They were woken the next morning by the jarring sound of his cell phone. The fire had died out during the night and the room was chilled, except for the bed. Their warmth combined made it nice and toasty. Robin stretched and curled her toes. Her body ached slightly from the ferocity of the previous night’s lovemaking, and she adored every second of it. Hal was talking to someone on the phone, but she had no idea who it was.

When a knock sounded at the door, she shoved the blankets aside and pulled on the white fluffy robe that was exactly where she’d left it on Samhain. She slipped her arms in and tied it tightly around her waist before answering the door.

Room service was outside with a rolling cart full of breakfast foods.

The smell of bacon, sausage, eggs, and something sweet curled around her, making her stomach growl. It was embarrassingly loud, and she blushed as she thanked the young woman who delivered the cart.

“Hold on, let me get you a tip,” she said as she turned to the clothes that had been abandoned on the floor the previous evening.

“No need, everything is already taken care of,” the young woman said politely.

When Robin turned back around, she found the woman staring at Hal, who was sitting naked in bed, with just a strip of blanket covering everything that needed to be covered. His olive skin practically glowed in the morning light. The young woman was almost drooling, and when Robin glanced over her shoulder at her soulmate, she discovered that he was in the middle of pushing some of his gorgeous hair out of his face. His bicep curled, showing off his strength. That combined with his bodybuilder physique of thick, hard muscles would be enough to make any woman take a second glance, and probably a third. While before she may have been threatened by the woman’s lust for her man, even though she would never admit to it, now she brushed it off. He was hers, confirmed by his song, so the woman could look as much as she wanted.

“Sexy, isn’t he?”

She startled. “Sorry, I didn’t mean—”

“It’s okay,” Robin said as the young woman’s face turned bright red with embarrassment. “If I were you, I’d look too.”

“Thank you, and sorry again.” She backed out and closed the door behind her.

By the time Robin had wheeled the cart over to the bed, Hal was off the phone.

“You know, it’s really unfair what you do to women.” She came over and stood between his legs.

“And what’s that?” He chuckled.

“As if you don’t know! Just look at yourself. You’re probably the most handsome man she’d ever seen, and she knew you were naked. Just a small slip and that blanket could have exposed everything.” Robin’s fingers walked down his chest toward the blanket that sat across his lap, dipping underneath it and playing with the curls just above his rapidly growing cock.

“What’s unfair is what you do to me,” he growled, pushing the side of the bath robe so her breast was exposed. He gripped her ass and pulled her against him, sending shivers of electricity through her. When he sucked on one of her nipples, her head fell back and she was awash in pleasure.

“By the gods, I could take you again, but unfortunately we don’t have time.”

“We don’t?” she asked, panting slightly.

“Aiden just called. Two of your fae friends want to go to the US, but they don’t have any way of getting there within the mortal realm. So, Alec is meeting us downstairs and we are going to split them up and jump us all back there.”

“Awww, okay.” She sighed.

“Come on, eat up.” Hal pulled the lids off some of the dishes, revealing the traditional Irish breakfast foods of sausage, bacon, eggs, mushrooms, potatoes, black pudding and white pudding, and soda bread. There was a hot kettle on the second shelf and a carafe of orange juice. She hadn’t realized it until she could smell and see the food, but she was famished.

As they were getting ready to leave after breakfast, Hal handed her a giant monstrosity of a coat. “What am I supposed to do with this?”

“It’s colder on the island than it is here, so I’m making sure you’re warm.” He shrugged as though this type of coat was normal.

Robin had never seen anything like it. Holding the thick, puffy slate gray material up to her body, she could tell it was almost ankle length, with tight cuffs at the wrists and a hood lined thickly with faux fur. Even the collar of the coat came up to her nose when done up.

“Are you taking me to the arctic?”

“No, but I wanted you to be prepared.” He hesitated. “You haven’t experienced a winter in a while, so it might shock you how cold it gets.”

Her mind flashed back to living in the tiny room at Eclipse. She’d looked out of her window many times and seen the snow and holiday decorations, and had watched as the holiday lights weren’t lit anymore and the snow turned to brown mush. While she’d wished she could be out in it, she knew she would freeze her butt off. She was lean by nature, taking after her mom, but as Randall had restricted what she could eat or forced her to work out more, that leanness turned into skinny, if a little strong. The wind on the island could cut through her as it was, so she hesitated before letting a retort fly. The island probably did get mighty cold, and Hal was just trying to look after her.

She leaned up and pulled his head down to hers so she could give him a quick peck. “Thank you.”

He glowed at her acceptance of his gift. “You’re welcome.”

They left the room and made their way to the patio area where Alec and the fae were meeting them, with a quick stop along the way to thank the hotel staff. The lyrical Irish voices carried Robin away on a wave of contentment as they exited the building. She couldn’t remember ever being this happy before.

Alec was standing there with his usual understated swagger, talking to the two young fae.

“Here they are!” he crowed as they approached, giving Robin a onceover and grinning at the potato sack of a coat she was wearing.

“Morning!” Hal smiled and clapped his brother on his shoulder. “Thanks for your help.”

“No worries. So, talking with them, Bran wants to go to Florida.” He glanced over, and Bran nodded with a wide smile. “And Aoife wants to go to New York.”

She smiled and nodded in turn.

“I’ll take Bran to Florida, if it’s easier for you, and you can take Aoife to New York, and then you and Robin can head home. Sound good?”

“Are you sure it’s wise to split up like that?”

“It’s only going to be for a couple days,” Aoife said with an impish grin. “Besides, we’re a lot older—”

“And more powerful,” Bran jumped in.

“—than we look.” She sighed and shook her head at the other fae. “We will be fine, promise.”

With that decided, they all split up. Robin clung to Hal while he placed his other arm on Aoife’s shoulder. Within moments, they were surrounded by the loud honking and raised voices of New York City.

“You okay from here?” Hal asked.

“I think so.”

“Listen, if you need anything, just use this. It will connect you to us,” Robin said, handing over her phone. She showed her quickly which button to press and how to make a call.

Aoife was blown away by the technology that was apparent all around her in the city, and Robin had the feeling that the fae woman would probably be glued to the sidewalk for a while as she played with the phone. Robin couldn’t help it and gave the woman a quick hug before Hal teleported them home.

She knew she shouldn’t have been surprised that he was right, but when the world rematerialized around them, the cold air sucked her breath away and she immediately started shivering. He could have just jumped them straight to the cabin, but she knew he’d wanted her to see the island in all its splendor. And what a lot of splendor there was.

Snow coated the branches of the thick pine trees, and the lake in front of the cabin was almost completely frozen. The ground glittered like spilled diamonds in the sunlight. The roar of the ocean drew her gaze, and she realized even the water looked cold. While the tips of the waves might have shone in the sun, the rest of the water was a dark teal-blue color that sent another shiver running through her. Before she could properly take it all in, the wind gusted up the side of the large hill his cabin was positioned on top of, and the snow was swept up all around her, swirling through the air like millions of tiny dancers.

“Welcome to your own personal winter wonderland,” Hal whispered in her ear, his hot breath almost scalding the delicate flesh. His thick arms wrapped around her and pulled her close. “I hope you like it.”

“It’s gorgeous. I’ve never seen anything like it.” It was the truth. The only snow she’d seen before that was even close to this was through an office window, but this was something else entirely. Snow began to flurry overhead in earnest, not just because the wind whipped it up, and as she tilted her head upward, tiny snowflakes landed on her face. She spun around in his arms so she could face him, her cold nose rubbing against his as he bent down to kiss her.

His kiss was slow and sensual and scorching hot. Their tongues twined together as the kiss filled with the promise of pleasure to come. By the time they broke apart, she shivered for a completely different reason, one that had nothing to do with the cold and everything to do with the toe-curling pleasure she knew was heading her way.

“Come on, let’s go home.”

They turned and walked toward the cabin, the lights inside glowing amber against the white of the snow and the purpley-blue of the sky. The trees around it seemed to sway in the breeze, as though they were waving to her in welcome. She was full to the brim with a mix of joy, love, and the simple feeling of being home. As she looked across at the man who held her heart, she knew that while they may call this building home, the only home they both truly cared about was in each other’s arms.