Page 134 of Security and Submission
“No!” Yas glared at him, as if it was his fault she’d missed the obvious. She tossed her head, making her hair bounce around her shoulders. The blue silk top she was wearing under her jacket made a nice contrast to the dark black of her hair. “How did you know? You met them like, twice!”
“And both times it was very obvious that there was something going on between them.” He felt his lips quirk in amusement at Yas’ annoyance with him. “I think the real question is, how did you miss it?”
She scowled at him, huffing.
“Fine. Obviously, I was oblivious to something happening right under my nose. Hasn’t been the first time.” She tossed her head. “In my defense, I was a little distracted by my own secret relationship. And Pete James. And then being shot.”
“You had plenty of good reasons for being distracted.” He couldn’t help but chuckle as he shoved the pan in the oven, moving around the counter so he could put his arms around her. Yas turned toward him on the stool she was sitting on, smiling when she was able to reach for him with both arms. While she would be in physical therapy to get all the motion back in her shoulder, her pain was pretty much gone, and she was able to move her arm well enough to hold him.
Which she took great delight in doing.
Zeus liked feeling her holding him, too. Leaning down, he brushed his lips over hers, holding her body with one arm, while cupping her face with his other hand, sliding his fingers along her jaw and back into her hair. Yas hummed against his lips as he gave her ponytail a tug.
When he opened his eyes and looked down at her, her dark gaze was shining with need. Fuck. His dick started to harden immediately. He hadn’t meant to get things started yet, but…
“Were you a good girl today, Yas?”
“I’m always a good girl,” she lied, grinning up at him.
Zeus laughed.
“Did you lift anything you weren’t supposed to?”
“No, Sir. I really was a good girl today.” She stressed the final word, which made him laugh again.
Despite everything going on at work, the fact that there hadn’t been any movement on the investigation into the sniper at the women’s shelter or who was behind the shooting at Macleod’s brunch—much less whether they were the same person—Zeus had been smiling and laughing more in the past few weeks than he had in his entire life. And it was all due to Yas.
Well, mostly due to Yas. Though he had a feeling the way the team now fully accepted him had a lot to do with her, too. Lincoln was pleased at the way they were all working together. He hadn’t heard from his parents since that last time. And Yas had been living in his house for weeks now without making any noise about wanting to move home.
Even with her sling off.
“Good.” He tugged her ponytail again and watched her pupils dilate. “Yas.”
“Yes?” She tilted her head back to look at him, a dreamy smile on her lips.
“What would you think about moving in here? Officially. Not just staying here.” If she said no, he’d accept that, but he wanted to make the offer. He didn’t want her to leave. This way, whichever way she was leaning would be out in the open.
“Really?” The cautious delight in her voice seemed like a good sign. “It’s… it’s not too soon?”
“You’ve basically been living here already. Most of your clothes are here at this point.” His lips quirked. “It might be too soon, but the truth is, I don’t want you to go.”
“I don’t want to go, either.” She bit her lip, as though she was thinking about it.
“You don’t have to say yes right now. I just wanted to bring it up as an option. So that you knew before you started having crazy thoughts like you have to move home just because your sling is off.” He smiled because she wrinkled her nose in that way she did when he called her out on her thoughts. “I don’t want you to go.”
Fuck. This was a harder lead-up than he’d thought it would be.
The words were hovering, right there. Ready to be said. Waiting to be said. But he was having trouble getting them from his thoughts to his mouth.
“I don’t want to go, either.” She tilted her head at him. “I… we haven’t really talked about the future. And I don’t want us to get too deep into the weeds. I don’t think I’m cursed anymore. Probably. I’m pretty sure I’m not. Just so you know, if you dump me, I will do everything in my power to make sure you don’t marry your next girlfriend, even though I have no idea what that would look like. I’m petty like that.”
“Have you ever done that with any of your other exes?”
“No. But I’m sure I could figure something out. Claudia would help me.”
Wasn’t that a scary thought?
Still, kind of nice to know that he’d merit that special attention.
