Reverence

to my chest tightly. I felt good for bringing her down from the ledge. It was my job to protect her, even when it was from herself.
    I could feel her breaths on my neck and had to hold myself back as I always did. I opened my eyes to find Jonathon still standing there. I ticked my head toward the hall to tell him to get lost. He cleared his throat and did just that.
    I leaned back to rest us against the wall, but it was the stairwell door instead. I heard my "Crap!" but it was too late. I held her tighter as we tumbled back to the floor and landed on my butt with her in my lap. She was giggling before I could even get what had happened. I chuckled, too, and smoothed her hair back. I toyed with a piece between my fingers. It was so stinking soft. "Woops."
    She laughed and put her hand on my cheek, shifting to straddle me on the floor. "Silly boy," she said softly.
    I gripped her hips and tried to remember that she needed me because she was upset. But Maggie on my lap… My imprinted body was done with being the good guy in this department. It wanted her. All of her.
    She sobered a bit then and licked her lips. "I'm sorry."
    "You don't have to be sorry, baby. That's the point." I took her face in my hands. "It was a tragedy, not a vision that you could stop."
    I saw a flash of worry and the vision of Bish and Jen play through her mind before she said, "I know."
    "You're overwhelmed by everything. I understand. Just don't push me away when all I want to do is be here."
    She leaned forward and pressed a kiss to my chin. She looked up at me from under her lashes and I barely suppressed my groan and she leaned forward to kiss me where I wanted her. I let my hands travel to her hips, tugging her a tad closer, and then told them to stay.
    Stay, hands, stay right there.
    The kiss was over too quickly for me, but I knew that Maggie was still hurting. I rubbed her soft arms, letting her be calmed and eased back into reality, until she was ready to go.
I helped her stand and we turned the corner only to run into Jonathon again. "Dude?" I said in annoyance.
    "Wait," Maggie said and I saw it all play out in her mind. She took Jonathon's arm and peeked around the corner, all business.
    She was the Visionary and she was so freaking good at it.
    Then I saw who Maggie was waiting for. Rodney's significant, the girl who Maggie had talked to and learned what she was, came around the corner with some papers in her hands. She was fully engrossed in her reading and didn't look up. Maggie stopped and pushed Jonathon to be in front of her. The girl looked up just in time to see him and jumped back to avoid the collision and giggled in embarrassment. But Jonathon, the ever clingy guy, grabbed onto her arms to keep her from falling.
    And the imprint started with bursts and shivers as I watched in Maggie's mind and we held onto each other and remembered our own imprint. The day I damned the girl I wanted so badly and got the love of my life all in the same moment.
    The day she became my girl.
    I whispered how amazing she was into her ear. She had to have grown tired of my saying it, but I couldn't stop. Maggie was torn between a fulfillment of watching her subjects follow their destiny and the sadness going on in her own life. I held her tighter and felt her gratitude.
    "I'll always be here to hold you together," I told her with conviction.
    She turned and pulled me down to her. And as I let her control me and my lips, my hands found their favorite spot. Her hips. And I told them to freaking stay.
    Stay, hands, stay right there.

Sneak Peek

    Caleb came up behind me as I stood in his apartment in front of the stove. "You cooked supper?" he asked and sniffed the air over my shoulder from behind. "Smells good."
    "It's your mom's Shepherd's Pie," I explained and turned to him. "She gave me the recipe and a few pointers."
    "I'm sure it's awesome," he murmured and kissed my neck before making his way to my lips. "Did you get anything else done today?" He grinned. "Wedding wise?"
    "Gran fitted me for my dress," I said and sighed. "It's so unbelievably beautiful."
    "I can't wait to see it," he replied in a husky tone. "For now, I'll settle with fruit shorts." He squeezed my hips in his hands. "Bananas tonight, huh?"
    "Yeah," I breathed as he inched closer. "I heard they were your favorite."
    "To be absolutely honest, Maggie," he stopped when there was no more space between us, just cotton and denim separated all of him from all of me, "they are my