Page 112 of The Love Destroyers

He presses a kiss to the top of my head. “Goddamn, it really does smell good.”

I kiss him again and again. Small, sweet kisses that he returns, his eyes barely open but a smile on his lips.

He needs to rest, so I snuggle in close to him. But I have to ask…

“What happened when you tripped Jeffrey?”

“He fired me,” he says, a rumble of laughter shaking his chest, followed by a wince.

“I wish I’d seen it.”

“You may have your wish. Ellie likes to record everything.”

“We haven’t found anything useful on her phone,” I say, snuggling closer, shifting so I can feel the rasp of his unshaved chin against my cheek. “I’ve been looking all day.”

“It may be buried beneath five thousand latte art videos, but you’ll find it. If not, we’ll look somewhere else. I’m not going to rest until we take him down.” He shifts closer with a contented sigh. “I can’t believe you’re here right now. Is it four years from yesterday?”

“We barely lasted four hours,” I say, feeling like that pool of melted butter. Not caring. My phone buzzes in my pocket, but I ignore it.

“It felt like four years,” he says, turning slightly to press his lips to the side of my face.

“It did,” I agree, emotion clogging my throat. “I’m afraid you’ll feel differently when you wake up.”

“I won’t,” he says, shifting and then groaning from pain. I still him with my hand and reposition myself so I’m facing him. “I won’t,” he repeats. “Nicole thinks I’m obsessed with you because she was tracking my internet search history.”

This doesn’t surprise me. Nicole is a woman completely without scruples. It does, however, please me.

“And you were looking me up?”

“Incessantly. And I may have downloaded a couple of Rosie’s Facebook photos of you onto my desktop.”

“I looked you up too,” I admit. “And your uncle.”

His expression shutters. “Yeah, you’ve met Uncle Rory.”

I nod. “I’d like to know more.”

His fingers move across my back again, tracing patterns. “You will. With your witchy ways, I expect you get everything you want.”

We’re quiet for a few minutes, and I notice his eyes drooping and getting a far-off look. He’s fading out, and I should let him. He needs rest.

But I need the truth—a truth he might not tell me if he’s fully cognizant.

“What is it you told your brother and sister, Seamus? What made you so upset?”

He doesn’t pause. I feel guilty for half a moment, because he’s not all there. He’s in a place between sleep and wakefulness where the world is hazy. I watch his Adam’s apple as he swallows nothing. And then he says it…

“I had to kill a man to keep us safe.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

SEAMUS

It’s dark outside when I wake up, disoriented and with a headache. I reach for her, but she’s not there, and panic flares inside of me.

Not again.

My mind plays catch-up, and I try to remember everything that happened before I fell asleep. Emma coming over. Emma kissing me, thank fuck. Emma asking me about what I’d done.

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