Chapter 39
Demon lay in bed later that evening, Ronnie curled against his side and one arm tucked around her as he stared into the darkness and wondered what was next for them.
“Have you decided what you want to do with your dad’s business?” he asked, knowing from the tension in Ronnie’s body that she wasn’t yet asleep.
She took a deep breath and held it for a few seconds before responding.
“I told Gavin to let them confiscate it.”
“You don’t want it?” Demon fought the need to turn on the light and watch her expression, to try to figure out what she was thinking.
She didn’t respond right away, instead she shifted curling against his side and getting more comfortable first.
“No. I don’t. I thought about it. I could run it, but I would always feel bad about what Dad did with it.
What he used the business as a front for.
I can’t do that, not every day and not for the rest of my life.
” She shook her head, rubbing her face against his chest as she did. “No, I don’t want it.”
He lay for a while, thinking. “What are your plans?” he asked after a bit.
“I don’t know yet. I haven’t gotten that far yet.”
He rubbed his hand up and down her back as he tried to decide what to say next and how to put it.
“How would you feel about finding a place, one for the two of us?”
It took everything in him not to hold his breath as he waited for her to respond. When it took her a while, he wanted to ask again, to say something, to make sure she wasn’t sleeping but he held back. He’d come out of no where with that and he didn’t want to scare her off.
“Is there a reason you don’t want to just move in here with me?” she asked, her voice soft when she finally spoke.
“Yes and no, but it’s probably not what you think.
” He rolled toward her so they lay facing each other, even if it was too dark to see the other’s face.
“I don’t see a point in paying rent when it could be a house payment and building equity for ourselves.
On top of that, this place only has two bedrooms. I was thinking we would need at least three, if not more. ”
“Why?” He might not be able to see her face, but he could hear the confusion in her voice.
“We need to keep a guest room, in case someone wants to come visit… like your brother. But I thought we could put an office in the third, at least for now, You can use it to work, or study if you decide you want to go back to school, then later, if things work out and we want to, we can turn it into a nursery.”
“Nursery? You want kids?”
“I do. As many as you’d like. I love kids.”
“But…” she trailed off for a moment, her voice shaking slightly. “What if I don’t want any? Or do but can’t have any?”
“If you want them and we can’t have any of our own, for whatever reason, then we’ll adopt.
If you just don’t want any then I’ll get to be the cool uncle around the clubhouse.
” He pulled her into his chest and held her tight.
“I love you, firecracker. I want to be with you. We’ll figure the rest out as we go. ”
She pressed her forehead into his chest for several seconds then tilted her head back as if she could see him and was looking up at him.
“All right. We can start looking for another place tomorrow. I don’t know yet how we’ll afford it, but we’ll figure it out.”
“You don’t need to worry about money. I may not be a billionaire, but I can take care of us. I’ve lived cheap the last several years and banked most of my income. We’ll be fine.”
She was quiet long enough he thought she was drifting off to sleep, her body had slowly relaxed against him, and he’d found the tension easing from his muscles as well.
“What happens to the people who were working with my dad? The ones he was selling people to, the ones he was going to sell me to?” Her voice sounded small, lost in a way that made his chest ache for her.
“That’s one of the best parts. Your dad flipped on them all. They’re working on recording every detail he can give them, because they’re going to use his testimony, and all his records, and he kept detailed records, to put the men he was working with away for a long time.”
“All of them?”
“As far as I know. I checked with a few people today, they haven’t arrested them all yet, they’re still working on that, but they need to get everything together first so no one manages to get off on some technicality. It will take a little time, but it will happen.”
“So I’m safe?”
“You’re safe, firecracker. You’ll always be safe as long as I’m around.”
She rolled over, tugged his arm around her belly, bringing his hand up to cup one tit, then she let out a sigh and relaxed into him. “I’m looking forward to this. I don’t know about you, but I think I was meant to mix you up with your cousin. Otherwise, how would I have ever met you?”
“I don’t know about that meant to part, but I’m damned glad you did. I wouldn’t miss this for the world. Love you.”
“Love you too.” She covered the hand that cupped her breast with her own hand, wiggled her ass against him and in moments her breathing had evened out and the way she lay soft and relaxed in his arms let him know she’d fallen asleep.
Demon hugged her two him for a moment then released the tighter hold, staying wrapped around her. He hadn’t known what he was missing, but there was no way he was letting it go now. He just hoped they picked up Switchblade soon and he didn’t manage to get away again.