The question was put to Kane.
“Buy your girl two stars?” he suggested.
Alec scoffed. “It wouldn’t be impressive since buying a star has already been done by the little bastard.”
“You could buy me a black hole,” Keela suggested. “I get sucked into one whenever you start talkin’, so it’d be perfect.”
I cracked up with laughter, and it caused Alec to glare at me. His focus on me only lasted for a moment before he looked at Damien and asked, “Can you buy a black hole?”
I laughed harder, and I snorted which drew a laugh from Kane. That was something I hardly ever heard unless Aideen was humouring him.
“Look at what else is in the box,” Damien urged me.
I did just that.
I removed the tissue from the box and was presented with a thick folder. Inside was another certificate, more documentation, a star map, the personal dedication of my nickname being an actual star, a colour photo of my star, the exact coordinates of my star, and a silver necklace with a heart and star pendent. I scanned my eyes over it all, before I picked up my necklace, and looked up at Damien.
“Will you put it on me?”
He smiled, took my necklace, then placed it on me when I turned and pulled my hair over my shoulder. I shuddered after Damien clasped the necklace shut because he placed a chaste kiss on my neck, but it felt intimate, way too intimate for the group of people watching us. I quickly turned to face Damien, wrapping my arms around his waist and pressing my face against his chest.
“I love it so much,” I gushed. “I can’t believe you bought me a star.”
“Not just any star; a supernova.”
I pulled back. “What’s the difference?”
“A supernova is a star coming to the end of its life; it shines so brightly it can outshine an entire galaxy. It will still be in the sky for thousands of years, but I wanted a star that would outshine the others. I wanted something to represent just how much you mean to me.”
My heart beat so loud and fast that I could hear it in my ears.
“Damien,” I said, softly. “I’ll value it always.”
“I’ll value you always.”
I smiled and closed my eyes when his arms came around me, and he leaned down, resting his forehead against mine.
“I think I’m engaged to the wrong twin.”
I opened my eyes and watched as a smirk plastered itself on Damien’s face.
“This will be good,” he mouthed, making me snicker.
“What?” Nico demanded of Bronagh. “Damien gives Alannah a dying star, and all of a sudden, he is the better twin? Woman, I give you babies.”
I turned in Damien’s arms, resting my back against his chest as I watched the scene unfold before us.
“Your brothers give the girls babies too,” Bronagh said with a snort. “You aren’t anything special.”
She was teasing him; I could tell by the way her lips kept twitching.
“Nothing special?” Nico repeated. “Nothing fucking special?”
“Hey,” Kane chastised. “We have an almost one-year-old at the table.”
We really did. In just three weeks, Jax would turn one, just in time for Christmas.
“Shut up,” Nico said to Kane without taking his eyes off Bronagh. “We’re not done talking about this.”
She grinned. “I look forward to you provin’ how special you are at home.”
“You’re damn right you are.”
I snickered but did my best to cover it up with a cough, but Nico caught it.
“What’s so funny?”
I shrugged. “That she can manipulate you so easily.”
Nico looked from me to Bronagh, then back at me.
“What are you talking about?”
“When you both go home, you’re going to prove how special you are with sex, and that’s exactly what she wants … do you not remember how hot she was for you when she was carryin’ Georgie?” I quizzed. “Jesus, I do. I felt like I needed to spray sanitiser whenever I entered your bloody house.”
Everyone laughed, apart from Nico, who was now focused on a grinning Bronagh.
“You could just tell me you want sex.”
“Where’s the fun in that, big man?”
“Devil,” Nico said, his own lips curving into a smile as he leaned over and kissed Bronagh, then kissed Georgie, who was asleep on her chest.
I turned back to face Damien, and a quick glance down told me he was hard, and it made me want to chuckle. Whenever he touched me, whether it was in a sexual manner or not, he got hard. It was thrilling to know that I made him react that way. Without a word, I discreetly palmed his hardened length through his jeans and smiled sweetly up at him.
That was the straw that broke the camel’s back. One second, I was in the kitchen, and the next, I was thrown over Damien’s shoulder as he all but sprinted out of the room and up the stairs with laughter and cheers following us.
I stumbled when my feet hit the ground in his bedroom on the third floor.
“What in God’s name are you doing, Alannah?”
I placed my hands on either side of my head.
“I’ve a massive head rush.”
“Sit down,” Damien grunted as he led me over to his bed, before he began to pace back and forth in front of me. “Now, tell me, what the fuck are you doing?”
I blinked up at him.
“I have no idea what you’re talkin’ about, Dame.”
He scowled at me as he continued to pace.
“Bullshit,” he quipped. “You grab my dick, and smile up at me with heat in your eyes, and you tell me that you have no idea what I’m talking about?”
“Yup.”
“You’re a liar.” He shook his head. “And you’ve been trying me these last few days.”
“How so?”
“How so?” Damien repeated, bewildered. “How about you suddenly not wearing clothes around the apartment? How about all the unnecessary bending over you do in front of me? How about you practically straddling me in bed before we go to sleep?”
I tilted my head to the side.
“Have I been doin’ all of that?”
“You damn well have, and you know it,” Damien all but growled. “What I don’t know is why!”
I looked up at the ceiling and sighed.
“Men are stupid.”
Silence.
“Excuse me?”
I looked at my boyfriend. “You’re thick.”
“Again—” he blinked “—excuse me?”
I scratched my neck. “I have been doin’ all of the things you listed, and yes, on purpose.”
“I knew it!”
“You caught me, Sherlock.”
Damien paused in front of me, placed his hands on his hips, and frowned down at me.
“You’ve been putting me through hell, you know that, right?”
I rolled my eyes. “You’ve been puttin’ yourself through hell by not touchin’ me.”
“Alannah.” He drew his eyebrows tighter together. “You said we have to go slow, and that’s exactly what I’ve been doing, so of course, I’m going to keep my hands to myself. I’m not doing anything to mess things up between us.”
My lips curved into a smile.
“You’re a sweetheart,” I said to him. “But I’ve been bendin’ over backwards, literally, tryin’ to make you touch me.”
Damien raised one brow. “I’m sorry, what?”
I leaned back onto my elbows and slid my tongue along my lower lip.
“I thought you would realise by now when you’re bein’ seduced by me.”
“Seduced?” Damien choked. “You’ve been seducing me?”
“Apparently, not very well.”
Damien’s lips parted with shock.
“You’ve been playing a game with me.”
My lips twitched. “Only a little one.”
“We agreed on no games.”
“We did—” I nodded “—but I wanted to show you that I wanted to have sex.”