Page 24 of The Russos
Over her shoulder, Kyle mouths, “Thank you,” at me, relief that all is okay stark on his face. “You’re welcome,” I mouth back.
This is what I love about what I’m able to do. The peace and love that is felt from their babies is nothing like I’ve ever felt. It’s like they know that they’re lucky to be here.
Lottie slowly backs away from me and sits back in her place, “That is so amazing. I can’t wait for you to meet the rest of the family.”
“Me too,” I state. “I’m sorry I didn’t get to meet them all before, but maybe now that Cassie and Luca have mated, we can dosomething so we all meet up together. That way, Gus and the guys can meet everyone too.”
Lottie nods enthusiastically, “Leave it with me, I’ll get in touch with Dex when we get back and sort something out. As the Alpha, he’ll need to meet everyone anyway.”
“Eat, baby girl,” Anton orders, nudging my plate.
Looking down, I see it’s nearly overflowing with food. Turning to look at Cassie’s plate, I see she’s staring at it in much the same way I was staring at mine. The only one not surprised is Lottie. She’s tucking in to her plate like it’s the last meal she’s going to eat. I guess eating for four makes you hungry.
“Thank you,” I say softly to Anton. “My pleasure, baby girl,” he assures me, lifting his filled fork up to my mouth. I close my lips around it, humming slightly at the taste of spicy eggs and steak on toast. Turning back to my own plate, I ignore the way he adjusts himself at my moan, knowing there isn’t anything we can do about it.
Tuning back into what’s happening with the rest of the table, I listen as they decide what they’re going to do today. Lottie and Kyle are going to stay one more day. With how little I slept last night, I’m thrilled when she says she’ll stay home and sit by the pool. Quickly, I agree to keep her company, and Cassie says she’d like to stay too.
Both Anton and Luca are torn about leaving us alone until Kyle volunteers to stay with us. It doesn’t take long for them all to finish up breakfast and get ready to leave.
Anton stops next to me, where I’m standing on the covered veranda, waiting to wave goodbye to them all so that I can enjoy a day of doing nothing. Wrapping my ponytail around his hand, he gently pulls my head back, pressing his lips to mine. His animal rumbles deep in his chest as he angles my head slightly,deepening our kiss. Threading my fingers through his hair and pressing closer, we kiss until a throat clears from nearby, reminding us that we aren’t alone.
Ignoring whoever it was, Anton leans his forehead against mine, “I’ll miss you today, baby girl. But have fun. Lottie and Kyle are good people, so if you feel like swimming, you have nothing to worry about.”
Knowing that he’s talking about my scars, I nod, “I’ll see how it goes.”
“Okay,” he replied, pulling away with a sigh. “I’ll see you this evening.”
With those words, he walks away, shoulders tense, muscles bunching in his thighs, making me thank whoever designed shorts. A wave of arousal hits me, and I bite my lip. Luckily, only Lottie and Cassie are still on the veranda, and neither says anything. Lottie probably because she’s mostly human and doesn’t have our sense of smell and Cass because she’d never want to embarrass me; it doesn't, however, stop a small smile from spreading over her face when she looks at me. Childishly, I stick my tongue out. She lets out a belt of laughter at my actions before wrapping her arm around my shoulders, “Come on, I feel a pool calling my name. I need to cool off.”
While I didn’t feel comfortable enough to wear a swimming costume, I did put on a pair of shorts and a T-shirt and join her and Lottie in the pool.
After our swim, we decided on large pans of lasagna for supper as we could prepare them in advance and then shove them in the oven when the men got home. Once we’d done that, we’d once more ended up around the pool where Kyle, being the absolute gentleman that he was, kept us fed and watered.
It was a good day, spent with fabulous females. I now understood why Julie had stayed; they were nothing like the family we’d grown up with.
CHAPTER 16
ANTON
I’d held my breath as Hannah drank down the tea. Selfishly, I wished it would work straight away, but I knew that patience was the key.
Patience was not something I’d ever been known for, but I was certainly learning about it now. I’d learned a lot about myself since I’d met Hannah. Most important, there was nothing that I wouldn’t do for her. Even without being fully mated, the protective possessiveness I felt had only got stronger the longer we went without mating. The need to sink my teeth into her and mark her as mine grew stronger every day, but I also knew I wouldn’t stop there.
We’d only be spending a little over a week here, and by then, Cassie said she hoped the tea would start working, which meant we’d be home again and that filled me with happiness.
I wanted to wait until we were home before we fully mated. Somehow it felt right that we complete our mating in our home, in our bed, where I knew I could let my guard down.
This week couldn’t be over quick enough. I was regretting saying we’d spend a night on a houseboat this weekend. It was only a night, though, and the next day, we’d be leaving for home.
My animal stirred impatiently in me; he’d been patient until now, and I was grateful that we were so in tune with each other,‘Soon,’I assured him.‘Soon.’
With a huff, he turned around and went back to sleep, giving me relief for the next few hours.
In the end we only spent a couple of hours away from the house before Miah said he’d be happy to go home. None of them wanted to see the dam wall and hydros without Hannah and Cassie, so we went home.
Not that either Luca or I minded that it meant we got to spend more time with our mates and neither of us would turn that down.
We’d found them around the pool laughing and joking. I was pleased to see that Hannah was comfortable enough in their company to be in shorts and a T-shirt.