Page 9 of On the Menu

Although he had to admit, Liam had been right. The mere fumes from the love in this place were enough to keep him alive. And when he was around Cara, with Cara... Something more palatable, thicker, and more solid was growing.

Love. I think she could be falling for me.

That usually meant he could take an entire soul.

But he wouldn’t.

Because...

He wouldn’t think about that right now.

Right now, Stray was sinking through layers of walls that sleeping minds and souls concocted without their humans even knowing it. Incubi had ways of getting in.

But once he was in... There was Cara, sitting on some expensive leather couch that was as soft as pudding, curled up in cozy socks and wrapped in blankets, holding a book.

A picture beside her, propped on the mantle over the fireplace.

His picture.

Their pictures. Them in wedding attire under a maple turning red and gold. A fall wedding.

It would be easy to take her like this. Walk in. “Hi, Honey. I’m home. I’m your husband. I want a little honeymoon action.”

Instead, he found himself scooting onto the couch, taking her hand, and laying his head in her lap as she easily made her legs his pillow. “Will you read to me, love?” he whispered.

Her hand stroked through his hair. Rubbed his brow, and her pretty voice read to him.

A dish of raspberries appeared on his chest, and he took one for himself, tasting something real, a bright fruity burst of tart and sweet on his tongue. He lifted one to her lips, and she kissed his fingers as she took a berry from him.

Trust. Fullness. Peace.

“You look sad,” she whispered.

“I don’t want us to wake up,” he admitted, voice suddenly thick.

“Why? We’ll have more days like this.” She laughed and closed the book. “Want me to cheer you up, baby?”

He almost shot out of her sleeping form in shock. No one had ever offered themselves to him before.

“No. No, I just want to hear the book,” he decided quickly, his hunger pangs vanishing. “Just want to sit here with you, Cara mine, and hear your voice,” he whispered.

“All right. Don’t be sad, though, Strathvyn. I love you. And no one is going to take me away from you.” She tapped her wedding ring to his and smiled. “Isn’t that what we promised last November?”

“It is,” he choked out and clutched the place where his heart was supposed to be. He’d thought it was all ashes, and now it was burning bright again. “Would you love me, no matter what?”

“No matter what,” she said easily, kissing his forehead, then his lips.

He drifted to sleep in her lap, his dream wrapped in hers.

“I had the best dream last night,” Stray told her at the coffee shop and watched her cheeks turn dark again.

“Me, too. You were in it,” she confessed. “But it wasn’t a naughty dream.”

“Mine wasn’t either,” he told the truth. “In my dream, I took you to the mall, and we looked at all of the obnoxious Christmas decorations up far too early.”

“It’s November. It’s not too early! This is the best time, when it’s fall and winter’s coming, and ... Well, it is if you have someone to share it with. I guess if you don’t, it’s just another day, another month.”

How well he knew that. Damn Liam, damn Pine Ridge, and damn the way she looked so excited. It made him long to capture that dancing sparkle in her eyes.