It was easier than I thought it would be. All I had to do was find one for sale, negotiate a down payment I could afford, and pay to change the name on the sign out front. A week after we’re back in Harmony Heights, I get a phone call that the title’s been changed and the electrician finished installing the light-up sign on the front of the building. Because I want to show it to my husband before he rides by it and sees it himself, I insist on the two of us taking a drive downtown after dinner.
There isn’t anything that I can ask him that he won’t give me. Is he curious? Of course he is. But when I direct him to park on a street two blocks away, he just smile at me, then does it.
Now we’re walking hand-in-hand down Main Street when I tug him toward the building on the corner. Squeezing his fingers, I keep on pulling him until we reach the garage bay door. It’s evening, the red lights gleaming over our head.
I tilt my face. “Look.”
Humoring me, Sebastien does—and then he drops his gaze to look down at me.
“Annaliese?”
I can barely hide my excitement. “Do you like it?” Please, please, please like it…
His lips part. He works his jaw. For a moment, he’s silent, and then he croaks out: “It say Reynolds Garage.”
I untangle our fingers, clutching the upper arm of his leather jacket instead. “It’s yours!”
“Mine?”
“I bought it for you,” I tell him.
He turns. His eyes—Jesus—his eyes are wide, stunned, bright with something I can’t quite name. “You… bought it. For me?”
“A down payment,” I amend quickly, suddenly feeling shy. Does he like it? “With the paycheck you gave me from Alexandre’s party. I?—”
He shakes his head slowly, like he can’t process the words. “You bought me agarage.”
“You said it’s what you wanted. It was your dream. But you thought the Order couldn’t let you have it.” My throat tightens as I echo what he told me before we went to the mountain. “‘The Order rules my life. It rules yours. Why do we let it?’ I’m not. And neither are you. You’re an awesome mechanic, Sebastien. Fuck what they think. You deserve this.” I trail my hand down his sleeve. “And, this way, you don’t have to go all the way up to the mountains to work on your back. You can work here, and I’ll always know where you are.”
There. Another confession. Now that he wants me to be his wife, I’ll show him what beingmyhusband means.
I’m jealous. I’m possessive. I hate not knowing where he is, or who he’s with, and if I thought I could get away with tracking him, I would… but even if I can’t, I can dothis.
I can try to make him happy. After all, that’s what he’s done for me since the beginning…
I wait for him to answer me. To say something. To sayanything.
And that’s when, suddenly, he turns on me, grabbing both sides of my face with his hands.
“Love,” he breathes. “Annaliese. What have you done to me?”
I laugh, breath shaky. “Hopefully something good.”
Ducking his head, my husband kisses me. Hard. I can taste the hunger, the desire, the absoluteneedin the stroke of his tongue against mine.
When he pulls away, he presses his forehead against mine. “No one’s ever given me such a thoughtful gift before. Not like they saw me. Shit… youseeme.”
Maybe I do. But… “You gave me everything I wanted, Sebastien. I thought it was only fair that I did the same for you.”
“You did that, though,” he whispers. “Because, from the moment you walked into the Last Prayer and sat down on the stool next to my helmet, all I’ve wanted wasyou.”
A soft, helpless sound leaves me as I whisper his name.“Sebastien…” I swallow, fisting my hands in his shirt. “Babe. You have that, too.”
And when I initiate the next kiss on my own, I hope he can believe me.
I’ve never seenSebastien so content.
Like Deirdre Dawes told Miranda more than two months ago, my husband is inherently sweet. He’s agoodman. He never thought he was, and so many of the things he’s done in his life before he met me were because he didn’t believe he couldbea good guy. But the foundation was always there. I saw it when we first met otherwise I never would’ve slipped my hand into his leather glove no matter how fucking gorgeous he is.
