Page 438 of A Matter of Time

He didn’t have to ask me twice.

Later, he ate dinner with me, him in his sweats and a long-sleeved T-shirt, and me in my pajama bottoms and a short-sleeved one. We talked while we ate and I told him everything I was thinking about Susan Reid.

After dinner I sent him to the couch to watch TV while I cleaned up. He turned on the stereo instead, and Astrud Gilberto filled the apartment. It was soothing, and when I joined him, I brought a hot mug of tea for him as well as myself. The afghan on the end of the couch looked warm and inviting, so I wrapped up in it before I sat down. I started talking to him again, but when I asked about his day, I didn’t get a response. Looking up, I found him gazing around the room.

“What are you doing?”

“Just taking it in.”

I glanced around. “It’s our apartment, Sam.”

His eyes flicked back to mine. “Yeah, but it feels different when you’re here.”

I scoffed at him. “You don’t need to butter me up, you already got what you wanted.”

He scowled, and I let out a snort of laughter.

“What are you trying to say?”

He was silent a minute, thinking, and then his eyes once again rose to mine. “The best cops I know come home from seeing blood all day and suffering all day and talking to people on the worst days of their lives to homes where they’re loved and needed. You don’t even know how many times I think about you when I’m up to my eyeballs in shit.”

I reached for his hand, and his warm fingers laced through mine.

“Just coming home, walking in our bedroom and you’re sleeping all warm and safe… I just… I can breathe. My home is a sanctuary now, and I won’t give that up because you’re pissed at me about something my friends said or because I hate the way… Adrian?”

“Aiden,” I corrected him, smiling, putting my mug next to his on the coffee table.

“I won’t give up my home because I hate the way Aiden calls me ‘lover.’”

“I told him I didn’t like that either. The only one that can call you lover is me.”

He squinted. “Yeah, don’t call me lover. It’s just lame.”

I nodded, looking down at our fingers twined together.

“Look at me.”

I raised my eyes to his.

“I don’t love anything or anyone as much as you. You’re my whole life.”

I opened the blanket and climbed over into his lap. He held me tight, his face in my throat as his hands slid up under my shirt to my skin.

“You’re freezing,” he told me.

“I love you,” I said back.

“I know.” He chuckled, kissing a line up my throat to my jaw, then over my chin before settling on my lips. I parted them, and his tongue swept inside. He kissed me deeply, taking his time as he opened my mouth wide.

“If Aaron Sutter ever kisses you again, he’ll be sorry,” he said after he broke the kiss, leaving me panting.

“He won’t—we’re done.”

“Why?”

“I told him you were the only man I’ve ever loved.”

“That would do it,” he said, smiling evilly before he kissed me again. He was so smug, but that was okay with me. Him knowing I loved him was a very good thing.