AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Now we are free to build a life together,” he said, turning his head toward me.
I looked into his deep eyes and wondered what type of life it was that he wanted. I questioned my ability to move forward after such traumatic events, but I knew that Blaine had done it when his parents had died, so it wasn’t unreachable. I knew that I would have to be strong in ways that I had never experienced before, and I knew that Blaine would be there to help me every step of the way. I wanted him, and that was it. I still had all my dreams, but I knew now that none of it mattered without him in my life. I knew that life was not going to be as beautiful and full of light without Blaine standing beside me and me beside him.
He turned his head back to the ceiling, and I knew he had more to say. I knew that he wanted to tell me something personal, something from deep inside of himself. I turned my head so I didn’t make him nervous, and I brought his hand up to my lips, kissing it softly. My lips lingered over his skin as he cleared his throat and took a deep breath. I sat there waiting for him to tell me just how he felt, and all of the things he never had the courage to tell me before.
“You changed me,” he said. “You made me want to be a better man from the very first time that I met you. There were so many dark corners of my life, but you have brought your light, and now I can see everything. You made me want to be stronger, to be virtuous, and to fight for what I believed to be true. You allowed me to trust another person with my heart, something I haven’t done since my parents died. You have been my angel and my savior. I can’t thank you enough for what you’ve given me. When I thought I was going to lose you, it tore my heart from my chest, and I knew that you were the only woman on this earth for me. I knew I couldn’t lose you.”
Tears welled up in my eyes as he spoke those beautiful words. There was something so poetic about a woman pushing a man to be better. I was incredibly touched by how he felt about me and how he looked at his own future. I felt the same way as him, and without him, I knew that there was a good chance I wouldn’t be here. He saved my life in so many ways, and because of that, I was confused by his statement. There was no way that I could allow him to not take credit for being the man that literally saved my life. I couldn’t allow him to take away from the fact that I would have died a terrible death had he not had enough faith in me to come searching.
“I’m confused,” I said.
I turned my head toward him and looked at his beautiful eyes. He sat there thinking about what I said and I waited for him to finish, wanting to know just how much he understood where I was coming from. This was probably the most important question in our entire time of knowing each other, and for that, I did not want to rush it. There was too much at stake here. There was too much that we could lose by not being completely upfront and honest with each other. I was the one that felt as if I owed him more than my life. I had been the one that brought nothing but chaos to his. I brought death, danger, and craziness, and we had only known each other a little over a week. There was no way that I could be as important to his future and his person as he was to me. There were too many times that he talked me off a ledge and moved me to be a better person. I owed him so much, and I couldn't sit there and let him take away from all the things that he had done for me. My father was gone, and my mother was nowhere to be found. He was really the last person I had in the entire world.
“I thought you saved me,” I said, smiling. “You pulled me from the wreckage of my life and swooped in like a superhero, saving the day. You gave me hope when I had completely lost it, and you gave me strength when mine was all but gone.”
“Don’t you see,” he said, turning over on his side and staring down at me. “You rescued me from a life of loneliness. I don’t just mean relationship-wise, but companionship-wise as well. I was terrified to get close to anyone because it hurt so bad to lose my family. But when you came into the picture, you made me realize how short life really was, and that meant that I needed to open my heart to you and to the goals and dreams that I held so closely guarded. You made me not be lonely inside of my own head by pushing me to be a stronger man.”
I was speechless and didn’t even have the first clue as to what to say. He leaned forward, smiling and brushing his lips against mine. I took in a deep breath and leaned forward, laying my head back on his chest. He brushed my hair away from my face and closed his eyes, listening to the sounds of the waves. I was so completely and utterly in love with this man that it was insane.
As he drifted off to sleep, I stayed awake, listening to his heart and dreaming about our future. There were so many things that both of us wanted to accomplish, and though they were on different sides of the spectrum, I could tell that our lives crisscrossed right In the middle. That was what a true relationship was really about, having the ability to be your own self, but at the same time, find your paths crossing at the absolute perfect time. Blaine was that crisscross for me. He was that absolute, perfect moment in life, and I never wanted to give him up. I knew that no matter where I went in this world, Blaine would be with me every step of the way.
I turned over in the bed and snuggled my head into the pillow, feeling Blaine turn over toward me and slide his arms around my waist, pulling me close. I had loved the feeling of his arms since the first time we made love, and now, it meant even more to me, knowing that we had almost died. I couldn’t help but think that although the situation had been terrible, it was almost a blessing that it happened the way it did. I no longer had to make a decision about my future. I was free to do whatever I wanted. What I wanted the most was to have Blaine close to me every night and kiss me every morning before I went to work. It may be simple, but it sure as hell beat the mobsters.
Epilogue
Blaine
It had been two months since everything had happened. Every single one of the mob family ended up with a prison sentence, and after the judge heard what Paulie and Harry had done to Josie, he threw the book at them. I was pretty sure Harry wasn’t going to get out of prison alive this time, having made some enemies squealing on them in an attempt to get a plea bargain. The judge dropped all the charges against Josie, paid her restitution, and made a public apology for the way she was treated by the department. She didn’t seem to like the attention, but I was happy she was getting vindication. She was able to get her father cremated, and his ashes sat in the living room of my place, which is now our place, on a marble pedestal by the fireplace.
I took Josie’s hand and carefully helped her up the short flight of steps. She was blindfolded and feeling around her, trying to figure out where I was taking her. I opened the shop door and stepped inside, pulling her forward into the space. I was so e
xcited to give her this gift, it was unbelievable. I closed the door behind us and stepped behind her, pulling the blindfold from her face.
“Ta-da,” I said, walking around and watching her face.
“Wow,” she said, looking at the open space. “But I don’t understand. What is this for?”
“This is for your project,” I said proudly. “We are now standing in your new office space.”
I watched as her eyes grew big, and she started to excitedly walk around the space. She had been invited back to teach, but there was still a bit of a stigma, so she had stayed home since then. I was pretty sure that she wasn’t going to go back to teaching, which was fine with me. She sold her father’s house and moved into mine, and now, we got to sleep in the same bed every night, which was amazing. However, with the lack of employment, she was starting to go a bit stir crazy. She just didn’t know what she wanted to do with her life. She knew that she had the passion, but she really needed the purpose. I sat down and talked to her about her dreams, reminding her that it was never too late to reach for those goals. So, after a lot of thought and about a million sheets of paper, she had started to make a lot of headway into the non-profit sector.
She was starting to run out of room at our place so I thought, what better way to show my support than to get her the space she needed to create the way she wanted to. I could already see that she was ecstatic. Everybody with an idea as big as hers needed their own space, a place to spread out and really put some power behind their ideas. Josie had my kitchen table, and I could tell she wasn’t happy about working from home. So, once I knew everything was totally safe, I bought Josie her own office that was big enough for her to expand in and to bring in employees when she reached that point.
I watched her and smiled as she walked around the room, running her hand over the desks and separators that kept each person in their own little cubicle. She was so excited, and she made me laugh loudly as she jumped up and down and squealed. She came running back over to me, throwing her arms around me and hugging me tightly.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” she said, laughing.
“It still needs a bit of work, and new carpet and such, but when we are done with it, you will be the hottest office in all of non-profit,” I said, smiling. “Besides, you have been stuck, and I was really impressed with how much dedication you have been putting into getting this whole thing together. You are really putting your heart and soul into it, and I want you to have the space to explore. I could tell the other day that you were struggling to get out of work mode when you were working from home. Now, you have a place to come to.
“Thank you so much,” she said, leaning up and giving me a big kiss. “You are the world to me. You treat me so good, it’s nuts.”
We wandered around the main area of the office a bit more, exploring the closets and the bathrooms before I nudged her and pulled her over to the corner office. The place was beautiful, already decorated for her with some of the art that she always drooled over in our place. I had the artist do some specialty pieces just for her. The windows in the building were floor to ceiling, and she gasped as she walked over and looked at the view. There were no high-rise buildings in the background, no brick walls, or parking garages. Instead, she could see way out into the ocean. The back of the building faced a private beach, and if you tilted the windows open, you could hear the sound of the waves.
“This is so amazing,” she said, shaking her head and looking out over the water. “I never thought I would have an office, let alone one that looked out over a beach.”
“On top of all that,” I said, leading her away from the window. “This is the desk you will be creating your empire from.”
“Wow,” she said, looking down at the oak desk in front of her.
