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Billie grinned at me and finished taking care of the sizzling bacon, then moved onto the eggs. I watched her, leaning back against the counter, and I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face for the world. She seemed happy, content, and I sure as hell felt the same way, getting to watch her and be in the same space as her.
This was what it could be like, I realized, if we lived together. If we were open about our relationship and everyone knew about it, and we didn’t have to hide it. In fact, this is what it would be like if we were married and we got to wake up like this every day, together. Sometimes I’d make the breakfast, sometimes she would, sometimes one of us would have to rush out the door and we couldn’t eat together, but either way, we’d start our mornings together.
With a swift, hot punch to the gut, I found that I wanted that. I wanted that more than I wanted my next breath. I wanted to be with Billie for the rest of my goddamn life and do this with her every single morning.
Billie put bacon and eggs on two plates, passing one to me. I pulled her in and kissed her, nice and slow. “Thank you.”
She smiled against my mouth. “Anytime.”
We ate right at the counter, grinning at each other, occasionally kicking at each other with our feet. I had to eat quickly and go to the garage, but that made the time I was spending with her feel even more precious. I kissed her again and again, tasting the bacon on her tongue, until Billie shoved me out the door laughing, saying, “Go, go, you’re going to be late!”
I saluted her and winked, finally heading out.
God, that was the perfect morning. And the perfect night beforehand. I wanted to have every night and morning be like that.
I hadn’t really thought specifically about the future. Not in a tangible, this is my plan kind of way. I’d known that I wanted to be with Billie, and in a serious relationship with her, not just fooling around. I’d known that I wanted to work on cars and be a mechanic, and eventually own my own place.
But now I knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that I wanted to marry Billie. I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her. This sassy firecracker who melted and got soft just for me, who made me breakfast and cuddled with me on the couch, who stood up to anyone and everyone and didn’t take shit.
And y’know what? I wanted to own Jones’ garage. I wanted to take care of the place that had taken care of me, and I wanted to own a garage, and I wanted to be able to make enough money to support Billie, to support my family. And eventually, support my kids. I wanted kids, a couple of them. I wanted to be the father that my own father hadn’t been.
Of course… that meant I needed to find a financial backer so that I could buy the garage from Jones and get it ready to go.
My head was in the clouds all day at the garage as I tried to work it out in my mind. Jones and the couple of other mechanics he employed could tell that I was sort of lost in thought, so they left me alone while I worked on a vintage car that a local vintage car collector wanted us to fix up for her.
I had to tell Billie how I was feeling. Maybe not today, or tomorrow, but soon. We were dating on the sly only for a couple of weeks now and it might feel too sudden for her. Sure, I’d been pining after her for four years before that, but did that really count? Pining was different from being in a relationship with someone, especially since it wasn’t like I’d been right there seeing her every day for those four years. We hadn’t seen each other or spoken. It might feel like too much for her, too quickly. I would have to take my time a bit.
But I knew that this was what I wanted. I wanted a life with her. I—
“Where the fuck is he!?”
I slid out from under the car as Morgan stormed in. He looked like he was ready to murder someone, and I realized that someone was me.
I got to my feet as the other mechanics stepped back out of the way, obviously not wanting to get in between us and possibly face Morgan’s wrath as well.
“You spineless asshole,” Morgan growled, seething. “I told you to stay away from her!”
Ah, fuck. I’d suspected as much the moment that I heard his voice that it meant Morgan had somehow found out about us, but that didn’t mean I was looking forward to doing this—especially not in front of Jones and my coworkers.
