Seven Days

Chapter Nineteen

As he unlocked his front door, Frerin let out a low sigh. "I never thought I'd see this place again."

Syd bit the inside of her cheek as her emotions threatened to overwhelm her yet again. She was pretty sure she'd never cried as much as she had over the last twenty-four hours. And as she just hung back in the doorway and watched as Frerin crouched to rumple the hell out of Riley, her throat tightened yet again and tears blurred her vision. He was there. He'd remain there.

She hadn't lost him.

He looked up. "You okay?"

"I'm fine," she managed, pushing away from the doorjamb to close the inside door. "Just relieved, is all."

"Tell me about it." He straightened up, brushing dog fur from his Levi's as he faced her. "Why did you decide you believed me?"

"Alex, actually. She's usually my voice of reason." She inched closer, smiling as she said, "When I wasn't sure I should have agreed to go out with you again, she was the one who said maybe you had changed. When I told her what you'd told me, she said Thorin had had a similar nightmare and reminded me that this is what my family does. And I was such a bitch to you, I—"

"Syd," he closed the gap between them, easing his arms about her waist, "you had every reason to think I was playing you. My history doesn't exactly paint me as an innocent angel and I'd already flaked on you once."

"Yeah, but... I knew something was different about you when you came into the shop last weekend."

"You told me to leave you alone."

"Okay, so I didn't realize it right away. No one's perfect."

A slow smile lifted the corners of his lips. "This is true. And I'm glad I didn't leave you alone."

"Actually, I think I told you to go away."

"Same thing." His arms tightened about her, drawing her flush against him. "And now, I've grown on you."

"You've grown on me."

His thumbs brushed lightly along her back. "Want to come and meet my family?"

"What?"

"My mom and dad. Maybe my sister. You already know Thorin, so..."

"Are you serious?"

"Syd, why wouldn't I be? I told you there was something here and I don't know about you, but it's nothing I've ever felt before."

She smiled as she draped her arms about his broad shoulders. "What do you think it is then, if you've never felt it before?"

His eyes softened, his smile almost shy. "I think this might be the first time I've actually really fallen in love, Syd," he murmured, his voice low and almost growly, "Because I've said it before, but it's never made me feel like this."

"That could also be because you've come back to the world of the living."

"I did that last week and it didn't feel like this. It's you, Syd. You're my girl."

"I can live with that."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

He bent toward her, his lips soft and warm as they pressed lightly against hers. She slid her hands along the firm muscle of his shoulders, along his neck, to let her fingers slip into his hair. His arms tightened about her and without warning, he lifted her easily, sighing into her mouth as she wrapped her legs about his waist. Heat from his hands sank into the backs of her thighs, and he backed up slowly, her belly whooshing as he sank onto the sofa. Those hands swept up now, beneath her loose black and gray striped sweater, skimming along her back, his palms hot and rough against her skin as he pushed that sweater up.