Chapter NYX
NYX
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NORTHERN TACTICAL BUILDING
“Come on,” I grinned.
I was dragging Atlas behind me down the hallway of the new NorTac building.
We’d just purchased it a few weeks ago and the contractors had just finished renovating the office suites on the top floors.
I pulled him into one and slowed as I took in the view out of the bank of floor to ceiling windows in front of me.
“Whoa,” Atlas murmured.
The city swept out below us, bright and vibrant in the dark before it gave way to the shadowed ocean beyond.
I walked up to the glass and Atlas’ arms wrapped around me from behind.
He always found a reason to be touching me and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy it.
Plus, it’s not like I didn’t do the same thing.
I was drawn to him—caught in his orbit and completely lost to him in the best ways.
“Is it bad I’m already itching to get back out there?” Atlas murmured from where he had his chin on my shoulder.
I huffed a laugh. “Why do you think I’m in the gun range so much?”
We’d returned from Austria and were thrown into trying to get our lives in order after disappearing for so long. With that came the blissful stress of the mundane although it took weeks for my body to stop acting like I was still in a life or death situation. It was exhausting in its own way.
“I think it’s just who we are,” I said.
We’d been beat up, a little broken and frayed around the edges but the darkness hadn’t gone away. Vetticus had pushed us to the brink but now that we’d returned to civilization it was rudely apparent that we weren’t cut out for civilian life.
We were silent for a long moment, looking out over the city and reveling in each other's company. These moments were so special to me—a calm during the storm that was our revenge plot.
“Do you think we would have met if Vetticus hadn’t taken us?” Atlas asked.
I shrugged and leaned back against him. “We lived on opposite sides of the country. Hell, you were married.”
“I’d like to think it would have happened regardless of him,” Atlas insisted.
“A grocery store meet cute?” I teased. “Or maybe your dog got out and I was magically there to save the day?”
Atlas chuckled. “We didn’t have a dog.”
“Cat?”
“Nope—maybe we’d have run into each other on an airplane?”
“Yeah, you had the misfortune of booking the middle seat—”
“I would never! Aisle all the way.”
“Well I’m a window seat guy—”
Atlas huffed in exasperation. “Fine—for the sake of this story, the only seat left was a middle seat and I had to be on that flight.”
“And you fell asleep on my shoulder—”
“I have one of those pillow things—”
“That you left at home. Luckily I find your snoring adorable—”
I could practically feel Atlas rolling his eyes at me. “Then I wake up—” He prompted.
“You wake up but you missed the beverage service. That’s okay though because I hook you up with a mini alcohol bottle I brought along and some pretzels—” I smirked and saw him open his mouth to reply.
“Except you decline the snack because like the psycho you are, you don’t like pretzels.
We get into a lively debate about that.”
“About pretzels?” He asked in amusement.
“Yeah, you were very adamant about how terrible they are.”
“Well, they are,” he insisted.
“Not the ones they give you on the plane,” I insisted.
“Okay, so what happens then?”
“We have to decide what to watch—your vote is an action movie—I want Food Network.”
“I’d be down for Food Network though.”
“Good because that’s what we went with.”
“Oh yeah?” Atlas’ laugh was a warm breath against my neck.
“Yup—we watch that for a bit and then you ask if I can cook—to which I say yes and you don’t believe me.”
“Why not?”
“No one ever believes I’m good in the kitchen,” I said flatly.
“This is true—I probably would have been skeptical. So when do you ask for my number?”
I grinned. “I don’t.”
“You don’t?”
“Nope, instead you write something down on a piece of paper and give it to me after the flight.”
“Something—as in my number?”
“You hand me the paper and say, ‘If you have some time while you’re here, this place has a fun cooking class. And that is my number if you want company.’ Then you wink and walk away.”
“I wink?”
“Yup.”
“Man, your imagination is something,” Atlas muttered. “So would you call me?”
I laughed and turned into him, wrapping my arms around his waist and kissing him lightly.
“Absolutely. I’d do more than that.”
Atlas raised his eyebrows, his lips sliding up in a smile. “Oh?”
In answer, I took his left hand and slipped a gold band onto his finger. His eyes lit up with excitement and he smirked as I slowly sank down onto one knee.
“I can’t imagine a reality where we don’t meet each other,” I said.
“I think my soul would find a way to be with yours no matter what. Whenever I wish the shit with Vetticus didn’t happen, I think about how even in hell, I found you.
” I ran my thumb over the ring while I gripped his hand.
“I feel like I’ve known you over many lifetimes,” I said, my voice catching in my throat. “Atlas—my viking—will you marry me?”
His green eyes clouded with emotion and his fingers entwined with mine, yanking me back to my feet.
“There is nowhere you can go that I wouldn’t be able to find you, my dark one,” Atlas said gruffly. “I love you and I will never stop—”
“Promise?”
His laugh was a little breathless and he pulled me into him.
“I’ll love you across worlds and until every last star has died. But even then—I doubt I could stop.”
“Every last star?”
“To the last one, baby. Forever.”
Atlas closed what little space there was left between us and kissed me.
His lips moved over mine and my tongue tangled with his.
My fingers slid through his hair, holding him tight to me as the kiss deepened.
We drank in the gasps of the other and I couldn’t help but shift my hips against his, not even bothering to hide my growing arousal.
“So, that’s a yes right?”
Atlas laughed. “Yes, of course it is!”
“Good—cause I have one more surprise for you.”
I pulled him into the elevator and hit the button for the roof.
We emerged from the door and after taking a few stairs, stepped out the door and onto the rooftop terrace.
Twinkle lights glowed overhead and the space had been turned into a beautiful garden with comfortable seating and even a place to grill. But that wasn’t what had our attention.
“Congratulations!” A chorus of voices shouted.
North, Lachlan, West and Knight stood with whiskey glasses raised and smiles on all of their faces. North stepped forward. He grinned and embraced us both.
“Congrats you two,” he said.
Knight approached with two glasses that he handed to us.
“It’s about time,” he said with a wink at me. “Saw this coming from a mile away.”
“Me too,” Lachlan said.
“I think we all did,” West chuckled.
North raised his glass. “To finding love in the darkest of places—may you both be the light for one another in the days to come.”