Page 107 of Feverburn

“Now is good. As we’ve always said, everything with us feels good, just out of order.”

He wiggled his eyebrows as I snapped on my gloves. “Kinda like how the town had zero clue we were close until you were hauling mybloodybody out of Silver Springs.”

“Or how we thought we were being sneaky, but some people knew,”he said, shaking his head. He looked lighter already. More youthful and upbeat. I loved seeing the weight lifted.

“Note to self; wesuckat being subtle. It will make for onehellof a story someday,” I said, starting up the tattoo gun.

“Yep, Iloveour story.”

After finishing his tattoo, we went home to our cabin to celebrate, forgoing the rest of the harvest festival. Even if we were public, Carson wasprivate, and I adored that about him.

As I left the bathroom, I noticed he lit candles and putextracozy blankets on the bed. He lay there, hisgloriousnakedbody sprawled out, waiting for me, his faint abs moving with his breath. He put his arms behind his head as I crawled into the furs with agreedygiggle.

“Are you ready for the real afterparty?”he asked smugly.

All I could do was glide my body up his and straddle him. My eyes flashed to the stained-glass roses above our bed, indicating I was always supposed to be here. Without even knowing me, he held a space for me in the past. He created this life to share with someone, and if the cost was asillycurseor misunderstood reputation, it was well worth the fight. Hislovewas worth it all.

“Yes, I am ready.”

He responded by playfully rolling us, pressing me on my back. He settled his hips between my legs, looking like a fuckingwildgod while he braced himself to lean down tokissme, nuzzling my neck before he whispered,“But how will I know if you still like me now that everyone knows? Now that I’m not yourdirtylittlesecretwith an even dirtier mouth.”

I shoved his chest before stroking his length.“Stop being such a moody booty and get this cock in me.”I giggled, reaching down towetmy fingers in my pussy before bringing them back up to stroke him. There was a possessive flash in his eyes before he covered me—everykiss, every thrust, every whisper pulling me back into him.

We were careful since I wasn’t on birth control. Still, it feltamazingto makeloveto Carson with no worries, nothingloomingover us.

It was just him and I, no longer hiding. And I felt so seen.

Chapter Forty-Three

I walked into Silver Springs with a tightness in my chest. I hadn’t been there since the incident, but I knew I needed to get back. It was busy, but the girls still went out of their way to hug me when they saw me. It was nice to help some of my favorite customers like Otto, and I had several people already asking for tattoos.

After closing, I asked Kaylee to stay to chat. She looked around the shop with a smile.“Hey, remember when some asshole cheated on us, so we moved here and fell inlove. And now we have a super successful business and two hot pieces of ass?”

“Cute Greek boys!”I added with a gleeful nod.

In unison, we parroted,“The Greek makes ya weak!”It was our new inside joke.

Sobering, I said,“I wanted to thank you, Kaylee.”

She looked at me with a shine in her eyes.“For what?”

“For being a girl’s girl and befriending me after the affair when you didn’t have to. For helping mesettle here and not hating me for keeping things between Carson and meprivate.”

“I wasn’t thegreatestfriend to you, though, Ro. I was so wrapped up inloveand my new life here.”

“You always tried to include me, and I had my guard up.”

She scrunched her nose at my truth.“Ihopethe worst of it is behind us. I get the feeling it is.”

“From a scorned sisterhood to sisters-in-law,”I smiled.

“I did not have that on my bingo card, but I like it.”She squinted at me in consideration.“Rosie Kouris. Has a nice ring to it.”

“Kaylee Kouris? That’s adorable.”

“I don’t know if I should hyphenate to Waters-Kouris. That always seems like a pain in the ass, but all of this feels very anti-feminist.”

“Hey now, don’t get critical of your role in life. We’re helping out the community, and we own a business. We can make whatever choices we want and have our own lives. Plus, our current last names are from other men, so what difference does it make?”

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