Chapter 902

"Good, you should blush more often," Cora says on a laugh, bumping her shoulder against her son's. "You've lived far too much of your life without shame."

"My profligate youth!" Jesse sighs, mock nostalgic.

Ella gracefully stands, taking Midnight's finished bowl of ice cream and putting a sack of sweets in its place. Jesse laughs as the girl eagerly digs in, talking to Rafe with a mouth full of caramel as Ella quietly comes to stand with her sister and her nephew.

"So," Ella says, beaming at Jesse. "What are your plans for our little girl here?"

"Ours, is she?" Jesse says, his voice pretending to be full of doubt. "And here I was, thinking she was mine."

"Oh, she's ours,” Ella says, wrinkling her nose at her nephew. "You know I can't resist an orphan. So? Plans? Should we just let her loose in the pantry and let her eat her fill so that she can fatten up a bit?" She looks over her shoulder, letting her eyes move slowly over Midnight's spindly legs, her too-thin wrists and shoulders.

"I'm all for feeding her up," Jesse says with a nod. "But...Ella, could I beg you to please let me have free reign over the roof garden, just for a little bit? I promise not forever but...I need some safe outdoor space and that's the only place that makes sense to me. And it has plumbing which...I'm gonna need."

Ella looks at Jesse like she never imagined that sort of request but then laughs and nods eagerly. "Sure, Jesse," she says. "Whatever it is you need. Now, let me get some more of this," she says, tapping on the side of the ice cream bowl.

"Not too much, Ells," Cora calls after the Queen. "You're going to make her puke, with all that dairy!"

Ella just waves a hand over her shoulder, dismissing the concern, making Jesse laugh.

"So," Cora says, her voice low and a little more serious now.

Jesse turns to her, his smile fading.

"Well?" Cora says, crossing her arms over her chest. "When are you going to ask me about Daphne?"

Jesse sighs, dropping his face and staring at his feet. "How about right now?"

"As good a time as any," Cora says softly, sensing her son's agony and putting her hand on his shoulder, giving it a squeeze.

I lay sprawled naked across my mate's chest, sweaty and panting. His body rises and falls with slow, deep breaths that are very different from the gasps and pants that rang through him just a few minutes ago. I smile, remembering it - how this time unlike last night - we really took our time with each other. Tender, and sweet, and slow...

"How many different ways are there to have sex?" I murmur, wondering it for the first time.

Jackson laughs, soft and low, his fingers playing idly with the ends of my hair. "I have no idea, Ari."

"I guess we'll find out," I say with a happy sigh.

"Why do you ask me?"

"Because you've done this before," I say, turning my head to prop my chin on his chest and grinning up at him.

He huffs another laugh and shakes his head. "Not like, a lot. I'm no Jesse -"

"Is Jesse a sexpert!?" I ask, my eyes flying wide at the idea.

"A...a sexpert?" Jackson asks, going still and staring at me.

I grin back, letting him figure out the roots of the word. When it clicks together a

second later he bursts out laughing.

"I don't know, Ari," Jackson

murmurs, covering his eyes with one hand and shaking his head like he doesn't want that mental image in his head while I continue to laugh. "The way he talks about it, he certainly has had much more sex than me -"

"Has he really?" I ask quietly, eyes still wide. "Wait, when do you talk about this

sort of thing?"

"I don't know, Warrior Track stuff, I guess. Locker rooms."

"And not around me!?"

Jackson drags his hand away from his eyes and smiles down at me. "Yes, Ariel. Explicitly away from you. I have a feeling that your brother and your cousin are quite eager to keep their discussions of sex away from you, and especially as they know they'd involve both of us, don't think they'd want to hear your stories

either."

"That's so unfair," I grumble, laying my cheek down on his chest, fuming a bit.

"How the hell am I supposed to learn stuff?"

My mate's big arm sweeps down my

body, settling below my ass and

scooting me up along his body in flash laugh when I suddenly find myself face-to-face with himnoveldrama