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When he finished, he gently extracted himself from my mouth and straddled my lap as he kissed me deeply and ground on my cock. I put my hand on his waist and held on to him. Panting, he stopped the kiss and put his forehead against mine. “That was amazing. Fuck, I missed your mouth on me.”
“I was thinking the same thing.” Tristan hopped off my bed and tucked himself back into his pants, then straightened my blankets. No sooner than he had them tucked up around my waist, my door opened, and the nurse came in. She was early. We glanced at each other and struggled to hold in a laugh. If she had been even two minutes earlier, she would have gotten an eyeful.
Chapter22
Tristan
The two-bedroom, two-bathroom house I rented was cozy. I didn’t need a lot of space, and Lucas didn’t have any of his things from South Carolina yet, but I was sure it wouldn’t take up a lot of space. It was a six-month lease, just enough time for him to finish his physical therapy appointments at the hospital fifteen miles away. I did a walk-through the week before I signed the lease, and it was perfect. I had Momma and Pop to thank for it since I didn’t have a job. They knew the manager of the leasing company and vouched for me, backing up my bank statements and letting them know I would be able to pay my rent on time. I went ahead and paid the whole six months in advance, and I still had a good amount of my savings left. Thank God for being frugal and saving most of my paycheck when I was living with Devin.
I had not run into him since I got back, but he didn’t live in Atlanta so I was sure I wouldn’t run into him at all. He hadn’t reached out again after his shitty email, and I was glad. I was over him, and I didn’t want to hear any more secrets he felt like he needed to be honest about.
Lucas and I pulled up to the property, and he looked at it appreciatively. I was tempted to try to help him out of the car, but he was fine. Better than fine. His abdominal wound was almost healed, and his arm was in a sling, but his shoulder was healing nicely as well. I also knew he wouldn’t appreciate being babied. His parents did that enough to last him a lifetime. Momma and Pop were not thrilled that he wasn’t moving in with them, but they wanted to get back to work and knew he would tell them not to hire him a nurse. I didn’t have anywhere to be all day, anyway, so I could look after him.
I opened the door and let him inside, letting him walk around and take everything in. The place came furnished, which saved me a lot of trouble since I sold my furniture after moving in with Devin. He nodded as he went room to room, and as he took everything in, I went to the kitchen and took out the chicken I had put in the refrigerator last night for dinner. When I straightened, he was leaning his good arm against the jamb of the kitchen opening. It wasn’t as big as the one in the cabin, but it had an island, and I bought stools so he could sit and keep me company while I cooked.
“What?” He continued to stare at me, not saying anything. I maintained eye contact, waiting him out. I was sure he wanted to say something, and I didn’t want to interrupt.
“Did I tell you I love you today?”
I chuckled and turned around to lean back on the counter. “No. In fact, you haven’t since you woke up from the coma.”
He pushed off the jamb and walked over to me, placing his good arm around my waist and pulling me close to him. The sweet, chaste kiss he planted on my lips sent shivers down my spine. He pulled back and peered down at me, eyes earnest. “I love you, Tristan Michaels. You found your way into my heart, and I don’t want you to leave. Even before you saved me from Greyson, you saved my life. You’re the reason I wanted to get better and didn’t spiral after my last case. Your presence, your conversation, your peace, your joy, your everything has made me a better person. I don’t know what I would do without you, and hopefully, I won’t have to find out. I want to see where this goes between us. I know we agreed to only physical initially, but we love each other. After these six months, when I don’t need physical therapy, and you don’t have to take care of me, I want us to be more.”
I couldn’t speak. I was so overwhelmed with gratitude and love, that all I could do was nod frantically and kiss his lips over and over. I wrapped my arms around his waist and pulled him close to me. He kissed the top of my head and squeezed me, conveying all the truth behind his words.
When I finally found my words, I told him, “Let’s be more now.” He grinned down at me and planted a hot kiss on me that had me panting for breath.
Over the next few days, we fell into an easy routine. We woke up, went for a walk around the neighborhood, had breakfast, then he listened to me read him my story and gave me feedback. We had lunch, usually watched a movie or a few episodes ofSupernatural, which he seemed addicted to. He kept me company as I made dinner, and then I helped with his physical therapy exercises before we showered and went to bed. I loved the ease of our days. We didn’t discuss it. It just kind of happened.
There were a few times when Cass, Momma, and Pop came over for dinner. It was good to hang with them outside the hospital and have them over to our home. It was a bit presumptuous to call it ours, but that’s what it felt like. Maybe not our permanent home, but it was a start. One night when we were all having dinner, Cass dropped a bomb on us.
“So,” she started, wringing her hands. “I did a thing.”
We all eyed her, knowing her things weren’t ever bad but still not knowing what to think.
“Spit it out,” Momma said a little impatiently when she was quiet for a few beats.
“I quit my job.”
“Cass—”
“Cassie—”
Lucas and I spoke at the same time. We glanced at each other, and he inclined his head to me, giving me the opportunity to question her this time.
“Please tell me it has nothing to do with me.”
“Actually, it does, but not the way you think.” That piqued my interest. It had been a while since I had been fired, and I was happier now than I was then. Hopefully, it wasn’t because of David’s bullshit.
“So spill.”
She took a deep breath. “I decided to open my own publishing company. I know it’s a big undertaking, and I’ll be extremely busy trying to get it off the ground, but the more I work at Brickmans, the more I see them turn down some amazing manuscripts because they don’t fit what they deem ‘sellable writing.’” She air-quoted the words. “I don’t only want sellable. I want raw, gritty, true, different, and uninhibited. I started the process and found a small office space downtown. I’ve also spoken with a few people at Brickmans who believe in the same thing I do and who are willing to work with me, and we have a list of authors we can reach out to be clients.”
I jumped up and went to hug her. “Oh, Cass, this is great! I’m so happy for you. This is huge. You should have told me. I would have made something besides baked ziti for dinner.” She laughed at me and swatted my arm.
Momma, Pop, and Lucas went around to hug her too, wishing her well. I was thrilled for my best friend. She had an eye for good books, ones that would speak to readers, and I knew her company would be successful.
When we were all finished congratulating her, she said, “That’s not all.” Her eyes met mine, and she reached out her hand. I grasped it in both of mine and waited. “Tristan, I wanted to know if you would do me the honor of being the first author who published with my company.” My breath caught in my throat. This couldn’t be happening. I stared at her wide-eyed, then my gaze went to Lucas. He had a wide smile stretched across his face and nodded at me.
