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He leaned in and kissed her. “You can call me anything you want.”
“I want to call you mine.”
“Sounds perfect.” He grabbed hold of her ankles and yanked across the couch until she was flat on her back. “Make sure at the end of the day, you call out my name as I make you come.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck. “I promise. And Jake?”
He nuzzled her neck. “Yeah?”
“I’ll think about the job. I knew if I let you in, that I’d have to make changes.” She glanced at him. “It’s why I was so scared to do it. I didn’t know if I was ready for those changes. This has been my life. It’s all I had.”
He kissed her nose. “You have me now.”
“I know.”
“You’ll love it there, by the way.” He smiled, big and bright. “Cooper’s a great boss. He took over the company earlier this year. His father started it.”
“I said I’d think about it, not take it.”
“I know. And you’ll love it.”
She rolled her eyes, not bothering to fight him on this. The cat jumped on the couch and meowed before inserting his face between them. Tara smiled at the small animal. “What should we call him?”
He reached out to pet the cat, but he hissed at him. Jake glowered at him. “What would you have called that little cat all those years ago, if you’d gotten him?”
She snorted. “Probably Fluffy.”
“Well, then.” Jake scooped the tiny kitten under the belly and held him in the air with one hand. The kitten batted at him with a small paw. Jake rotated him, glaring the whole time. “Fluffy it is—even if he’s more of a killer than a fluff ball.”
She laughed and took him. He cuddled close to her chest and gave a tiny meow. “Looks pretty harmless to me.”
“Yeah. Sure,” he said, watching him warily. Fluffy stared right back at him without blinking. “I’ll grab the supplies out of my car, then we’ll do dinner.”
As he headed for the door, Tara sat and wrapped her arms around her knees. The kitten jumped off the couch, the bell on his collar jingling with each step, and followed Jake. It was funny that he remembered that night in the pet shop so well, because she did, too.
That was the night she realized she loved him, and that’s why she’d given herself to him. When she had walked away from that cat, part of her had felt like it was Jake she left behind. It might have taken a few years and a lot of separation, but she’d gotten everything she wanted. All her dreams had come true…
And then some.
Epilogue
Six months later
Tara slipped behind the wall, her breath held and her body completely still. She wasn’t supposed to be doing stuff like this anymore, but she had to get inside unnoticed. She couldn’t get caught sneaking in, or there would be hell to pay.
After studying the hallway for any sign of movement, she crept down the shadowy stretch of tight walls and glided into the empty office. She had approximately one hour before anyone came back and realized where she was.
And she couldn’t waste a single second.
Reaching into her pocket, she grabbed her phone and turned on the flashlight app. When he’d left the key behind, she couldn’t resist the urge to break into the agency and find out what he had hidden in his locked drawer. If she could locate it, test out the key, and open it, she would discover—
“Hello, sweetheart,” Jake said from somewhere in the shadows. “Looking for something?”
Tara jumped guiltily. “Uh…nope. Not at all.”
“Really?” he asked, his voice gritty.
She cocked her head. “Was this all a ploy to have a reason to punish me later?”
