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“Baby,” he called, gaining her attention. She was so deep with her ice cream she hadn’t bothered looking up at him or their surroundings. That didn’t matter though. As long as she was with him, she was always safe.
“Hmm?” she called, rolling her tongue across the top of the ice cream.
“I need you to eat with a spoon while I’m trying to talk to you. All I can think about is your tongue swirling around my dick.”
Lei’s head flung back as she laughed. “I most certainly can slurp you up later, but what’s on your mind?”
“Ace offered me a very good position in the secret society. I’ll get to do what I love, criminal profiling.”
Lei’s eyes widened as she gasped and lightly smacked the table. “That’s great, babe! Congratulations.”
“Yeah, thank you. I would have to do two years of training, but the job is mine.”
“Yay, I’m so happy for you! I remember you talking about how that was what you truly wanted to do with your life. I figured you would be happy doing just about anything, but nothing would probably fulfill you the way this will. This just made my day.”
Londen smiled bashfully. “There’s… something that has me hesitant to take the job.”
Her hand lowered as she stared at him with a confused expression. “What would make you not take the job?”
“It’s in Memphis.”
“Oh.” She lowered her ice cream completely into its container.
“Eat, Lei.”
“You’re not going to turn this down for me, are you?”
Londen shrugged as he picked up her ice cream and handed it back to her. “I don’t know. If we’re going to get married, I have to take your future into consideration as well. I don’t know if I want to make a three-hour commute twice a day going from here to Memphis, but I couldn’t ask you to go back to the place that holds so many bad memories for you. You’ve always expressed how much you love your home and the life you’ve built here. I can’t take you away from that.”
Lei stood and walked over to his side of the table. She took his hand into hers.
“First, I appreciate you considering me in your future in such an important decision, but I can’t let you turn this down. This was something that you wanted before I came into the picture.”
“It is, but the best relationships have compromise.”
“They do,” Lei agreed quickly… softly. “But a compromise would be me going to Memphis with you, not you turning down the opportunity to do what you love.”
“Lei…”
“I can keep my house here, because I’m sure we’ll be coming back often. It’ll be where we can stay on weekends and holidays when we come. And as far as my trigger with Memphis, it’s time I worked through that, anyway. It’s been over ten years, and I’ve been working steadily to release the power they and that city has over me. By cutting Jennifer off, I already feel so much lighter. I don’t think it’s going to be easy, especially with the anxiety of running into them, but I’m going to do whatever it takes to make this work because I want us to work. If you were going to sacrifice this for me, there’s no doubt that I’m going to take this move with you.”
Cupping her cheek, Londen covered her lips with his. The coldness and sweetness of the strawberry ice cream were both refreshing. With his lips still connected to hers, he told her, “Just when I think I can’t love you anymore, you give me a new reason to.”
With a smile, Lei wrapped her arms around his neck and pecked his lips. “Thank you for being a safe love. Thank you for providing the security I needed to open myself up to this again. I love you so much, babe.”
Londen moaned against her lips before declaring, “I love you too.”
forty-eight
The rideto Memphis was more draining than it had ever been. Lei was tired as hell by the time they’d arrived at the address Jennifer had given her. After hearing about Londen’s job opportunity, Lei reached out to Jennifer and told her she needed to see her. Without asking any questions, Jennifer gave her the address and told her she could stop by at any time.
Lei waited until the following weekend to head that way, and she was glad Londen had come with her. Even if he hadn’t, she knew she needed to make this trip. Before she permanently returned to Memphis, Lei was determined to look her past in the face.
“Are you sure about this?” Londen asked, taking her hand into his as she stared at the house.
“Yes. I need to know that I can see them and not break down. If I can do that, I can come back to Memphis and be okay.”
“Okay, but if you get uncomfortable at any point, we can leave.”
