“But we were dating before this happened.”
“I’ve been too personally invested.”
“How can you be so calm about this?”
“My sergeant is a decent guy. He’s made his point, and I’ll be on a short leash for a bit, but everything will work itself out.”
I took my glasses off and scrubbed my face hard with my hands. “I’m an awful boyfriend,” I mumbled into my palms.
“Don’t be silly.”
I looked up at Calvin’s blurry figure. “How could you possibly not agree after all this? After getting in trouble with your boss?”
Calvin let out a quiet sigh and pushed his plate aside. He stood, and I thought maybe he was going to walk away, but instead he crouched down in front of me and took my hands into his. “Sebastian. I’ve never had anyone fight like you do to love me. I can’t… begin to explain what it feels like… to be so broken inside that happiness with another man seems impossible. And then you come barging in, forcing me to rethink everything I had convinced myself of.”
I squeezed Calvin’s hands. No matter what he thought of himself, there was no one I knew who was stronger or braver than he was. Not in a moment like this.
“But even if you do stupid things—and, sweetheart, you are the king of bad ideas—you haven’t given up on me, and maybe… that isn’t….”
“Stupid?” I supplied quietly.
Calvin’s mouth worked into not quite a smile, but not quite a frown. “Yeah.” He looked down at our hands. “It scares the hell out of me,” he whispered. “To talk about this, or—or getting lost in the system if I reach out for help. It scares me to stop working as much as I do, because what if it opens a floodgate? What if I turn into a vet who can’t control his anger or fear and I hurt you?”
“Calvin—”
He raised my hands up and kissed the knuckles gently. “All I mean to say is, you make me happy, Sebastian. And that to me is the sign of a damn good partner.”
I pulled my hands away and moved them up to cup Calvin’s face before I leaned down to kiss him. “You make me happy too.” I got down from my chair to be eye level with him. “Can I tell you something lame?”
“Sure.”
“If none of this crap had ruined the holiday, I was going to ask if you’d go on a really over-the-top, painfully romantic date with me.”
Sitting this close, I could see Calvin slowly smile, and then he chuckled. “Whypainfullyromantic?”
“I’ve always wanted to do the whole dinner and flowers and stuff,” I said, shrugging.
“You should have told me,” Calvin said simply.
“Yeah, but I wanted you to enjoy being all gushy in love with me, not just put up with it.”
“I’d like it.”
I felt my face heat up. “Oh. I guess I’ll keep that in mind for next year.”
“There’s still this year,” Calvin offered.
“Valentine’s Day is tomorrow. There’s no way we’ll find reservations at a nice restaurant, and you’ll undoubtedly be busy.”
“So we’ll have our own little date tonight.” Calvin reached over to the table and retrieved my glasses, then slid them back onto my face. “We had some nice room service.”
“I should have ordered something classier,” I stated glumly.
“We’re in an expensive hotel.”
“Were there mints on the pillows?”
Calvin glanced over his shoulder at the bedroom door. “I don’t think so.”
