Page 51 of April's Fool
I kissed his chest and snuggled closer. There was no way that Damon was getting out of this bed without spending some more time cuddling me! We needed a moment to just be.
“You know what I think it is?”
“No. What?”
“Something about Cody set off your protective instinct. Ever since you met him, you’ve been in protector mode. Always looking out for him, always putting yourself last.” I paused, trying to figure out what to say. “I guess you aren’t used to trusting anyone other than Parker to look after you. But here we are, my family, Toth, the shifters, even the witches and elves, are in your corner, making sure everything will be okay.”
Damon’s eyes closed as he willed a heavy emotion away. “Yeah,” he sighed. “I just need time to learn to trust it.”
“You know how you could start?”
He eyed me, a grin playing at his lips. “How?”
“By having a nap with me before we look over the plans.”
The smile broke out. “Okay,” he huffed.
I got my nap and my cuddles. My protective ex-hitman lover was sweeter than he first appeared, and I couldn’t love him more for it.
Re-Opening Night
Damon
Heatwave was ready forthe public by the end of March. It had taken a couple of weeks of hard labor to get it to the exacting standards Mori required for all his businesses.
The experience, renovating something, had opened my eyes to a more serious side of Mori. My boyfriend, lover, whatever, still charmed the pants off, figuratively, everyone he met, woman, man, and everything in between. To me, though, he was the same Mori I’d gotten to know at Toth’s castle. He gave me the chance to see all sides of him, not just the image he projected to the public. That Mori was very outgoing, made friends with all, was always there to help people. My Mori was determined, fiercely protective, loyal, stubborn and sometimes had a touch of sarcastic humor.
Mori had encouraged me to be a part of everything included in the renovations. He’d asked me my opinions about everything from wallpaper to flooring. When we weren’t discussing things with thedecorator, we were holding interviews for the staff who wanted to return, then for new staff to cover the slots left by unsuitable returning candidates. There were a lot of them, unfortunately.
Weeding out the alphaholes, betas with alphahole tendencies, and those who were easily influenced was mind-numbing yet essential work. No one wanted to allow situations to happen where an omega was forced into something when they couldn’t really consent. Heatwave had been closed when the former management had allowed an alpha who was stalking an omega to coerce the omega into passing some of their heat with him. The omega had escaped, thankfully with no long term added complications like a kid. I couldn’t imagine being that vulnerable and having to find strength from somewhere to get through it. I didn’t envy omegas at all.
All around us, the club had risen from the ashes of the previous incarnation into something beautiful, a sanctuary designed around omegas and their needs during their heats.
Some liked coming to the club to be the spectacle, so we had new viewing areas. Others liked the convenience of the club, with a choice of alphas and betas on staff. That part had changed little, except we were more sure of the intentions of the women and men that staffed the club.
Our biggest change was to use female staff more. The manager was a beta female, who I just knew would take no shit from the alpha males. We’d bonded over her mentions of enforcer training in another pack. She wasn’t a member of the Sweetwater pack, yet. Steph was new to the area, had the pass through rights, and was considering her options. I wanted to introduce her to Parker, just for him to have another shifter friend. Steph already had a mate, another beta, and a new member of our security team, Liam.
“Are you ready?” Mori asked, pulling me out of my thoughts.
I straightened my bow tie. We had gone all out for the opening night, gathering demons, witches, and shifters to the club to see all we had changed.
“Ready as I’ll ever be. I don’t know why you made me co-owner. I’m just a human. Not a very good one, either.”
“You are not just an anything. You are my Damon, the best human I know.”
“Mori, I’m a trained killer.” I raised a skeptical eyebrow at him, willing him to deny that fact.
“No, you’re an ex-hitman, my son’s best friend, brother to Parker, and the person I love most in the world.”
My heart caught in my throat. Over the last month, we had danced around our feelings, never truly sayingthe words while clearly, we both felt them strongly. “Mori…”
“You don’t have to say it back, Damon, not if you’re not ready. I know how you feel about me,” he pressed a hand over his heart, “right here, from the moment you kneeled in the dirt and ruined that suit to make me feel better.” His lips quirked as if he was holding back a laugh.
I was still struggling with my emotions. No one had ever told me they loved me like that. I kept the feelings locked away in a battered cage, desperate to give someone the key. Then Mori had come along and shown me I was the one that needed to unlock it.
“Mori, I love you, too. I’ve never been as sure of anything as I am of you.” With a few steps, I was in front of him. I cupped the back of his neck to pull him down for a deep kiss.
We must have gotten caught up in the moment, as it was broken when we heard a throat clearing behind us. “Um, Mori? Damon? It’s time to go.” Barr stood in the doorway, looking dashing in the tuxedo I’d ordered for him. We had taken the trip to a tailor together so he could be measured properly. Neither I, nor Mori, had wanted to risk another demon coming in. We trusted Barr and his hellhound abilities were more useful than fighting skills were, especially up against a witch. Barrwas naturally more resistant to magic, a talent I was a tad jealous of.
