Page 110 of Out Of A Fix

“But no one has.”

“Not yet.”

“And I understand there are no phones at the dinner table, and you all talk about your day.”

“It’s not perfect,” I told her. “Don’t make it sound like it is.”

She nodded.

“I want the best thing for this family, and I’m still not convinced that’s me.”

“It seems to me that worrying if you are the best thing is a fairly strong indicator that, in fact, you are,” she stated, studying me.

I smiled at her. “You’re a romantic.”

“Always have been.”

The door to the garage opened then, and Luke and his father came through. Viola offered to make them some tea, and I excused myself to go check on the kids. Once that was done, I went upstairs to the attic to add some notes to the case file. When I heard some creaking, I turned, and there was Luke.

“What’re you doing up here?” I asked him.

“You’re up here,” he said like it was a stupid question.

Getting up, I gestured for him to move. “Well, let’s go back down and talk to⁠—”

“My mother likes you,” he said, stepping in front of me so I couldn’t walk to the door. “So does my father.”

“Your mother, maybe,” I replied, grinning. “Your father is probably not crazy about me grabbing his wrist when⁠—”

“No,” he murmured, stepping into me, wrapping his arms around my waist. “He likes people who stand up to him.”

I couldn’t help but press my face into his hair. It smelled like citrus and mint, and I had to breathe in the scent. And because all I wanted was to be close to him, I leaned into him and clutched him tight.

“That’s better,” he sighed.

“I’m trying to give you space to figure out what it is you want from me.”

“I know what I want,” he husked. “You don’t have to stand there and think, Could he ever love me? Because c’mon, Nash, that part is easy.”

“Love is never easy.”

“Sure it is,” he countered, tipping his head back to stare into my eyes. “I love you, that I know. I have from the first day when I walked in and realized everything had changed.”

“That’s gratitude, not⁠—”

“Stop fighting. Stop arguing with every word out of my mouth,” he insisted, taking hold of my sides. “I’m in this, all right? I’m invested.”

I stayed silent as he tightened his hold.

“I think of you as being here, with me, as my partner now.”

His partner.

“I want to touch you and kiss you…and the rest is new, but not. I’ve just never imagined doing any of that with a man before.”

“Okay,” I murmured, smiling at him.

“See, when you look at me like that, I want you to kiss me.”