Page 95 of Keeping Laryn
“Tate! I need to talk to him.”
“No, you don’t. You need to go home. Relax for half a second.”
“I agree,” Chuck said. “Don’t worry, we won’t do anything you wouldn’t approve of.”
“You better not,” Laryn said, narrowing her eyes and glaring at the man.
The sergeant simply chuckled.
Casper put his hand on the small of Laryn’s back and pushed her toward the large open bay doors. “If you need anything…don’t call,” he told the sergeant.
“Roger.”
“Ignore him!” Laryn called over her shoulder. “If anything happens, let me know!”
Chuck merely waved, then turned back to the group of men he’d been talking to before being summoned.
“That was rude,” she admonished.
He simply shrugged. “If I let you have your conversation, it would’ve lasted for at least an hour. I simply took the more expedient route.”
“You’re annoying,” she groused, but Casper noticed she didn’t contradict him.
“But you love me anyway,” he told her with a smirk.
“Yeah, I do.”
Her words sunk in as they stepped outside, and Casper stopped in his tracks. “What?”
“What, what?” Laryn asked, looking around in alarm.
Casper took her face in his hands and tilted her chin up, so she had no choice but to look him in the eyes. “What did you just say?”
“Um…I don’t know?”
“You love me?” he asked, feeling uncertain and off-kilter for some reason.
She chuckled a little nervously, then shrugged. “Oh. Yeah.”
“You love me.” This time it wasn’t a question.
“Tate, I’ve loved you for years. We’ve talked about this. It’s why I was looking for another job. Because being around you and having you not even know I existed was becoming too painful.”
Without a word, Casper took Laryn’s hand in his own and strode faster toward his car.
“Tate! What’s the rush?”
At the passenger side, Casper turned and pressed her against the metal. He leaned in and said, “The rush is that I want to get the woman I love, who loves me back, to my apartment. My bed. I want to make love to her and show her in a million different ways how sorry I am that I didn’t see the best thing in my life was right in front of me for years. Make sure she knows that from here on out, she comes first in my life. Before my job, before my team, before any kids we might have. You’re my everything, Laryn Hardy. I’ll spend the rest of my life making the last three years up to you if you’ll let me.”
“Tate,” Laryn whispered as tears filled her eyes.
“No crying,” he admonished, not able to stomach seeing her tears, even if they were happy ones.
“Sorry,” she said with a sniff.
Casper wiped the wetness from her cheeks. “I love you, Laryn. So much it should scare me. But instead, it just feels right.”
“Same.”
