She didn’t know if she could sleep. She felt strung out but clearheaded, and she was still running on adrenaline. Still, food and a shower sounded like incredible luxuries.
His body weight lifted as he finally eased back. He said, “I haven’t had a chance to tell you. Back at the house, when you went to talk to your troops, I called Carling.”
“What?!” Reaching for his face, she framed his cheeks with her hands. “Are you all right? She didn’t try anything, did she?”
He shook his head and gave her a wry smile. “No, she didn’t. We… talked. We just talked. It went better than I expected. I don’t think it wiped away what happened last year, but it did clear the air. I asked her to release me from her old orders, and she said she would.”
“And you believe her,” she said.
“Yes, I do. She even said the words over the phone, although she warned she would need to say them in person to be sure it took.” He smiled, took her hands and kissed them. “But I felt better immediately. That’s all because of you.”
She curled her fingers around his. “What do you think you’ll want to do?”
The expression in his piercing gaze turned inward and reflective. “I honestly don’t know. What I really want is to be able to make the choice.”
“Let’s take that vacation we discussed,” she suggested gently. “I know Mom will help me clear my schedule if I ask her. You could have somebody in San Francisco deliver the Harley here… I ought to get more than one ride out of that bike. It cost me enough. We can go to Tahoe. Or it doesn’t have to be Tahoe. We could go someplace completely new. Hell, let’s take a year off. What’s a year, anyway?”
“What is a year, anyway?” He echoed her words softly, almost to himself, and started to smile. “As long as it’s a year with you, it will be everything I need.”
She closed her eyes for a moment. She loved him so much, so much.
Stepping away, he unbuckled the chest plate of his body armor and set it aside. Underneath, he wore a black, long-sleeved shirt that hugged his torso and arms. He dug into a pocket and pulled out his cell phone.
One corner of his lips lifted. “If you call your mom, I’ll call mine.”
She burst out laughing. “It’s a deal.”
With his help, she stripped out of her armor too. By the time Melly had finished talking to Tatiana, and Julian had called Carling to arrange for her and Rune to arrive that evening, the suite had finally been cleared and the tunnel entrance sealed.
When she and Julian emerged from the office, Shane, along with another Light Fae guard, joined the two Nightkind guards on duty outside the suite doors.
Only moments later, Xavier and Tess arrived. Xavier carried a tray of food. As soon as Melly smelled a hot, savory aroma coming from the tray, all thoughts of taking a shower and crawling into bed flew out of her head.
“Evenfall is secure,” Xavier told them. “We even inspected the kitchens personally.”
“And with great interest,” Tess said. She smiled at Melly. “I wondered if you might be as hungry as I am.”
“I’m starving,” she confessed.
Xavier set the tray on the coffee table in the living room. “They have a lot of people to feed unexpectedly, so they went with pasta.”
Melly uncovered her dish to discover a plate of steaming fettuccine Alfredo with slices of grilled chicken breast. Fresh shaved Romano cheese had melted on top, and the dish was even garnished with a sprig of parsley.
She moaned, “Oh my God, this is heaven.”
A bottle of white wine had been included with the tray, but both Tess and Melly ignored the alcohol and concentrated on the food. Julian poured glasses of bloodwine for himself and Xavier, who briefed him on details as the women ate.
To Melly, everything sounded like blah blah, fine, blah blah, I’ll take care of it, blah blah, sounds good.
She let it all wash over her as she concentrated on the excellent meal on her plate. Despite the high concentration of Nightkind occupants who never touched food, or perhaps because of it, the chefs in the Evenfall kitchens prided themselves on putting out some of the finest-quality meals in California.
Tess ate with as much enthusiasm as Melly, until Julian said to Xavier, “I need to ask if you would be willing to act as regent for a year.”
Tess froze in midchew. Swallowing a bite of food, Melly shifted her gaze to Xavier, who raised his eyebrows. “Are you going somewhere?”
“Yes, as a matter of fact, I am.” Julian sprawled back in his armchair. He had taken a few minutes to change into jeans and a dark blue sweater. For the first time in a very long time, he looked relaxed. “Melly and I are going to take a year off.” He paused. “I can’t promise I’ll be back.”