Chapter 13
MELISANDE
Almost twelve hours after Devon told me what had happened when the cops had gone to arrest my stalker, I was still having a difficult time wrapping my head around the fact that my ordeal was actually over. The man who’d done so much to try to terrorize me—some of which I’d never know—was dead.
Devon had been worried about leaving me alone when he went to the police station, but I’d told him that I was fine.
I’d been telling the truth, but then everything started to sink in a few hours after he left.
I still hadn’t gotten out of bed, which probably wasn’t helping my mood because I was just staring up at the ceiling and getting lost in my thoughts.
I needed to do something so I wasn’t curled into the fetal position when Devon came back.
Stretching my arm out, I patted my palm against the top of the bedside table until I felt my cell phone.
Curling my fingers around it, I lifted my arm and held the screen toward my face.
I didn’t have any missed calls or text messages from Ana, but it was past time that I let her know what had been happening.
Bracing myself for how upset she was going to be, I pulled her up in my contacts and clicked on her phone number, quickly switching it to speaker mode.
She picked up on the second ring and squealed, “I’m guessing things have been going well with your knight in shining armor since I haven’t heard from you in so long. ”
“I really wish that’s why I’ve been so quiet,” I warned before explaining everything that had happened over the past nine days.
“Holy crap, Mel. I can’t believe some psycho was stalking you. Why didn’t you call me sooner?”
I set the phone between my boobs and scrubbed my palms down my face. “I didn’t want you to worry. Not when there wasn’t anything you could do about what was going on.”
“I’m so sorry,” Ana cried. “If I hadn’t put up that stupid auction and done the television interview, your life never would’ve been in danger. Can you ever forgive me?”
“Ana, stop. This isn’t your fault.” I picked up the phone and moved to a sitting position, crossing my legs.
“I know I gave you a hard time about how a serial killer could have bid on me, but that’s not what happened.
Devon won that auction and really has been my knight in shining armor ever since. ”
“Yeah, but what if he hadn’t seen the interview and that guy was the one who had the highest bid?”
My sister tended to get overly dramatic when she was upset, so I wasn’t surprised she wasn’t willing to let this go.
“You never would’ve given him my information, Ana.
You had your neighbor who’s a cop look into Devon, right?
You would’ve done the same for the bad guy, dumped his bid when he didn’t get the thumbs-up from your neighbor, and moved on to the next bidder. ”
“All this time, I’d thought you’d gone radio silent because you were spending all your free time with Devon.”
I was glad that I neglected to tell her about the guy’s lack of criminal history because she finally calmed down.
..while I got a chill up my spine at the thought of how horribly wrong everything could have gone if Devon hadn’t stepped in to save me before either of us knew that was what he was doing.
I forced a light note into my voice as I said, “You wouldn’t have been wrong.
Devon has barely let me out of his sight since we flew back from Portland.
It’s going to be super weird going from spending twenty-four seven together to seeing each other a few times a week or whatever normal couples do when they’re dating. ”
“I bet. But it’s not as though there’s a rule that says you have to go back to your apartment right away.” She made kissy noises into the phone. “I bet Devon would be cool with you staying longer.”
“I don’t know. The idea of staying at my place gives me the heebie-jeebies.
” I shivered, thinking about what it would take to clean up the DNA the stalker had left behind.
I’d probably have to get rid of everything in my bedroom and sleep on my couch until I saved up enough to buy a new bed.
“But I can’t just assume that I’m staying here. ”
“Take my advice, Mel. Ask. The. Man.”
Her bossy tone made me smile as I admitted, “I mean, he’s made some random comments. Like how he’s lucky I know how to use his top-of-the-line espresso machine because now he doesn’t need to worry about figuring it out.”
“See, Devon probably hasn’t even thought about you leaving yet if he hasn’t brought it up.
Promise me you’ll talk to him before doing something silly, like arranging for a rideshare to take you to a cheap motel and then locking yourself in a crappy room to cry your eyes out over something you could’ve fixed with a simple conversation. ”
“Okay, drama queen.” I crawled off the mattress to walk into the bathroom. “I’m going to hop in the shower now so I’m not a smelly mess when Devon gets back, and we have that talk.”
“Good call. Make sure to shave all the good parts in case you need to remind him why you should stay.”
My call to my sister had accomplished both of my goals.
She was all caught up on what had been going on in my life, and I was laughing as I stepped into the shower.
Devon must have returned while I was in there because shortly after I was finished getting ready, he walked into the bathroom. “What’re you doing?”
I met his gaze in the reflection of the mirror as I zipped my makeup bag closed. “Just packing up my stuff so I’ll be ready when it’s time to head back to my apartment.”
Instead of taking Ana’s advice to heart, I chickened out during my shower and decided I should mentally prepare in case Devon wanted me to go home.
Judging by the way he was glaring at me, it wasn’t the right call.
I got flustered when he stalked toward me without saying anything and blurted, “Staying at your place has been awesome, but I wasn’t sure how long you wanted me to stay.
You brought me here to keep me safe from my stalker, but he’s dead now. ”
Devon started to put everything back where it’d been.
Then he flung open the cabinet door under the sink and tossed my makeup bag inside.
Once that was done, he tugged on my hand to lead me into the bedroom.
When he pointed at the edge of the mattress, I sat down.
Then I gasped when he dropped down next to me and pulled me onto his lap. “Need you close for this conversation.”
Now that I had a better idea of his reaction, the knots in my belly loosened. “I’m guessing it’s safe to assume that you don’t want me to leave today?”
“Definitely a safe assumption.” His breath was hot against my neck as he chuckled softly. “I don’t want you to leave today, tomorrow, or any other day unless we’re both moving out together.”
I gasped and twisted around to straddle him. “You don’t think it’s too fast? We haven’t even known each other for two weeks yet.”
“Nope, I’m behind the curve again, sweetheart.” I caught the reference to when I’d teased him about all the time we’d spent together before hopping into bed with each other, but I didn’t understand what he meant. “Brecken proposed to Hadley two days after they met.”
“Proposed?” I echoed, feeling as though my heart might jump out of my chest.
“Yeah, sweetheart.” He rubbed his thumb over my left ring finger.
“I’m not asking you to marry me right now because you deserve a fuck of a lot more than a spur-of-the-moment proposal.
But now that your stalker is in the morgue and I’ve answered all the questions the cops had for me, I’ll make finding the perfect ring my top priority.
Then I’ll come up with a grand gesture you can share with our kids. ”
I fisted his shirt in my hands and shook my head. “I don’t need all that.”
“What do you need?” He gripped my butt cheeks to pull me even closer.
I trusted Devon with my life and my heart, so it wasn’t too difficult to take a leap of faith and confess, “To know that you love me.”
His lips were barely an inch from mine when he whispered, “I’ll love you until the day I die, sweetheart.”
“That better not be anytime soon since I love you, too,” I murmured.
“You can count on us having many, many years together,” he promised. “It’s my job to guard your heart for the rest of our lives, and I’ll do as good of a job at it as I’ve done keeping you safe since we met.”