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Edward grunted when Daniel hurled himself at him, wrapping his arms tight around his neck. “Ignore all those guys downstairs. Apparently, it was hard to keep them from flying out to Paris to help me.”
“They did seem a little…protective.”
Daniel tightened his arms. Edward’s arms came tight around him too, and it wasn’t his imagination that something in the man seemed to release then—some tension he’d been carrying.
“I guess you’re happy to see me,” he said, tightening his arms.
“You said you’d try to visit, but I didn’t believe you’d ever be able to.” Daniel kissed his neck. “I can’t believe you’re really here. Fuck, I missed you.”
“I missed you, too.” Edward pulled back enough to meet his lips. The kiss started out soft, but grew hot fast. Everything in Daniel was tingling with excitement. He stopped the kiss to cup the sides of Edward’s face and stare at him. “Edward,” he whispered.
“About that,” Edward started with a small smile. “My name is actually Brandt. Brandt Warren.”
Brandt. His real name was Brandt.
“That will take some getting used to. I can’t believe you’re here,” he repeated. “How long can you stay?”
“Well, about that…” Brandt loosened his arms but didn’t let go of Daniel. “I’m hoping indefinitely.”
This time, Daniel pulled away. He stepped back, his heart suddenly in his throat. “What do you mean?”
Brandt shrugged, his hands going into his pockets. “I left my job. Someone showed me that there’s more to life and that maybe I didn’t like who I had become. I met someone important enough to me to make changes.”
Completely floored, Daniel could only stare at him a few moments. “What will you do now?”
“Don’t know. Maybe I’ll look into security, but for now, I have decent savings and I want to spend some time getting to know you. It would be nice to know you in your regular life and not on the run.” He paused. “If that’s what you want, too, of course.”
“Just like that? You’re going to what? Move here?”
“This is as good a place as any. No, I take that back. You’re here. So, I can’t imagine a better place to start this new chapter in my life.”
“Does this mean you have feelings for me, Ed—Brandt?” He frowned. “I’ll have to get used to that name.”
Brandt took a step closer to him. “Yes, Daniel Hendricks, I have feelings for you. I fell in love with you and couldn’t see spending the rest of my life out there somewhere without you in it. If you feel even close to the same, I’d like us to get to know each other better without all the lies.”
Daniel was nodding before he even stopped speaking. “Yes! I fell in love with you, too. I’ve missed you so much these last three months, you have no idea.”
“I think I do.” He tugged him back into his arms and speared his fingers into the hair on the sides of Daniel’s head. His kiss was soft, searching, and then it deepened when Daniel gave a moan. He couldn’t believe this man was here and that he planned to stick around.
Several kisses later, Daniel looked at Brandt, knowing his heart was probably in his eyes and not caring in the least. “Where are you staying?”
“I have a hotel not too far from here. I was going to wait and come to your apartment tonight, but I got impatient. I hope it’s okay that I came to your work.”
“Of course it is. I’m just reeling over all this. You really left your job?”
“I did. It was time. I’ve been thinking of retiring, but I never had a compelling enough reason to take the step. Now I do.”
All kinds of possibilities suddenly went through Daniel’s mind so fast, he felt dizzy with it all. He thought of his quiet life. “You’re used to traveling, to having wild adventures. You’re probably going to get bored here.”
“I’d still like to travel occasionally, and I can’t think of a better traveling companion because you were so enthusiastic about the places we did get to see. But we didn’t get to explore nearly enough. I’d love to take you back for a better time. One without bullets and car chases.” He winked. “Until then, I’ve earned some time off and the quiet life sounds like heaven to me. Getting to know you sounds like heaven.”
The happiness that coursed through Daniel threatened to take him out at the knees. He grinned at Ed-Brandt—that was going to take a while—and walked around to his computer. “I was just told to take the rest of the day off, so let me shut this down. I’ve got tomorrow off too. But I don’t want you to stay at a hotel.”
“I thought I’d look at apartments this weekend.”
