Chapter 22 #2
Slowly, I start rocking into him, savoring the easy, pace as I watch every shock of bliss play out on Evan’s face.
Normally, I love edging us both past our limits, but tonight, I let our bodies direct the pace.
Each thrust, accompanied by a soul-shaking kiss until we come together in achingly sweet waves of pleasure.
with no barriers between us. The romantic side of me recognizing the trust and love Evan showed me to let me go without a condom, and the possessive caveman in me loving that I filled Evan full of my cum.
I lay there with Evan in my arms, letting the whirl of the ceiling fan cool our bodies. I let my hands lazily wander his body without having to hide the feelings touching him brings out in me.
Evan sighs and stretches against me. “ I hate the idea of leaving here. Do we still need to leave in two days?”
I bury myself into his neck and breathe deeply. It’s not enough, so I start to mouth at his sensitive skin until I reach his ear. “ They need you there Monday morning. We could wait till Late Sunday. If you don’t mind driving straight through? ”
“Definitely Sunday,” he says while twisting his neck to allow me more access to take tiny nips at his skin. “I’m not ready to go back to real life yet.”
As much as I’m enjoying marking Evan’s skin, his words stick in my head and won’t let go. This here with Evan is what I want real life to look like. I want this every day—so much that it scares me.
Love confession aside, does he want a future with me beyond the walls of this cabin?
I pull back from him, reluctantly ignoring Evan’s sigh of disappointment. Shifting my body, I maneuver our space so we face each other.
“About that real-life stuff. Grave thinks you shouldn’t go back to your apartment.”
“What?” he says, sitting up. “Why?”
“It’s clear Patriots Now had been keeping tabs on you. With the publicity shitstorm over the Reivers, they could look at you as a loose end that needs to be taken care of.”
“Or they could be so busy trying to erase all ties with the Reivers that they forget all about me,” he counters.
“Not with the series of articles you just wrote. Especially the one that got you a request to be interviewed on CNT. I refuse to take another chance with your safety.”
He sighs. “I barely scraped the deposits up to move last time. I’ve only been in that apartment for less than a year. Even with Mother Jones buying my last article, I don’t have nearly enough money for first and last month's rent, plus Delilah’s pet deposit.”
He looks down at his hands. “I don’t want to ask my parents for a loan.” His forehead creases with stubborn determination. “I won’t. Maybe I could pick up a part-time job doing some editing.”
“You’re writing and researching fifteen hours a day, and you barely sleep as it is. You don’t have time for another job.”
“I’m going to have to find it,” he says, worrying his lip.
“I may have a solution,” I tell him, trying to make my voice casual even though I can feel my heart rate beating like a motor whose timing is off. I take a deep breath.
“What?”
“Dream texted me about some available studio space for sale by his restaurant. It comes with an apartment above it. Two bedrooms,” I point out, hoping to tempt him with the idea of having his own office to write to sweeten the deal. “You could always move in there.”
Evan cocks his head, trying to make sense of my announcement. “But you said Dream said it was for sale. If I can’t afford deposits for an apartment, I sure as hell can’t afford to buy anything.”
He sighs defeatedly. “And even if Dream could sweet talk the owner into renting it to me, no way I could swing paying rent and utilities for a two-bedroom by myself.”
I start doubting Dream’s brilliant plan. It doesn’t seem to even occur to Evan that we could share the apartment. I clear my throat. “I was thinking you might like a roommate.”
He laughs. “Considering you, Dream, and sometimes Cash and Johnny are the only people in my twenty-four years of human interaction who actually seem to like me, I think finding a roommate I could live with twenty-four-seven might be kinda tricky. I—”
I fucking can’t take this anymore.
I put my hand over his mouth. “I want us to move in there together.”
Evan’s whole body goes still and his eyes go huge. He mumbles something against my hand.
“I’m only taking my hand off your mouth if that’s a yes,” I tell him.
He mumbles again, and I move my hand. “Well?”
“I thought you were a rolling stone?” He swallows. “You told me that you needed to get to the next place on the map.”
“I felt that way for a long time. The bad shit I did in the past has been a heavy load I carried for a long time and will probably carry my whole life, but meeting you—”
“Meeting me, what?”
“Made me want to deserve you.” I lean in to kiss him but pull back before I can get carried away. “And it even convinced me that maybe I deserved you too.”
His eyes go soft at my words. “I told myself not to be greedy. You admitted you had feelings for me, and that would be more than enough.”
“No.” I grab his hand. “I told you, I love you.”
He nods. “I promised myself that. I wouldn’t be too needy and need more from you than you could give. We could have an open arrangement, and I could travel to see you when you weren’t too busy. That loving you would mean I couldn’t hold you tightly to me.”
“Open relationship?” I can’t help growling. “Is that what you want.”
He looks down, and I take his jaw in my hand and force him to meet my gaze. “Do you?”
“No,” he admits mournfully, almost like he thinks I’ll be upset with his answer when it’s the exact opposite.
“Good,” I tell him. “Because the last thing I’m willing to do is share you, and I sure as hell don’t want anybody else in my bed but you.”
He lets out a long sigh of relief as his body relaxes against mine.
“I think we need to do a little more work on what exactly you think you deserve,” I tease.
“Expecting your boyfriend to be monogamous and stick around is just the bare minimum. I can’t wait to show you everything else you deserve from someone who loves you. ”
His whole face lights up into a smile. “Did you say, boyfriend?”
“Oh yeah.” I nod and let my thumb trace his cheekbone. “That’s my title, along with personal, full-time bodyguard.”
“Wait. What?”
“You heard me. I’m ready to settle down and open a permanent yoga studio in Chicago.
I’ll help Cash and Johnny with dismantling Patriots Now, and I might take on random assignments for Grave when it satisfies my need to help.
But my full-time job will be protecting my investigative journalist boyfriend from harm. ”
“What happens when Patriots Now gets taken down just like the Reivers, and I’m out of danger completely?” Evan asks, a hint of insecurity in his question. From now on, I plan on squashing that insecurity in its tracks until he can learn to trust my feelings for him aren’t going away.
I smile. “I don’t doubt by then, you’ll have pissed off a powerful politician by exposing he’s taking bribes, or a corporation wants to shut you up when you discover they’re dumping carcinogens in the local water source.
” I lean down to kiss him “I’m betting the winning odds that making sure you’re safe might offer me lifetime employment. ”
“Lifetime?” he repeats in awe.
I lock my eyes to his. “Just try getting rid of me.”