“Read, Sally mine.”
She let out a low grown. “Fine.” After clearing her throat four times too many, she finally began to read. “You asked me to write down things that I needed from you. Here goes. I need you to smile at me, especially when you don’t feel like smiling, so I know I haven’t done something wrong. I need you to run your fingers through my hair, so I won’t be tempted to cut it off. I need you to tell me when I’m being a brat so I can stop because I want you to want to be around me, not just have to be. I need you to hold me when I cry. I hate crying, and if you’ll hold me I won’t feel like such a wuss. I need you to whisper sweet things to me when you make love to me. I need you to laugh with me and let me know you think I’m worth your laughter. Sometimes I need you to ask me to take a walk with you because it makes me feel like you enjoy being with me. I need you to be interested, if only long enough to be proud of me, in things that I’m interested in and do well. I need to hear your praise. I don’t know if you think I’ve done a good a job if you don’t tell me. I need you to tell me no when you know it isn’t what is best for me or our family. I need you to tell me yes when something is best, even if it’s going to be hard for us. I need you to want my opinion and care what I have to say. Most of all, I need you: your attention, your words, your time, your affection, your tenderness, your playfulness, your commitment, and your faithfulness.” When she was done, she sat staring at the paper, unable to will herself to look at Costin’s face.
“Thank you,” he said after several minutes of silence. “Knowing what you need helps me know how I can make sure you feel my love.”
“What about you?” She heard him shift and turned to look at him. He pulled a folded piece of paper out of his pocket. “You already did yours?”
He grinned. “I take baths too.”
Sally laughed. “I’m sure you wrote yours soaking in the tub.”
“Hush woman and listen to my needs,” he told her playfully. “I need you to rub my feet.”
Sally’s brows rose. “Really?”
“Shh.” He pressed a finger to his lips. “I’m not done.”
She made a motion with her hand. “By all means.”
“I need you to hold my hand when I sit next to you. I need you to laugh at my jokes. I need you to respect me. I need you be interested in things I am interested in. I need you to wrestle with me.”
She opened her mouth to say something, but this time, Costin put his finger over her mouth.
“I need you to tell me yes. I need you to desire me. I need you to wear sexy stuff to bed. Or, naked works too.”
He put his whole hand over her mouth, which made her want to laugh.
“I need you to know you can always tell me what you need from me. And I need to know I have the same liberty with you.”
When he finally dropped his hand, he sat up and cupped her face. “I love you, Sally mine. And I will do my best to meet your needs. When I’m not, then by all means, bust my balls about it.”
“Jen’s more of the ball buster. I’ll just nudge you with my toe. On your leg, not your balls.”
His laughter rolled out of him and she joined him, and it felt so good to laugh with him. To feel alive, even though in the back of her mind she could feel the darkness taunting her, telling her it wouldn’t last. In that moment, she was going to grab hold of the light she found in their love and hold tight to it.
“Can I nudge you? When I need you?”
“Is that what’s happening right now?” Sally asked with a smirk. “Is this you nudging me?”
“That’s exactly what this is, beautiful. Lay back and let me give you what we both need.”
She giggled. “And what is that exactly?”
“Less clothing.”
Sally didn’t know what was going to happen to her the next day. She didn’t know if the luminous sprites would fry her brain with their light, causing it to ooze out of her ears, or if she’d turn into a walking demon, but she did know that, right now, in her old bedroom, she had her mate who wanted to love her. And she wasn’t about to let that moment with him slip by.
Chapter Nine
“Every now and then, we have these moments in life when we know exactly what we are supposed to be doing. It’s like every little thing—our breathing, our movements, our thoughts and actions, everything—just makes sense. We are where we are supposed to be, doing exactly what we are supposed to be doing, with exactly whom we are supposed to be doing it with.” ~Costin
Walking through the tree the second time didn’t seem to Sally quite as exciting as it had been the first time. But then, the first time she hadn’t been going into the sprite realm to meet the sprite queen and to have her head examined by some light sprites. She snorted to herself. Light sprites.
“Are you so stressed that everything is amusing to you?” her mate asked through their bond.
“Pretty much.”
“If it makes you feel any better, you’re sexy as hell.”
“Even stressed and full of darkness?”
Costin chuckled. “Beautiful, if full of darkness gets me another night like last night, I say we just tell the light sprites to take a hike.”
Hiking light sprites. Sally bit her lip to keep from laughing as the stepped out of the tree and into the forest of the sprite realm. Her mom and dad had already crossed through and were waiting on them.
“Everything okay?” her dad asked.
Sally couldn’t even make eye contact with her dad after her mate’s mental comment. “Everything’s great, dad.”
“Where’s the palace?” Costin asked.
Cindy held up her hand, asking for them to wait. Then, out of nowhere, or at least it seemed like that to Sally, there was a small castle about a hundred yards away.
“Right there,” Cindy said with a sly grin.
“Okay, so that just happened, right?” Costin asked her.
Sally nodded. “Totally happened, babe. No castle and then, boom, castle.”
Costin gave a thumbs-up. “As long as I’m not the only one hallucinating, then I’m good.”
They walked in silence. Costin’s large hand wrapped around hers while Chris held Cindy’s. Sally felt almost as though she were being led to the gallows. She just needed that nifty background music indicating her doom was near.
“You’re being a bit dramatic this morning,” Costin whispered to her.
“You were a bit dramatic last night, but you didn’t hear me complaining, so stick a sock in it, fluffy.”
Costin made claw-like motions at her and hissed like a cat.
“That’s disturbing. Let me video it so I can send it to Jen and Jacque. Otherwise, never do it again,” Sally said as she started to pull her phone from her back pocket.
“I’ll let you video me, if you let me video—”