Page 37 of Knot The Nanny We Planned

And it's enough.

My hands find JD's hair, dark, thick, damp with sweat, and I bury my fingers in it. He makes a sound against my stomach, muffled and desperate, and his arms crush me against him.

"I'm scared," I whisper.

"We know," Knox says. His hand finds mine, wrapping around my wrist, pulling it to his mouth, pressing his lips to my pulse point. "We're scared too."

"Then why…" My voice cracks. "Why do this? Why risk it?"

Deklan answers. "Because you're worth the risk."

I look at him. Standing there in the amber light of the streetlamp, glasses absent, mask gone, the boy from South Boston who lost his sister and thought he'd never feel again. The man who knelt on a floor and tasted me like I was holy.

"You said the match could fade," I say.

"I said the statistics are low." His mouth curves, the smallest, saddest smile I've ever seen. "I never said I cared about statistics. Not when it comes to you."

Something breaks inside me.

Not breaks, releases. A dam I didn't know I'd built, a wall I've been constructing brick by brick since Serena's words poisoned my heart. It crumbles, and what rushes through the breach isn't fear. It's want. Pure, devastating, all-consuming want.

Not just for their bodies. Not just for the heat. For them. For JD's stubbornness and Knox's wickedness and Deklan's quiet, steady devotion. For the way they look at me. For the way they hold me. For the family we could be, if I'm brave enough to stay.

"Take me home," I whisper.

JD rises to his feet in one fluid motion. His arms slide around me, lifting, carrying, crushing me against his chest, and he walks toward the SUV without a word.

Knox grabs my duffel bag, and Deklan opens the back door.

JD sets me in the back seat and climbs in beside me, Knox takes the front passenger seat, and Deklan drives.

The SUV pulls away from the curb. The city lights slide past the windows. I'm curled against JD's chest, his heartbeat thundering against my ear, his pine-smoke scent wrapping around me like a blanket. His hand cups the back of my head, fingers tangled in my hair, and his mouth presses against my temple.

"Don't ever do that again," he murmurs.

"I won't," I say, and for the first time, I mean it.

"Promise me."

"I promise."

He exhales. Long and shuddering, the breath of a man who was holding it for miles.

In the front seat, Knox turns around. His green eyes are red-rimmed, and his usual grin is nowhere to be found. What's left is something younger, something vulnerable.

"You scared the shit out of me, little omega," he says. His voice cracks. "I woke up, and your scent was gone. The house was empty. I thought, I thought you…"

"I'm here," I say. "I'm here, Knox. And I’m sorry."

He nods, swallows hard, and turns back around and stares out the windshield.

Deklan drives in silence. His hands are white-knuckled on the steering wheel, and I can see the muscle in his jaw ticking. He hasn't spoken since he said the word home, but his eyes find mine in the rearview mirror, just once, just for a second, and the look in them makes my chest ache.

I'm sorry, I think. I'm sorry I almost left.

His eyes soften. Almost like he heard.

The SUV climbs the ramp to the parking garage, and a moment later we are all out of the vehicle. The private elevator opens, and JD carries me inside. We ride in silence until we reach the penthouse. The moment the penthouse doors close behind us, the scent hits me: pine, smoke, cedar, home, and something in my chest unlocks.