…like he was ready to test out the bench seat, horizontally.
Clearing my throat, I tucked my hormones back into my pants where they belonged. “So, food?”
“Yes,” he growled, his gaze sparking crimson. “I could eat.”
All of a sudden, I could sympathize with Little Red once Big Bad had her in his sights.
“I’ll take my hug and go.” Tisdale shooed her son back. “You two enjoy the night.”
“This is a ridiculous gift.” I let her steal another embrace. “I don’t know what to say.”
“Well, I’m planting a new garden next week. Perhaps you could pick up my order and drive it out?”
“Sure.” I was happy to help. “I can do that.”
With a pat on my cheek, she disappeared into the crowd with Ford, leaving me alone with Midas.
“You see what she did there,” he pointed out. “She bought you a truck so she can send you on errands and force you to spend time with her.”
“Yeah.” I swallowed past the lump in my throat. “Pretty awesome, right?”
A mother-daughter relationship was a new concept for me. Okay, a healthy mother-daughter relationship. Tisdale might as well walk around wearing a free hugs shirt. She handed them out all the time. I didn’t have to ask. She was just there—ready to embrace me. All of me. Even the bad parts I had worked so hard to change. She cared about me. She valued me. And she was wise enough to see I was still figuring out how to make this work between us. The truck was a gift, but it wasn’t the gift.
The real present from Tisdale was an open invitation to spend time with her.
“How am I still crying?” I wiped my cheeks with my palms. “I can’t see for my eyes leaking.”
“Then let me be your guide.”
Hand in hand, Midas and I made our way to the sweets. It was slow going, with all the handshakes, hugs, and congratulations, but it was the perfect culmination of having my nose to the grindstone for two long years. He borrowed a pair of folding lawn chairs once we ate our fill, and we settled in for the festivities.
Friends stopped back to chat, vendors brought me more food, which might have been the best part, and new friends were made. Food, music, and happiness did that, brought people together.
Tonight, I was the epicenter, and ripples spread from my interactions with all these people.
My people.
My city.
Down deep, Atlanta stirred within me, our bond a tickle in the back of my brain.
A tickle Ambrose…didn’t appear to notice.
Now wasn’t that interesting?
Maybe Midas wasn’t the only one with new channels seared into his gray matter. Maybe the vow I took, the blood I spilled, had forged a pathway belonging solely to Atlanta and me. That was a happy thought.
The block party rocked until dawn touched the horizon, and the city’s human population began to wake.
“The party’s winding down.” Midas took my hand. “Ready to go home?”
A cranky toddler had nothing on me as I lifted my arms over my head. “Up.”
“Aww.” Bishop, who’d joined us around my third slice of cake, got to his feet. “Baby Hadwee is sweepy.”
Narrowing my eyes on him, I curled my lip. “Grr.”
“You two will make cute babies one day.” He pinched my cheek. “Oh, wait. One of you already is one.”
I chomped my teeth at his fingers, which earned me a laugh from Midas, but Bishop only cooed louder.
“If you want to keep those attached, Bishop, quit while you’re ahead.” Midas turned his back on me, and he knelt facing away. “Climb on.” He waited until I complied to grip my chunky boots in a lock around his waist then rose slowly. “Let’s get you home.”
“Home sounds good.” I propped my chin on his shoulder. “Really good.”
Stuffed with dessert, smoked meats, and an unholy amount of nachos, one of the most versatile foods known to mankind, I was asleep and drooling down his nape before he cleared the block.
Fourteen
The alarm trilled on my phone, and my eyes popped open with an eager glint for the night ahead.
Midas rolled out of bed, gloriously naked, and stretched until his spine popped like bubble wrap.
“Ready for your first night of official Potentating?”
“Hmm?”
The flex of his spine distracted me there for a minute. Or maybe it was his butt. Probably his butt.
The look he threw over his shoulder told me I was busted. “Want to shower with me, Ms. Potentate?”
“I’m not sure, Mr. Beta.” I pulled the covers up to my chin. “It’s mighty comfy under this blanket.”
“Suit yourself.” He padded into the bathroom. “I’ll be out in a few.”
Alone in the room, I mashed a pillow to my face to muffle my squeals while I kicked my feet with glee.
Against all odds, I was the Potentate of Atlanta. The POA. The boss.
I was…so far beyond happy no word existed to describe the utter joy in my heart.
Midas exited the bathroom with a towel around his hips, and I admired the view for a heartbeat or ten.
“That shower set a new world record.” I tried to play it cool. “Your hair’s not even wet.”
“Mom called.” He held his phone in one hand and his pants from last night in the other. Neither of us had the energy to ring the hamper last night. We tossed our clothes on the bathroom floor where they fell and left them. “I’m needed at the den.”
There was no point in showering now if he planned on running on all fours while he was there.
“Everything okay?” I shoved upright in bed. “Do you need help?”
“A teen couple snuck into a cabin, lit one hundred candles for romance, fell asleep without blowing them out, and woke up to a blazing fire. Station Thirteen has it under control. We won’t lose any forest, this time, but I get to discipline the kids.”
“Thank the goddess for normal problems.”
“You must be reading my mind.”
Placing my fingers to my temples, I hummed. “I’m picking up on something else.”
“Oh?”
