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“Are you okay?” she asked.
“No. Not really. How’s your head?”
“My head’s fine.” She walked over to where my backpack was lying on her dining room table, then looked over her shoulder at me. “So, you’re moved in?”
“My duffel is in your bedroom, so yeah. I’m moved in.”
She slowly grinned. “Does this mean we’re officially shacked up?”
I winced. “I’m not sure I like that term. It’s what Bernie said, too.”
Marlowe smiled wider. “It’s true.”
“Let’s get something straight. I’m taking over the rent.”
She laughed out loud. “Do you have a job?”
“Not at the moment. But I have my pension and a nest egg.”
“Why don’t you let me continue to pay for things as is, until you get a job?”
“Uh-uh. Not going to happen, otherwise my shit’s going back to the Pines.”
“Fine,” she huffed. “It’s fifty-fifty, straight down the line. Except when you ask to take me out someplace, then you can pay.”
“Deal. For the moment. We can renegotiate after I get a job.”
“Little Grandma said they were hiring.”
I sauntered over to my woman and grabbed her around the waist. “Thanks for always thinking about me,” I whispered in her ear.
“That’s how the game is played. I worry about you, you worry about me. We’re a team.” She looked up into my eyes, questioning. “Right?”
“That’s absolutely right. We’re a team. I told you last night where I stand. What about you? Are you all in?”
She wrapped her arms around my waist. “Damn right I am. I love you.”
I let out a deep breath.
“What? You knew that already, didn’t you?”
“You hadn’t said the words,” I whispered.
She pulled back so she had a better look at me. “Sure, I did, last night, when we were on the couch. I told you how I felt.”
I chuckled. “Honey, you were out of your head with a headache and the after effects of chloroform. Trust me, I would have remembered if you’d said you’d loved me.”
She pulled me in tighter. Chest to breast, then leaned up on her tiptoes and kissed the underside of my chin. “I love you so much, Kai. I don’t know how I existed in this world without you. You make the sun shine brighter. I feel safe with you.”
I snorted. “Yeah sure. You almost die on Amber Road, then you’re almost kidnapped.”
She put her fingers to my lips. “Do you know what I was thinking when that scum had me in his van?
I shook my head.
“I didn’t think it. I knew it. Deep down, I knew that you were going to save me. I knew it to my bones. You’re my hero.”
Something clicked in me. It was like all the broken parts of me somehow pieced themselves back together with a resounding snap. She’d put me back together with her words. I felt like me again. A whole man.
