Chapter 36 The Art of Storytelling #2
I didn’t have to say that it was a bit like jumping from the frying pan into the fire, going from a mobster father to working with mine. But maybe Ares Antoni wouldn’t have to deal so much with Niall Black. If he was smart, that is.
“And you’re just going to give it to him? Free and clear?”
“They’re my shares to give. And I already told my father I’m leaving Blackguard. The rest, I’m gifting to a nonprofit or something. I don’t want them. I don’t want anything to do with him or Blackguard anymore. I don’t want this life.”
By this point, she was sitting up too, clutching the sheet to her naked body while studying me. “Then what do you want?”
I turned, urging her to see the truth. “The only thing in this life that I absolutely know I want is you, Ari. Everything else just gets in the way.”
“But—”
“And maybe I’d like to do something real,” I went on.
“Maybe I want to do more in this life than play corporate games and deal with the criminal underworld. Who knows? Maybe I’ll just play chess in the park and read my books.
Or maybe I’ll go back to school like you.
Maybe I’ll teach. Maybe I’ll write. Be one of those old man professors with the patched jackets and pretentious pipes. ”
Laney snorted. “Okay, but—”
“But what, Laney?” I was starting to get frustrated now. Did she really think so little of me that she didn’t think I could do anything else but play the family fixer?
Then I caught the smile playing over her sweet face.
“It’s just that… Ronan, I know you think you live modestly, but your version of that is still a two-million-dollar townhouse in Boston and a closet full of Loro Piana.
” She bit her lip, the little imp. “I don’t really think you understand what it means to be poor. ”
“Poor?” I repeated. Then it occurred to me what she thought I meant. I tipped my head up to the ceiling and laughed. “Oh, my sweet, sweet nymph. Who said anything about being poor?”
Now she was the one who was confused. “But you said—”
I leaned over and stamped a quick kiss on her full mouth.
“I just said that maybe I want to go back to school. But even without Blackguard, I have my own money, sweetheart. A couple of funds, a few different capital ventures; plus, Ares is going to pay me for those shares, albeit at a steep discount. I’m not Niall Black rich, but I’m not exactly scraping by either.
” I grinned at her clear shock. “You married well, even without the family fortune.”
That wiped the shock clear off her face. “I… I see. Well, just so we’re clear, I don’t need or expect—”
“Everything?” I cut her off, then tackled her gently back into the bed before silencing her with several more kisses. “Because that’s exactly what you’re getting, Laney. Everything I have to give.”
We spent several more minutes just kissing, since that was all we could do until her surgeon cleared her for more.
As much as I was dying to hear the way she shouted my name when I was spilling myself into her, I was also just happy to know that she was healed.
I could wait for the rest. We had a lifetime, after all.
“So, maybe the real question isn’t what we’re going to do, but where,” I remarked as I spooned her against my chest a bit later. “Back to Boston so you can transfer to Harvard? We’ve created enough endowments at that school to sponsor every member of my family until the end of time.”
“Well, we could, but I’d prefer not to sacrifice credits with a transfer. I only have a dissertation left. It would make more sense to go back to Chicago and finish it there, where I started.” She twisted around to look at me. “Would you… is that something you’d consider?”
I only had one question. “Is that where you want to go?”
She considered. “I think so. It would only be for a year or two, but I can’t just ask you to uproot your life—”
“Laney.” I cupped her face. “What life? My life now is you.”
She blinked at me. I had literally rendered her speechless.
Eventually, I released my hold and traded it for stroking her hair again. “What about after that?”
“What do you mean?”
“Are you planning to go on the job market? Kind of have to go where the job is, don’t you? Unless you want me to bribe another university into giving you a tenure-track position—”
“What? No, please don’t do that.”
I chuckled. Of course, she didn’t want the easy way out. She wouldn’t be Laney if she did. And I loved her all the more for it.
So, instead of arguing, I kissed her again. I kissed her for a long time, until I could feel the doubt melt from her body, replaced with all the intensity and passion and, yeah, love that swam between us.
It will be all right, the kiss said. It will be all right because there’s the two of us now.
“I love you,” I said against her lips. “I will follow you anywhere. Chicago. New York. Timbuktu. Wherever you end up, that’s where I want to be, because you’re my home now, Ariadne. Not Boston. Not Blackguard. You.”
By the time I finished, she was crying, though I thought it was maybe out of joy this time. “But—but what if I end up at some tiny liberal arts college in the middle of nowhere?”
I kissed her again. “Then I’ll be a faculty spouse that embarrasses you with my terrible Latin pronunciation.”
Her laugh was the sweetest bell. “That’s absurd. Your Latin pronunciation is perfect.”
“Well, that’s one thing to check off my list.” See? I'm already fitting in.” I kissed her again, checking her pulse at her wrist. “How’s your heart?”
“Ronan, I told you it’s normal. You don’t need to check all the time.”
“And yet I most certainly will.” I pressed a kiss to her neck where her pulse thumped, true and solid. “I almost lost you. Cut a guy some slack.”
“Fair enough.” She settled back against the pillows. “What about in Chicago? What will you do there?”
“Who knows?” I stretched out beside her, careful not to disturb her healing arm. “For the first time in my life, I can just... be who I want to be. I’m not the family fixer. I’m not the CEO-in-waiting. I’m not Niall Black’s disappointment of a son.”
“Then who are you?”
I looked at her, and in that moment, it felt like my grin might actually split my face in two.
“I’m Laney Fisher’s husband,” I told her. “And that’s a damn good start.”