She snickered. “She got pissed and left as soon as Leo started singing. He loves you, Nora. I gotta say, I’m a little jealous,” she said with a sincere smile.

“Hey, you always got me,” Sebastian exclaimed, picking her up and swinging her around and around until she shrieked loudly.

I had an epiphany, staring at them. “Damn! It was right in front of me the whole time,” I said with excitement, while they looked at me in confusion. “Of course, all that blond hair, the cocky attitude. Yep, Sebastian, you’re the king of the jungle . . . which is a total misnomer . . . really, the lion is the king of the savanna, whatever . . . I digress.”

Sebastian sat Mila back on her feet. “This I gotta hear,” he said, walking over to me. “Okay, lay it out for me. You’re saying I’m a lion?” he said sarcastically, but I could tell he really wanted to hear it.

Mila gave him a hip bump. “At least you’re majestic. I’m a freaking rabbit. A scared bunny with a nose that twitches,” she huffed.

I chuckled and cocked my head to study Sebastian. “Like a lion, you’re dramatic, obviously, and regally handsome . . . don’t get a big head about that one. You’re tough and ferocious and protective when someone hurts your loved ones. But in the end, underneath all that hissing, you’re still just a big ole pussycat at heart.”

“Here, kitty, kitty,” Mila said, poking him in the ribs.

“Huh, not bad,” he said with a teasing smile. “You might make a good mom after all.”

I yelled and took off after him . . .

AROUND ONE IN the morning, Leo was still talking to his guests, yet periodically sending me hot looks. I’d send them back, my body throbbing with need.

Soon though, I headed back upstairs to get in his bed. Before I did, I opened the shuttered window in his room and gazed out at the stars. The sight of them gave me hope, and I thought of a quote by Van Gogh: “I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of stars makes me dream.”

I didn’t know what the future held for us, but my dream was that we’d be together forever. I did know with certainty that life is full of bad people, broken people, sad people, betrayed people, twisted people, and people with secrets and scars the world never sees.

Yet, it is also full of people who love each other. People who are happy.

We all have a choice in life, to either quit or try again, and you can be sure I was going to try, try, try. Even though I was far from being what I wanted to be, my path would lead to happiness. Yes, life would suck and be scary sometimes, but I would keep going and searching for those happy moments, because in that direction lies grace and love.

I didn’t want to do bad things; I wanted to be true to myself. And being true meant I was not the bee champion, beauty queen, piano-playing genius my parents had shaped me into. No, I was just a simple, young girl whose love for a boy would last until the end of time.

IT WAS TWO o’clock by the time I got the last guest out, and I was exhausted, but all I could think about was her upstairs where she belonged. Mine. She was mine. Forever.

I tiptoed in the bedroom and remembered another time when I’d lain beside her in a bed. I’d tried so hard to distance myself from her then, but she’d broken through my defenses. Even at eighteen, she’d been smarter and wiser than me.

She was naked, lying on top of the covers on her stomach. Her red hair was spread out over my pillow, and I stroked my fingers down her luscious wings, tracing the tips over the script. She stirred a little, and I straightened up and took my clothes off. I pulled a condom from the side table and rolled it on my hard cock. I got in bed and straddled her legs and leaned down to kiss down her shoulders and back, my hands kneading her ass. I kissed behind her knees and down her calf. I kissed the arch of her feet. I kissed her sweet toes.

“Nora,” I murmured in between kisses and little nips. She whimpered out my name, and my cock got harder from the invitation I heard in her voice.

She turned, and I reached for her piercing and flicked it with my finger. I sucked each nipple in my mouth, my eyes narrowed in on her green ones shining like emeralds as she gazed at me.

“Tell me you love me,” I demanded as I played with her pink nipples, rolling them between my thumb and finger.

She smirked and arched her brow at me.

I tangled my hands in her hair and tugged gently. “Say my name, and tell me you love me,” I said in a low voice.

She touched my chest, her fingers outlining my dragon tattoo. I let go of her hair and cradled her face, my nose touching her nose. “Say it, and I’ll fuck you,” I growled, hearing the desperate yearning in my voice but not caring. She was all I wanted, and I wanted her to know it.

“You’ll do that anyway,” she retorted with a gleam in her eyes. Oh yeah, my Buttercup liked to play games.

“You asked for it,” I said, chuckling as I kissed her softly with little pecks and no tongue. She squirmed, grabbed my hair and tried to deepen my kisses, but I pulled away, shaking my head at her. She glared at me.

“Kiss me,” she said. “Give me an epic one.”

“As soon as you do what I want,” I murmured, pulling back to give her a hot look.

“I love you, Leo Jamison Tate, so kiss me, pretty please,” she said, her eyes heavy with emotion, letting me see the big love she had for me.

My heart sang, recognizing its mate.

I kissed her deep, and her hips arched off the bed, searching for mine. “Like that?” I asked against her mouth, my hands clutching her to me. I never wanted to let her go.