Page 52 of Fire
I fucking can’t take this anymore.
I put my hand over his mouth. “I want us to move in there together.”
Evan’s whole body goes still and his eyes go huge. He mumbles something against my hand.
“I’m only taking my hand off your mouth if that’s a yes,” I tell him.
He mumbles again, and I move my hand. “Well?”
“I thought you were a rolling stone?” He swallows. “You told me that you needed to get to the next place on the map.”
“I felt that way for a long time. The bad shit I did in the past has been a heavy load I carried for a long time and will probably carry my whole life, but meeting you?—”
“Meeting me, what?”
“Made me want to deserve you.” I lean in to kiss him but pull back before I can get carried away. “And it even convinced me that maybe I deserved you too.”
His eyes go soft at my words. “I told myself not to be greedy. You admitted you had feelings for me, and that would be more than enough.”
“No.” I grab his hand. “I told you, I love you.”
He nods. “I promised myself that. I wouldn’t be too needy and need more from you than you could give. We could have an open arrangement, and I could travel to see you when you weren’t too busy. That loving you would mean I couldn’t hold you tightly to me.”
“Open relationship?” I can’t help growling. “Is that what you want.”
He looks down, and I take his jaw in my hand and force him to meet my gaze. “Do you?”
“No,” he admits mournfully, almost like he thinks I’ll be upset with his answer when it’s the exact opposite.
“Good,” I tell him. “Because the last thing I’m willing to do is share you, and I sure as hell don’t want anybody else in my bed but you.”
He lets out a long sigh of relief as his body relaxes against mine. “I think we need to do a little more work on what exactly you think you deserve,” I tease. “Expecting your boyfriend to be monogamous and stick around is just the bare minimum. I can’t wait to show you everything else you deserve from someone who loves you.”
His whole face lights up into a smile. “Did you say,boyfriend?”
“Oh yeah.” I nod and let my thumb trace his cheekbone. “That’s my title, along with personal, full-time bodyguard.”
“Wait. What?”
“You heard me. I’m ready to settle down and open a permanent yoga studio in Chicago. I’ll help Cash and Johnny with dismantling Patriots Now, and I might take on random assignments for Grave when it satisfies my need to help. But my full-time job will be protecting my investigative journalist boyfriend from harm.”
“What happens when Patriots Now gets taken down just like the Reivers, and I’m out of danger completely?” Evan asks, a hint of insecurity in his question. From now on, I plan on squashing that insecurity in its tracks until he can learn to trust my feelings for him aren’t going away.
I smile. “I don’t doubt by then, you’ll have pissed off a powerful politician by exposing he’s taking bribes, or a corporation wants to shut you up when you discover they’re dumping carcinogens in the local water source.” I lean down to kiss him “I’m betting the winning odds that making sure you’re safe might offer me lifetime employment.”
“Lifetime?” he repeats in awe.
I lock my eyes to his. “Just try getting rid of me.”
Epilogue
Evan
I let myself into Luca’s studio from the back entrance and put several bags of food in the small fridge Luca uses for water bottles and health drinks. I’d spent the afternoon with Dream, and he’d sent me home with dinner from the restaurant.
Which is good My cooking skills have improved a little bit since the cabin. I can do more than heat soup, but I don’t want to spend tonight chopping vegetables and simmering something on the stove.
The only thing I want to heat up tonight is Luca.
