“No.” She laughed, stroking her fingertips over his back. “Our problems can wait until morning.”
He let out a short sigh of relief. “Good. I’d hoped to get just one night where I could pretend things were normal.”
“I’m willing to let this be that night.”
Johnny rolled onto his side and pulled Holly against him. She wrapped her arm around his waist and curled into his chest.
“This will end eventually, right?” he asked. “The shit storm has to stop at some point.”
“I hope so.” Holly shifted her head so her ear was over his heart. “I hope so.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN—HOLLY
Holly sat in the lobby the following morning alone. She’d taken the liberty of drawing all of the curtains for Lucien. It was amazing how much light those thick, damask curtains blocked out. It might as well have been evening.
Johnny had stepped out not too long ago to go to the general store. Thankfully, Lucien’s modified potion didn’t make him vomit blood, but it did give him a bad case of heartburn. The thought of a great brown bear with heartburn made Holly smile.
Lucien was in another room, preparing his breakfast, or dinner in his case. Trevor had yet to make an appearance. Quickly growing bored, Holly stood up and walked over to one of the lobby’s many bookshelves. All of the books were bound in fabric or leather and looked at least five decades old. Holly recognized none of the titles or authors.
“Mrs. Sanders will have breakfast ready for us soon.” Trevor’s voice startled Holly.
She turned rapidly, banging her elbow against the side of the bookshelf. “Son of a bitch.” She winced as a tingling pain shot through her arm. “Funny bone.”
“Sorry.” Trevor smirked.
“Don’t be.” Holly watched Trevor closely, trying to get a sense of where his head was.
He knew she took Johnny to her room last night. “You don’t have to do that,” Trevor said.
“Do what?”
“Feel guilty.”
Holly blinked in surprise. “I don’t understand.”
Trevor took a seat on one of the antique couches and patted the cushion next to him. Holly did as he bid.
“You and Johnny slept together last night,” he said.
Her cheeks grew hot.
“Did you hear?” she mumbled.
“The walls aren’t thin.” He laughed. “You don’t need to be embarrassed.”
“It’s an embarrassing situation,” she exclaimed.
“Why?”
“Because we…” She trailed off. “You know. We…”
“We also slept together.” Trevor nodded. “And—correct me if I’m wrong—you’ve slept with the other firstborns.”
Holly nodded, unable to look him in the eye.
“Would you look at me, please?” Trevor gently took Holly’s chin in his hand and tipped her face upward. “It doesn’t bother me.”
“It doesn’t?”
“It’s not an ideal situation,” he admitted. “But, no. It doesn’t.”
“I don’t like hurting people’s feelings.” She sighed.
“I can’t speak for anyone else, but my feelings aren’t hurt,” Trevor said. “Hell, I’d even understand if you didn’t want Johnny to know we’ve been together. The other firstborns want my head on a pike. I get it.”
“So, you don’t want to father the magic baby?” Holly ventured.
“Well, I didn’t say that.” Trevor chuckled. “I’m a Silver Spruce firstborn. I’m hardwired to want to fulfill the prophecy. It doesn’t hurt that I genuinely like you, too.”
“I like you as well.” Holly smiled. “I just hate how complicated all of this has to be.”
“Let me take away some of the complications,” Trevor offered. He twisted to face her head-on and took both of her hands in his. “I like you. I want to protect you. I want to help you. None of that’s going to change anytime soon.”
“Thanks,” she murmured.
“However, I’m in a tricky situation. I have to deal with crap the other firstborns don’t. I’ve never been like them, and I never will be. Between the dark shifter wannabes who still think I’m their leader, the actual dark shifters that are out there somewhere, and whatever it is that put a spell on us, I’m stretched pretty damn thin.”
“No kidding.” Holly laughed dryly.
“Because of that, my main focus has to be fixing this broken world,” he said. “If I redirected all of my energy into competing with the others for the right to impregnate you, I’d be allowing your future child to come into a world of chaos.”
“That’s a fair point.” She nodded. Something within her twisted uneasily.
“Once all of this bullshit is handled, you can bet your life I’ll be all in,” he said. “But until then, I have to keep my focus on the greater cause.”
“I completely understand.” She nodded. “What if I choose a mate before all of this bullshit is dealt with?”
“Then I’ll just have to accept it.” Trevor smiled sadly. “It’ll suck, but at least I’ll know I did everything I could to fix the world for you.”
“Don’t fix it for me.” Holly tightened her grip on his hands. “Fix it with me.”
“Like partners?” He arched a brow.
“Partners.” Holly nodded.
“Partners who occasionally have a drink or two, then fuck all night?”
“Trevor!” Holly giggled.
“What? I told you, I’m still a firstborn. Every fiber of my being wants to mount you and claim you as mine in every way imaginable.”
His words sparked her desire and made her thoughts spin in dizzy circles. The corner of his mouth turned up in a smirk. “You like the sound of that, don’t you?”
Last night’s activities should’ve left her satisfied, but she felt that certain sort of hunger creeping up inside her once more.
“I could do it right here,” Trevor murmured. “I could bend you over the arm of the couch right now.”
Warmth pooled between her legs as she pictured it.
Trevor moved closer to her, close enough to kiss. “You want me to,” he whispered. “I smell
