Page 46 of Saving Meadow

“Yes, Red. I love you. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before now. I wanted to, but last night after we made love didn’t seem like the right time. I didn’t want you to think I was only saying it because you were in my bed. I love you so damn much, I can’t tell you when or how it happened so fast, but I can tell you I never want to picture a future where you’re not standing beside me.”

I finally exhaled.

Oh. My. God.

“Are you going to say something?” He smiled.

“I love you, too. I didn’t want to tell you and scare you away. I knew when you kissed me in the elevator. I told my friend Veronica Venus I thought I was in love with you. But I lied, I didn’t think I was, I knew I was.”

“Come here.” He didn’t wait for me to come to him, he rounded the counter and came to my side, pulling me in for a tight hug. “I love you Meadow Holiday.”

I didn’t get a chance to tell him back because his mouth was on mine and I’d lost my breath again. By the time he pulled away and kissed my forehead, my legs were jello.

“I love you, too.”

“Who’s your friend, Veronica Venus?” he asked.

Over coffee, I explained how I’d met Veronica Venus on a message board for survivors of violent crimes and how over the last five years she’d been my only real friend. My safe place. As I lost my in real life friends, she’d stood by me, cheering me on. I left out the part where she’d told me she thought Nick was using me, and basically warned me off him. I didn’t think he’d appreciate that part any more than I did.

After that, we’d both gone back to his room and gotten dressed for the day together. Unfortunately, there wasn’t any sexy time, but we both had to get to work. When he pulled off his sweats and t-shirt and walked into his closet to pick out a suit to wear, I did sneak a peek at his firm ass and muscular back. Damn, he was sexy! I didn’t know how I’d gotten so lucky, but for once I wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. I was going to grab on with both hands and say fuck the world.

At the door, Nick handed me a to-go cup full of steaming hot vanilla flavored coffee. I loved that he had my brand of coffee in his cabinet and my flavored creamer in his fridge. It was funny how something so small made my belly flutter. It’d been doing that a lot lately, and for the first time in years, the butterflies were from anticipation of the future and not dread of the past.

“Why was Sally pacing around whining?” I asked when we got outside.

“I don’t know, antsy I guess. Sally, come.”

Sally finished her business on the grass and bounced over to us and sat at my feet.

“Be a good girl today.” I rubbed the soft fur behind her ears. “I’ll see you tonight.” Crap. That was rather presumptuous of me. We didn’t have any plans. “Or… umm… later… tomorrow.”

Nick didn’t skip a beat and tugged my hand for me to follow him to my car. He took my keys, beeped the lock, and opened the door. “You’ll be seeing both of us tonight. Your place or mine?” he asked.

“Yours. I like your kitchen better, and Sally has a backyard when she needs to go out,” I told him.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a key, offering it to me. “I was hoping you’d say that. I may have to work a little late tonight. I’ll let you know as the day goes on. But if I do, you’ll need this.”

“A key?”

I was so stupid stating the obvious. I was expecting him to reply with no shit Sherlock, or maybe a good catch Captain Obvious.

“Are you okay with that? Having a key to my house?”

“Yeah, of course. I’ll make sure I give it back when you get home.”

“No, Red. It’s yours. I want you to keep it,” he told me.

“Holy shit!”

“Too soon?” he chuckled.

“No. I may need to pinch myself again. I’m afraid this last month has been a great freaking dream. No. Wait. Don’t pinch me. I don’t want to wake up if it is. I want to stay asleep forever in a place where a beautiful, strong, sweet, and sexy man picked me. If this is a dream and I wake up alone in my bed, scared and broken with no hope of a future, I’d never survive. Not knowing what I know now. You better be real, Special Agent Nick Clark, because if you’re not, my life is one big nightmare.”

Nick moved, and Sally jumped out of the way when he pulled me into his arms and whispered, “You will never wake up alone again. Whether I’m lying there next to you or not, you are never alone. We are real, Red, and the future is in front of us to make of it what we want. What exactly that looks like I don’t know, but what I do know as fact is - you are mine.” His voice was low and husky reminding me of what he sounded like when he was moving inside of me.

“I wish we could go back in the house and spend the day in bed,” I told him.

“Trust me, I do too.” He pushed his erection into my belly, and I contemplated quitting my job. A day rolling around in bed with him would be worth it. “But you have a meeting, and I have a deranged psychopath to catch.”