Page 100 of Love at First Rep

Garrett was asking him?

“Uh, I left that up to you, remember? I’ll do whatever you want.”

“I know that, but I’d like to know your opinion. Take me out of the equation for a second. What is the team doing next? Is there another mission lined up?”

Rafe shook his head. “We’re going to do a deeper scrub of all the intel we collected from this mission to see if it leads anywhere. We’re gonna keep trying to track down the drug supplier, but we need to find a direction first. Other than that, the team has a bunch of small jobs that we do solo or in pairs until there’s an operation that requires everyone. McHugh took me out of that rotation while I did this job, so I don’t have anything in the works.”

Garrett didn’t say anything. Instead, he stared at their joined hands resting on Garrett’s jean-clad thigh.

A squeeze to his hand got him talking. “What are the options, exactly?”

Rafe leaned forward to place his beer on the coffee table in front of them. When he sat back, he wrapped his free hand around their joined hands.

“You could stay, and nothing about your previous life would change except you’d get me as a roommate, unless you’d rather I find my own place. You could retire from the force and officially join the team. We could keep your house as a home base, though.”

Garrett drained his beer and set the empty bottle on the table next to Rafe’s, then rested his free hand on top of Rafe’s, his thumb grazing the skin.

Garrett stared at their combined hands and then gazed around the room, where his friends filled every corner. After releasing a shaky exhale, he turned to Rafe with unshed tears in his eyes.

“Working as a detective, I could take or leave. I get a thrill from solving murders and catching killers, saving lives, but it’s not like you guys don’t do similar things. I could get the same fulfillment working with your team. It’s not work that’s making me want to stay.” He paused and ran a hand through his hair. “When I was a kid, I didn’t know what it was like to have a family. Jumping from foster home to foster home made it impossible to make connections with anyone, and most of them didn’t want anything to do with me. I didn’t know what a family was,” Garrett said. He glanced around the room before turning back to Rafe. “Now I do. These guys are my family, and I don’t want to leave them behind. But then I look at you and your team, and I know you guys share the same thing. I can’t ask you to leave that family either, and I think they could grow to become mine too. I wish I could have it both ways.”

Rafe narrowed his eyes. “What makes you think you can’t?”

Garrett blinked. “I-I can?”

“It’s not like there’s a union for mercenaries or an employee manual we have to abide by. There are no rules to this job. If you want to join the team part-time and spend the rest of your time solving murders in South Jersey, we can do that. If you want to pick and choose missions as they come, we can do that too. Going into this mission, I told McHugh and the team I might walk away at the end of it to be with you. If there’s a chance for McHugh to keep me and add a skilled detective to his team, he’ll compromise. We can figure something out that will make everyone happy. We can have it all.”

Light entered Garrett’s eyes. He flashed that devastating smile that always left Rafe a bit winded.

Garrett squeezed their pile of hands and leaned forward to drop a kiss on Rafe’s lips. Then he said the words Rafe had waited nearly twenty years to hear.

“Okay. Let’s have it all.”

31

RAFE WAITED EAGERLY FOR Garrett to open his front door, giving himself one final pep talk.

I’ve got this.

It’s just Garrett.

I know him better than anyone else in the world.

A date is not a big deal when I’m already in love with the guy and he’s in love with me.

So what if it’s our first date? I’m going to nail this.

He gave himself a shake and smoothed a hand over his button-down shirt as heavy footsteps approached the door. It swung open to reveal Garrett dressed for a night out on the town. In jeans that hugged his muscles just right and a sweater that looked soft enough to cuddle with, he looked good enough to eat.

The only thing he’d change was the quizzical look on Garrett’s face.

“Uh, Rafe? Why are you ringing the doorbell?”

“I’m picking you up for our date, of course,” Rafe answered, beaming at the love of his life.

Amusement danced on Garrett’s lips as his frown turned upside down. “You were just inside five minutes ago. You really left the house just so you could ring the doorbell?”

“Yup,” he said with a firm nod. “I’m going to treat you to the best first date ever.”