Page 32 of Monster's Naughty List
My heart soared with hope, and I grabbed the handle and flung the door open. I rushed down the small hallway, coming to a stop and standing there in shock as I took in the scene before me.
“This can’t be real,” I mumbled out loud, questioning if I was having the most lucid dream of my life.
There they were. My three monsters. In my kitchen and attempting to cook, by the looks of it.
At the sound of my voice, all of their faces snapped to look at me. Their usually hard expressions softened as they took me in from head to toe, and Rez waved a spatula that had something burnt stuck to the end of it. “Morning, Sunshine.”
“How? How are you here?” My voice cracked a bit in disbelief at the end.
Oz set down a bag of flour—which seemed like it had managed to explode on his face and chest—and crossed the space to me. His eyes zeroed in on my shaking hand. “Were you planning on stabbing us, baby girl? I’ve never been into blood play, but for you, I’d try anything once.”
A manic laugh bubbled out of me as I released my tight grip on the knife enough to flip it shut and toss it to the floor. I launched myself at Oz and was pleased when his arms caught me, pulling me up to wrap my legs around his waist. Our foreheads leaned forward to touch as he whispered, “Did you really think we would leave you for good?”
“It’s what you have to do, isn’t it?” I rebutted, confusion pinching my brows together.
The way they had explained it, a relationship between our two kinds had never happened before. No one left their world to stay here. They needed the task force to provide charges for them to feed off of, or they would die.
My mind swirled with so many questions, but Oz was having none of it. He pressed his lips to mine and coaxed my mouth open as the shock faded from my mind. I moaned as the kiss deepened, and my nipples pebbled behind my oversized t-shirt.
I felt fingers trailing up my exposed legs to caress my bare ass, and I knew without breaking the kiss that my other two monsters were there with us. I tried to pull back from Oz, but he chased me for a bit, making me smile and laugh against his lips before smacking his chest playfully.
“Share,” I chided him as he smirked at me and leaned back. He didn’t let me go, keeping me firmly wrapped around his waist, but it didn’t bother me. It kept me closer to all of them, so I reached out with my hands and caressed Rez and Del’s faces. As I glanced between them, I fought hard to swallow the emotion that had to be visible on my own face.
What if this was just a short visit, and they still had to leave? I needed answers before I got my hopes too high.
“Vixen,” my grumbly monster said, drawing my attention from Rez back to him.
Leaning in, he pressed his lips to my forehead, making me close my eyes and soak in this moment, pressed between the three monsters who had stolen pieces of my heart.
“Are you here to stay?” I asked softly, immediately hating the way I sounded so hopeful. But I didn’t think I could handle them playing with my heart like this, popping in and out of my life whenever they wanted. That wasn’t fair to me.
If they thought I would be okay with that, this happy reunion would be over within moments.
“We’re staying.”
My eyes popped open at his response, and my head reared back, almost knocking into Rez behind me. Glancing between them furiously, I tried to see if they were joking, looking for a hint of dishonesty on their faces, but I found none.
All I saw was sincerity and happiness shining in their eyes and evident in the tilt of their lip into smirks and smiles.
Lowering my hands to Oz’s chest, I tapped him lightly. “Put me down, please.”
Shockingly, he didn’t fight me or sass me for telling him what to do. Instead, he lifted me by my waist and held me out as I untangled my legs, helping me avoid the hard plates of his lower body armor. As my feet touched the floor, I took a few steps back, needing some space to breathe and think clearly.
“How is it possible that you can stay here with me?” I asked, running my fingers through what I quickly realized was a nasty case of bedhead. Rez reached out when I growled as my fingers got stuck in knots.
“You look beautiful, stop,” he reassured me, making my heart soften even more. He moved his grip to hold my hand, twining our fingers together and squeezing. “We told the leader of our task force that we had fallen for one of our charges. We told her everything.”
My cheeks burned at the thought of what “everything” would entail, and Rez quickly amended, “Not the gritty details. I would never share those.”
I breathed out an audible sigh of relief before Del took over the explanation, pulling my attention to his stunning green eyes. I got lost in them as he said, “She applauded us for our honesty and asked us if we thought we could make a life here with you work. We told her that we hadn’t figured out all the details yet, but that, without a doubt, we wanted to be back here with you.”
My brain didn’t miss the fact that their leader was a female, and I mentally fist pumped the air, because fuck yeah.
“The truth is, baby girl,” Oz sighed, running a hand over his face as his tail flicked behind him. “You consume us. We wouldn’t be able to focus on any future charges.”
“That’s why we were let go from our place on the Algeah task force. Relieved of all ties that held us to Hell,” Rez finished.
For a bit, I just stood there, shocked that they had given it all up to pursue...whatever this was. Without knowing the details of how we’d make it work, and after just one incredible night together.
