Page 146 of Contentious

“I fucking love them. I’d kill for them. I’d do anything to make them happy. All I want is for them to know peace and safety after what they went through with Gabriel.”

“I feel like I’m meeting you for the first time.”

“I feel like I’m meeting myself for the first time. You know how when you do something physical that you’ve never done before and discover muscles you didn’t know you had?”

“Yeah.”

“This is like that. I’m finding all-new muscles, man.”

“Are we talking about sex?”

“No, you idiot,” Julian said with a laugh. “I’m talking about emotions I never knew I had. But the sex is pretty great, too.”

“All right already. Spare me the details, killer.”

“That vow we made with everyone?”

“What about it?”

“It’s stupid, and you shouldn’t worry about that.”

“I think you’ve made your position on that matter abundantly clear.”

“Don’t get me wrong—I was all in on that. Until I wasn’t.”

“You’re not getting married, are you?”

“Not any time soon.”

“That’s not never.”

“No, it isn’t.”

“Julian…”

“What?”

“What aren’t you saying?”

“I’m not ruling out anything.”

Carson couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Love was one thing. Marriage was a whole other ball of wax, and they knew better than most the many, many ways it could turn out to be a huge mistake. He couldn’t imagine legally tying himself to anyone ever, even Cresley. No matter how much he loved her. It was possible to have a great big life together without ever taking vows and signing forms.

He shuddered at the thought of getting into something he couldn’t easily get out of—or Julian doing that.

“Are you cold?”

“No, I’m okay.”

He texted Cresley. Are you guys doing all right?

We’re fine. Ty’s asleep. How are you?

All good except I miss you two.

We miss you, too.

You think Ty will be okay after this?