Page 112 of Our Radiant Embers

“Hard?” I gave a significant shimmy of my hips underneath him, and his breathy laugh against my lips was everything.

“Should have told them half an hour,” he grumbled, more to himself. My grin widened and turned real.

“Baby, I’m worth at least forty-five minutes of your time.”

Something passed over his face, gone within a fragment of a second, before he shot me a cheesy smile. “Honey, you’re worth forever.”

Joking. Just joking.

I sent a hot thread of magic down his spine and could feel its bumps like a ghost impression in my mind. His lips parted, his entire focus on me. It was addicting.

“Words are cheap,” I told him. “How about you show me?”

I should have known he’d rise to the challenge.

He crushed our lips together—no gentle buildup, just moved right in to claim my mouth for a bruising kiss that left me dizzy, his stubble scraping over my chin, heat dripping down the back of my neck. And wait, wait.

“Are you…?” I began. Liam swallowed any further words before they could form. Our tongues slid together as another curl of his magic moved up the inside of my thigh, a brush of warm air on my skin. This time, I couldn’t stifle a half-choked gasp.

“I know.” He shaped the words against my lips, a smile swinging in them. “That’s exactly what it feels like for me, too. Thought it’s only fair I give you a taste.”

“Quick study,” I managed, my arms wrapped around his back. Focus. I was about to counter with a zig-zagging trail of heat from his navel down, reaching for my magic?—

A sharp rap of knuckles on the door made us freeze.

“Do you have a boy in there?” Laurie asked loudly, her laugh tucked just out of sight. “Also—hi, Adam!”

Liam sighed against my throat before he raised his head to yell, “Piss off!”

“Muuum!” Laurie drew the word out to a cartoonish extent. “Liam’s being mean to me!”

“Sometimes,” Liam told me, “I wonder if she’s adopted.”

“I heard that!” Laurie called.

“You were meant to,” he called back.

She rapped on the door again, then began rattling the handle for added effect. With the mood effectively broken, I kissed Liam’s cheek before I gently shoved him off me. “All right, time’s up.”

“I guess it is.” Propped up on his elbows, he watched me for a beat as his expression melted into something achingly gentle that made me swallow and look away. I rolled out from under him, sat up, and swung my legs over the edge of the bed.Liam stroked my cheek in passing, and I leaned into it without thinking. It was…

Fine. It was fine. We were fine.

Breathe.

I got up from the bed and followed Liam to the door. Laurie was waiting out in the hallway, her smirk hinting that she was well aware she’d interrupted us.

I could just see the quibbles they’d had when they’d been younger, poking and prodding at each other, mostly in good fun. It was different from how I’d grown up. Gale and I hadn’t done much quibbling—that kind of behaviour was unbecoming for a Harrington. I’d been groomed as the heir from an early age while he’d learned to fade into the background, and it was only once we’d grown a bit older, the five-year age gap less meaningful, that we’d begun leaning on each other.

The rest of Liam’s family was already gathered in the kitchen when we arrived. They seemed pleased yet unsurprised at my presence, and come to think of it, I’d spent so many hours here that I’d just about become part of the scenery. At first it had been just to help with prototypes, but then I’d started making coffees for everyone, staying for the occasional dinner…And they knew about Liam and me, of course, because he’d probably told them as soon as he’d walked in after our weekend together.

“You called for a family council?” Jack asked Liam. “What gives?”

Liam sat down at the kitchen table, pulling me down onto the bench next to him, before he replied. “I’ve got some news. Or”—he glanced at me—“we do, I guess.”

“Oh my God!” Laurie gave a dramatic gasp. “You’re getting married!”

“Serious news,” Liam cut in before Jack had a chance to jump on the bandwagon and ride the joke down the hill. “It’s about the other night. Like, our ancestry.”

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