It had obviously been a long beer, Mirabeau thought, and wondered if "the boys" had been gently prodding him about her just like the women had been prodding her about him. Shaking her head, she sighed and took the phone. "Hello?"
"So Tiny's your life mate," were the first words growled in her ear.
Mirabeau stiffened, then scowled at the phone before saying pleasantly, "Would this be a business call, or pleasure, Lucian?"
"Business," he barked. "Is he or isn't he your life mate?"
Mirabeau grimaced, but snapped, "Yes."
There was a hiss as if he was sucking in air, then Lucian cursed. "Goddamn that Marguerite. She's going to make my life miserable. I was already shorthanded when it came to enforcers, and now I'll be one shorter."
"Well, you're the one who let her convince you to put us together," she pointed out with exasperation. "You could have said no."
"And stop you from meeting a possible life mate?" he asked with outrage. "Not likely, little girl."
Mirabeau found her lips reluctantly curling into a smile. He hadn't called her little girl since the death of her family.
"I'm walking you down the aisle," he announced firmly. "Your father would have wanted it."
"There's no walking yet," she gasped, glancing worriedly at Tiny. Dear God, they hardly knew each other, and Lucian had them marrying. "And you haven't lost another hunter. I'll stay the night and tomorrow, then head back as soon as the sun sets, ready for work."
"The hell you will," Lucian snapped.
"I will," she insisted.
"Don't bother. You'd be useless to me anyway. Stay in Port Henry for a while and work Tiny out of your system. That's an order," he added firmly. "And tell Tiny it's an order for him too. Jackie has already agreed and-" He paused abruptly, and Mirabeau heard the murmur of a woman's voice in the background. She only realized it must be Tiny's boss, Jackie, when Lucian's muffled voice said, "All right, all right," before growing louder again as he told her, "Jackie says to tell Tiny she's very happy for him and to take as much time as he needs."
Mirabeau hesitated, her eyes sliding to Tiny and back to the phone, then she asked uncertainly, "What if he doesn't want to?"
"Oh, he wants to, little girl. I already asked him. Enjoy." The last word was followed by a click as he hung up.
"Good-bye to you too," Mirabeau muttered, hitting the button to kill her end of the call. Sighing, she peered at Tiny, cleared her throat, and murmured, "He said we should stay here for a while."
"I heard," he admitted, then asked quietly, "is that all right with you?"
She smiled crookedly. "It doesn't seem like I have much choice. He's my boss, and it's an order."
"That's a cop-out," Tiny said quietly. "Do you want to or not?"
Mirabeau swallowed and avoided his eyes. "I...I can't read you...and I want you."
"I already knew that, Mirabeau," he pointed out gently. "The question is, are you ready to have a life mate?"
For one minute, she struggled with the question, reluctant to admit that she was, but that was young Mirabeau briefly raising her head and all her fears with it. She wasn't that poor, broken girl anymore. She was an immortal woman, and he was her life mate, and it didn't matter what she knew or didn't know about him, or anything else. The fact was the nanos knew they would be good together, and as all immortals knew, the nanos were never wrong. He was her future. Mirabeau realized suddenly that all the fears she'd been experiencing were just leftover gifts from her uncle's actions. He'd definitely taken enough already. She wasn't letting him take Tiny from her too.
"Yes," she said finally, her voice firm and her chin rising defiantly. "I'm ready."
Tiny started to reach for her, but she stopped him with a hand on his chest. "What about you? Are you ready to be my life mate Tiny McGraw?"
"I shouldn't be," he said solemnly. Sliding his arms around her waist, he drew her closer, managing to press their h*ps together despite the hand she had between them, as he whispered, "We hardly know each other."
"That's true," Mirabeau murmured, as he bent and pressed a kiss to her forehead.
"I don't know what you like and don't like, what your beliefs are, religiously or politically, or even if you want children." He punctuated each point with another kiss, one to the side of her eye, one to her cheek, and one to her ear.
Mirabeau murmured something of an agreement, although it sounded more like a moan to her as her body began to respond to his nearness and touch.
"We should really talk," he murmured, running his lips across her cheek to press a kiss to the side of her mouth. "Get to know each other."
"Yes," she breathed, forgetting to hold him away and slipping her arms around his shoulders instead. The moment she did, Tiny cupped the back of her head and met her gaze solemnly.
"We'll talk later," he promised.
"Later," Mirabeau agreed, just before his mouth covered hers. His kiss was hot and demanding, and Mirabeau moaned as her body came to roaring life. She then gasped as he caught her by the behind and lifted her up before shifting his hold to her thighs so that her legs shifted around his waist. Mirabeau instinctively hooked her ankles around his back, then gasped and bit his lip as he began to walk across the bedroom, and their bodies rubbed together, bringing on an almost painful need.
When he reached the bed, Tiny set her down on her feet, then quickly and methodically stripped off the tank top she wore. Just as she was reaching to remove his own top, he gave her a push that sent her dropping back onto the bed. He then immediately bent and caught the waistband of her joggers to tug them off quickly. Once he had her nak*d, Tiny paused to look her over, one hand sliding gently along her heated skin, making her eyes droop to half-mast and her body shiver with pleasure. Mirabeau reached for him then, wanting to feel him on top of her, but he withdrew with a chuckle and straightened, leaving her to watch as he stripped off his own clothes.
As she watched first his T-shirt, then his own joggers hit the floor, Mirabeau traced the outline of his body with hungry eyes and knew it would be a long time before they had that talk...a very long time. Perhaps after their first child...or the second, she thought, as he came down on top of her, his body firm and hard. And then his mouth covered hers and his hands began to move over her and she stopped thinking altogether and put her trust in the nanos.