Inferno - Chelle Bliss by Chelle Bliss

I shake my head. “I mean all of it.”

“You want to paint the entire house black?”

I’d laugh if it weren’t such a serious question I was trying to ask him. “I mean this.” I lift my hands, waving them around, “Us. It’s a big change for you. I kind of landed in your lap.”

Stone’s eyes flash, and his face changes. He reaches out, gently cupping my face in his giant hand as he gazes into my eyes. “Sure, it’s a change to how I used to be, but I’m not that dumbass kid anymore. I’m a man, and when I see something I want, I go after it. I know what I want, and it’s you, Opal. You may have walked into my shop without any idea of what was going to happen and how that night would change both our lives, but I wouldn’t change a damn thing because it brought you and me here to this moment together. This was meant to be. I don’t do anything I don’t want to do, and I want you here. I want you with me. No more asking that question.”

My stomach flutters at his words. I’ve heard them before, but today, I feel them. “Black, it is,” I say, trying to break the seriousness of the moment.

“Are you sure you want this?” he asks me.

I snake my arms over his shoulders and around his neck. “I’ve never wanted anything more, Stone. I finally feel like I have a man who loves and cares for me and a family that thinks of me as one of their own.”

“My family loves you.”

I smile, knowing those words are the truth. “There’s nowhere else I’d rather be.”

“Because you want to be with me, or you want to be with them?”

“You, handsome,” I tell him, toying with the hair near his neck, “but they’re a bonus.”

“Are you done questioning how I feel?”

I nod.

“I don’t do shit unless I want to. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t want to be here. I wouldn’t be with you if I didn’t want to be with you. You may have landed in my lap, but it’s where you were always meant to be.”

“Okay,” I whisper.

“Okay.” He smiles, pulling me in for a kiss.

I close my eyes as he presses his mouth to mine. I lean into him, letting my body relax against him, giving him all of my weight.

“Hello,” Gigi calls from the front door.

“I hope they’re not doing the naked tango,” Lily says as Stone breaks our kiss.

He rolls his eyes. “She’s so weird.”

“I love her,” I tell him, laughing at her use of words.

“What’s wrong with you?” Tamara says, clearly talking to Lily. “Who calls it that?”

“I do,” Lily replies.

“You sure you want to be part of this family?”

I nod. “More than anything.”

“You’re a weirdo too,” Stone teases, pulling me out of the room with his arm slung around my shoulder.

If this is what it means to be weird, the last thing I want is to be normal. I’ve never felt so welcomed and loved as I do now.

“There she is,” Gigi says as soon as we walk down the hallway.

Tamara jerks her head back when her gaze lands on me. “Holy fuck.”

Lily elbows her in the side. “Way to play it cool, Tam.”

Tamara glances down and rocks back on her heels. “I’m sorry, Opal.”

“Don’t be. I said the same thing when I looked in the mirror. I look worse than yesterday.”

“It’s part of the healing process,” Lily tells Opal as she sets down a pink bag on the coffee table. “But we have everything you need to at least hide it.”

“You don’t want to scare small children,” Tamara adds with a small snicker.

Lily turns an icy glare at her cousin. “Really?”

Tamara shrugs with a smirk. “Stop being so damn serious and touchy, Lil.”

“It’s okay,” I tell Lily. “I don’t think she’s trying to be mean.”

“She’s mean naturally,” Gigi says. “Bitch has always had a problem with verbal vomit.”

Other people may take offense to Tamara, but I’ve been around this family enough to understand this is who they are and how they talk to one another. Nothing is done with malice.

“I have not,” Tamara argues, plopping down on the couch.

“Babe,” Gigi says and clears her throat, taking the seat next to Tamara. “I can name a half dozen times we almost ended up in a barroom brawl because of your big mouth.”

Tamara touches her chest, looking far too innocent. “My mouth?” She laughs. “You aren’t spewing puppies and sunshine out of your hole.”

“I should’ve told them no,” Stone whispers.

I slide my arm around his waist, resting my head against his bicep. “What fun would that be?”

“We could be doing the naked tango instead of listening to them bicker.”

I giggle at his use of his sister’s term. “There’s always later.”

He shakes his head. “Your body’s been through enough. You need to give it time to heal.”

“My body is fine. It’s my face that isn’t.”

His green eyes move across my face, soaking in the horrific scene. “Your face is still beautiful.”