excited to spend time with him. “I was her hero.” It came out harsh. “She looked at me that way right to the end, even when I couldn’t keep her safe, even when the pain was agonizing.” Eyes hot, he stared at the table. “Some damn hero.”

CHAPTER 31

“YOU WERE THERE FOR HER.” Putting down her drink, Sarah reached across the table to tangle her fingers with his. “Her big brother loved her and she knew.” Voice thick, she said, “That’s what matters.”

Abe thought of the games he’d played with Tessie while she lay in a hospital bed, her tiny body ravaged by disease, and wished Sarah could’ve seen her sparkly smile, the way she had of laughing so infectiously. “She was a character,” he said, wanting… needing Sarah to see Tessie as he’d seen her.

“One time, when she was five, I made her a hot chocolate but forgot to froth the milk.” An unexpected smile curved over his lips, his sister’s infectious laughter a faraway echo in his mind. “She gave this big sigh and said, ‘Abam’—that’s what she called me, after hearing Mom say Abraham one day. Anyway, Tessie does a dramatic sigh and says, ‘Abam, this is atrocious.’”

Startled laughter from Sarah, the sound wrapping him in countless fragile chains he had no desire to escape. “How did she even know the word?”

“I have an aunt who uses it.” Abe found himself grinning. “That summer, it was Tessie’s favorite word. Everything was atrocious—the hard thing was not encouraging her to use it. She just sounded so damn cute being all prim and proper. Like a disappointed little schoolteacher.”

He found his phone, scrolled to the folder he kept on it of his favorite photos of his baby sister.