I rolled over and stilled, staring at Athan’s handsome face. He looked peaceful in his sleep, and my heart squeezed at seeing this other side of him. Gone was the compelling man who’d commanded my full attention from the moment I’d laid eyes on him. He was no less irresistible this way, though. My fingers itched to comb through his light brown hair and stroke down his cheekbone to trace his lips. I wanted to cup his angular jaw and press my mouth to his. To wake him up with a deep kiss that would probably lead to other things my body wasn’t quite ready for this morning. But first, I wanted to gawk at his gorgeous body. He hadn’t given me much of a chance to explore the smooth, pale skin that covered his lean muscles last night.
Each time I’d gotten my hands on him, Athan had forced my arms above my head. He’d explained that I wreaked havoc on his self-control and he’d never be able to make love to me slowly if I caressed his body for too long. Not that keeping my hands off him had done any good—none of our bouts of lovemaking had ended gently. But I wouldn’t change a thing. I felt an immense amount of satisfaction knowing his desire for me was too much for his willpower. We were explosive together, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Just thinking about how quickly he was able to bring me close to the edge of release had me rubbing my thighs together. The movement must’ve woken Athan because his eyes popped open and his hand snapped out to cup the back of my head. His bright blue orbs held no hint of confusion. He’d gone from sound asleep to fully alert in a millisecond. “Good morning, love.”
“Morning,” I echoed softly, my cheeks filling with heat over being caught staring at him while he slept. After he’d touched and tasted every inch of my body—and even spanked my butt until my cheeks were rosy—it seemed a little silly for me to be embarrassed.
Athan pulled me closer, and I was expecting a kiss when he jerked back and hissed, “What the fuck?”
I didn’t understand what had angered him and only grew more confused when he rolled off me before disappearing into thin air. I sat up, frantically scanning the room before he stormed out of the closet wearing a black T-shirt and pajama bottoms. He tossed a white, button-down shirt and pair of navy sweatpants at me. “Get dressed, love. My brother is here.”
“How in the world did you know?” I muttered as I scrambled off the mattress to put on the clothes he’d gotten for me.
“We can speak telepathically with each other.” He said it so matter-of-factly that I didn’t react until he added, “Once we’re fully bonded, you and I will be able to do it, too.”
“Holy crap,” I breathed, my eyes going wide. “How cool.”
I was wondering what else would change for me—and what all fully bonding with Athan entailed if last night hadn’t done it—when he flung the bedroom door open. When Athan said his brother was here, I’d thought he was downstairs. But nope, Kieran was standing right on the other side of the door.
He handed Athan my purse, which I hadn’t thought about since I’d left it on the bed in the guest room one of his staff had shown me to when I’d arrived for the party. “Her blasted cell phone has been going off virtually nonstop since late last night. I held off on coming over as long as I could so you’d have time together, but I couldn’t handle it anymore.”
“Oh, no.” I slapped my forehead and groaned. “I’m so sorry. I should have known my parents would blow up my phone when I didn’t check in with them last night. When I spoke with them earlier in the evening, I had promised to call after the party but then completely forgot.”
“It’s fine.” Kieran waved off my concern and smiled. “A little irritation is a small price to pay for Athan finally finding his destined consort. Plus, my Thana is thrilled to know she’ll have her childhood friend close.”
With Kieran saying their names so close together, the coincidence finally hit me. “Oh, my gosh! Athan and Thana’s names are an anagram.”
Both men looked poleaxed, their bright blue eyes widening before they burst into deep laughter. “Damn, it’s been a year since I found Thana. I can’t believe I didn’t notice that in all this time.”
Athan laughed harder as he moved to my side and wrapped his arm around my shoulders. “What can I say? My consort is as smart as she is beautiful.”
His compliment had me feeling all gooey inside, but those emotions quickly turned to irritation when my phone started going off again inside my purse. “And on that note, I’ll leave you two to take care of Selene’s parents.” His gaze slid to his brother. “Good luck with them. You’ll need it,” he warned before going poof.
I cringed, knowing how right Kieran was. My parents could be more than a handful when it came to me. Which was proven correct when I pulled my phone out of my purse and found more than fifty missed calls and text messages since last night. “You have to be freaking kidding me.”
Athan tugged my phone out of my clenched grip and cursed when he saw the long list of notifications. Then he scrolled to the bottom and uttered another profanity before running his fingers through his hair. “Your parents chartered a plane at the ass crack of dawn this morning when they couldn’t reach you. They’ll be here in less than fifteen minutes.”
“Here?” I pointed at the floor. “As in your house?”
“Our house,” he corrected automatically.
“Here?”
“Yup, they included my address in their last message and said you’d
