AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He grabs my hands and pulls me into the office where he forces me into a chair. “I need a base of operations that isn’t the back of my truck.”
Don’t get me started on the back of his truck. The man keeps all sorts of things in his backseat, including his files.
“And I’m not leaving Milwaukee anytime soon.”
My heart hammers at his words. I’ve kept my mouth shut as I didn’t want to interfere with his career, but I’ve been worried he would come out one day and say it’s time for him to get back to work and take off. Dare I hope he’s serious?
“You’re staying?”
His smile stretches from ear to ear and his dimple comes out to play. “When is it going to get through your head? I’m not leaving you.” He lifts his hand and tucks a piece of my hair behind my ear. He squeezes my neck and pulls my head forward until his forehead touches mine. “I love you, Princess. I’m not leaving.”
Every nerve ending in my body ignites as butterflies awake in my stomach. “You love me?”
He smirks. “Yeah, babe. What do you think we’re doing here?”
Like I have a clue. Relationships are not my forte as evidenced by my staying with Theodore for nearly a decade. “I…”
I have no idea what to say. It’s a reflex for me to respond to I love you with I love you too, but do I love him? I think I do, but what do I know about love? In the past, love was used as a weapon against me. If you love us, you’ll marry Theodore. And my all-time favorite – If you love me, you won’t embarrass me tonight.
“Are you done making out yet?” Suzie walks into the room with her hand covering her eyes and promptly runs into a desk. She bounces off it like she’s playing bumper cars.
“You can drop your hand. We’re decent.”
“Not by choice,” Ryker grumbles.
My eyes widen. “Are you serious?” I whisper. “She listens at the door, you know.”
“Don’t care.”
A dog rushes into the room, lifts up his leg, and a stream of pee hits the corner of one of the desks. “What the hell? Who’s this? Where’s Lola?”
Hailey runs into the room. She grimaces when she sees the puddle of pee. “Aiden couldn’t bear the thought of having Lola sterilized. He decided she needed a boyfriend to ‘tame’ her.”
“How’s that working out?” I ask despite being able to see and smell how it’s clearly not working out. “I’m not cleaning up after him.”
“Leroy.” She slaps her hands on her thighs. “Come here, boy.” Leroy looks at her and barks before running to the corner where he commences playing with a dust ball.
“Aiden promised Leroy was housebroken. Aiden’s sleeping in the doghouse tonight.”
Hailey stomps to the corner and grabs her dog by the collar. She drags him out of the room. The dog thinks it’s all a game. He yips and nips at her hand while trying to escape.
“Hey! Who’s going to clean up the pee?” I shout after her. “Well.” I raise my brows at Ryker. “What do you think of your new office now?”
“I’m good. My favorite person in the world is here.”
“Ah.” Suzie places a hand over her forehead and feigns a swoon. “Isn’t he adorable?”
“Yeah, the big bad bounty hunter is adorable.”
“Now, get out of here and celebrate him telling you he loves you for the first time.” Suzie wiggles her brows.
“Told you she was listening at the door.”
Ryker stands. “Actually, I’ve got shit to do. Barney’s going to keep watch on you until I can get back.”
I groan. “Barney?” Ugh. The entire afternoon is going to be wasted listening to him tell dirty jokes.
Ryker smirks as he leans forward to kiss my forehead. “Don’t worry. He’ll keep you safe.”
