Page 80 of Faking It Right
I sankinto the hot tub with a contented sigh, letting the bubbling water work its magic on my muscles after the dinner fiasco with Maylin. The spring night air carried a crisp chill, making the rising steam all the more inviting.
“Your chariot awaits, my liege,” I announced dramatically, extending my hand to Ryker as he approached the tub in his swim trunks.
He rolled his eyes but accepted my help. “I can get in a hot tub by myself, you know.”
“And deprive me of my gallant moment? I think not.” I guided him down the steps, enjoying the feel of his fingers wrapped around mine. “Besides, after surviving dinner with your soul mate from eight hundred-something lifetimes, you deserve some royal treatment. We must have been kings or princes somewhere in the cosmic timeline. Baxter can’t be the only one who got to wear a crown.”
Ryker laughed through a groan. “God, I still can’t believe she claimed we were Mongolian yak herders together.”
“Don’t forget about your special song for the yaks that made all the other herders jealous,” I reminded him, pulling him closer once he settled beside me.
“How could I forget? Apparently, I’ve always had a way with animals.” He leaned against my shoulder. The solid weight of him, so familiar after years of movie nights on the couch, held new meaning now. It was the same Ryker, but the space between us had completely changed.
“Well, you certainly have a way with this animal,” I murmured against his ear, delighting in his snort of amusement.
The sliding door to the patio opened, and Sawyer appeared with Gia right behind her. They each carried two drinks.
“We come bearing past-life memory enhancers!” Sawyer announced, distributing the glasses before sliding into the tub across from us.
Gia followed, careful not to spill her drink. “Whiskey, which is guaranteed to help you remember at least three more incarnations by morning.”
“Or make you forget this one entirely,” I quipped, accepting a glass.
Sawyer handed Ryker his drink. The tense line of his shoulders, which had been hiked up to his ears when we first got in, had finally dropped. He leaned back with a sigh.
I raised my glass. “To past lives and present company.”
“To finding your soul mate in every lifetime,” Gia added.
“Even when they’re a reincarnated alpaca,” Sawyer finished.
Ryker scowled as we all clinked glasses. “You’re never going to let me live this down, are you?”
“Nope.” His sister obnoxiously popped thePfor emphasis.
The whiskey’s slow burn settled deep in my stomach. I draped my arm around Ryker’s shoulders, drawing him closer. He nestled against me without hesitation or protest. The easy, chaotic warmth of his family’s acceptance was the thing I’d been chasing my whole life without realizing it.
Sawyer was the first to break the comfortable silence. “Okay, I’ve been thinking. I came up with another past life for you and Maylin, Ryker.”
Ryker groaned. “Please, no more.”
“No, no, this is good,” she insisted, her eyes sparkling with mischief. “1920s New York. One of you was a hot dog vendor, and the other was a sewer rat who kept stealing the hot dogs.”
“Let me guess which one I was,” Ryker said dryly.
Sawyer grinned at him. “The rat did have a certain charm about it.”
“I’m honored,” Ryker deadpanned, but I could feel a tremor of suppressed amusement rumble through his body and into mine.
“My turn,” I announced, setting down my glass. “I think she was wrong about your Victorian lifetime. I bet one of us was Jack the Ripper, and the other was the detective chasing him down.”
Ryker elbowed me. “Harley, that’s awful.”
“Hey, it’s historically accurate. And very romantic,” I defended, kissing his temple. “Star-crossed lovers and all that. And it’s better than tripping to death on a floorboard or whatever nonsense she said.”
“What if Maylin was the sex worker who killed Jack the Ripper to stop his reign of terror?” Gia suggested. “That’s why history never figured out who he was, because his intended victims murdered him, which was her in a past life.”
Sawyer froze with her glass halfway to her lips. The sudden quiet was so absolute, all I could hear was the bubbling of the jets.
