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24
DARCY
Magnolia sprang out of bed before dawn, jostling me awake. I groaned, rubbing at my eyes as she flitted about the room like a fairy, zipping this way and that in her excitement to start the day. By the time I felt alive enough to sit up and fully open my eyes, she was already dressed.
Considering I’d be saying goodbye to her so soon, I’d opted to sleep in her bed with her overnight. A sort of last hurrah human slumber party before she rode off into the alien sunset to find her man. Fallon had looked completely crestfallen last night when I’d told him where I’d be sleeping. But he’d rallied and supported my decision, even if his shoulders and tail did look a little sad and droopy as he’d trudged off to bed alone.
Speaking of tail… wonder how his cock tail is doing…
In my barely awake state, I found my mind wandering towards the idea of him needing me to kiss it better again. I followed that sleepy daydream around in my head, not feeling obligated but actually excited by the prospect.
As glad as I was to have spent the night with Magnolia before she left, I missed Fallon.
I yawned and rubbed my eyes again, finally mustering the willpower to swing my legs over the side and get out of the cozy bed. For a guy who lived here alone and had literally never had a female of the non-dog or cow variety on his property until now, Fallon’s place really was quite nice and domestic. Magnolia’s bed was comfortable, with another intricate – though slightly faded – quilt.
“How you feeling?” I asked Magnolia as she put her curly hair in two thick braids. “Ready?”
“So ready.” Once finished with her braids, she put on a broad-brimmed hat and beamed. She looked so stinkin’ cute standing there all dressed with her hat and her luggage and her smile. It made my stupid heart feel all topsy turvy.
“I’m going to miss you,” I said, giving her a watery smile back. Jesus, how many times had I been on the verge of crying since arriving here? Don’t cry for almost fifteen years and then boom – tears galore. I took a steadying breath, wondering where the hell the old guarded, half-numb Darcy had gone.
And wondering why the hell I didn’t even miss her.
Magnolia’s window was closed, but through its dusty surface we could hear what sounded like movement and voices outside.
“That might be Cherry,” I said as the blush of dawn began to warm the room. “You go on out. I’ll be there in a second.”
Magnolia did so, and I went back to Fallon’s room to get dressed. After a quick scrub of my face and a clean of my teeth in the kitchen, I noticed that several plates of food were already out and arranged, enough for Magnolia, Garrek, Killian, and me.
I felt surprisingly deflated to see that there was no happy-looking bacon to greet me today. I rolled my eyes at myself. Despite his chill nature, I knew Fallon was busy as all get-out. He had a lot of chores to do, especially in the morning. After getting food out for everyone he’d probably just run out of time to do the happy breakfast thing.
If anything, I should have been the one up early enough to prepare breakfasts for the guests and him. A wife was not supposed to sleep in later than her husband, and she definitely was not supposed to make him take over domestic duties like food preparation when he had guests. I’d been well-trained to be the perfect hostess.
Only problem was… Fallon didn’t seem to care. About any of it.
And maybe that wasn’t a problem, considering how resentful I’d been about becoming somebody’s wife, about being so sheltered with no money and job experience of my own.
But if I wasn’t going to be the polished wife I’d always been pushed to be…
Who was I?
I shook off that alarmingly dreary thought, grabbed a pickled egg off a plate, popped it in my mouth, then went outside. Today was about Magnolia, not moping around over some weird identity crisis.
The noise outside had indeed indicated the arrival of Cherry and Silar. Cherry was all smiles as Silar helped her down from the shuldu they’d ridden together. Silar was much the same as I’d seen him last. Shirtless, stone-faced, and silent. Garrek grunted some sort of greeting at them as he rolled up a bedroll. I wondered which one of these quiet, growly cowboys could out-grump the other.
My money was on Garrek.
Magnolia was chatting happily to Killian. The Zabrian boy had his big, moony eyes glued to her face, as if she were some goddess or hero from a story come to life.
The only person missing is…
I started looking this way and that, quickly finding the orange figure of Fallon jogging towards us from the direction of the barn. His grin was lopsided and easy. His loping gait was heavy but smooth. My heart bucked – unnervingly shuldu-like for a human heart, thank you very much! – at the sight of him.
When his eyes locked on me, I knew. Because a blast of white went through them.
“Greetings, Cherry! Silar,” Fallon said cheerily. He came to a stop at my side, so close his arm brushed mine, and giddy heat bubbled through my blood.
Oh my God. Am I seriously getting that excited about an arm brush? What the hell is the matter with me?
