I tried to slip out from under him and the covers without waking him up but as soon as I moved his eyes popped open and I was pinned in place by his earthy gaze.
“It’s Sunday. Where are you off to?” I had taken him back to my apartment after the hockey game mostly because it was closer to the arena than his was and after his declaration that he would never ask me to be anything other than I was, I couldn’t wait to get all over him. I was impatient. I was grateful. I was falling deeper and harder for this gruff cop I knew I was going to be able to hold on to indefinitely.
My escape plan had the major flaw in it that I couldn’t just bail on him and leave him in my bed while I did so.
I shoved my hair out of my eyes and scratched my chest absently. “I have a family thing I try to get to once a month on Sunday. Since this is the last Sunday of the month, I figured I’d better make an appearance.”
He lifted his arms up over his head and stretched, giving me a show of pure strength and masculinity as he did so. He ran a hand over his face and sat up so that the sheet that was barely covering him fell all the way down around his waist.
“I should rally my sisters and swing by for a visit with my mom, too. I haven’t seen much of her since I started training with you, and I’m sure she wants an update. I should go check on Royal, too. I need to make sure that pretty boy of hers is taking care of her the right way.” There was a tinge of humor in his voice as he swung his legs over the edge of the bed and bent to pick up his jeans from where they had dropped the night before.
When he was all tucked away, he turned back to look at me where I was watching him over my shoulder. He was pulling his shirt on over his head when he told me, “For the record when you need me gone, all you have to do is say so. My feelings aren’t going to get hurt.”
I stiffened and opened my mouth to argue, but the sharp glint in his eyes wouldn’t let me. “It’s not that I want you gone, Dom,” I motioned a hand between the two of us. “This is intense and happening really fast when I just convinced myself it shouldn’t happen at all. I’m just trying to catch up.”
He put his hands on the mattress and bent forward so that he could give me a hard kiss. “Then say that. Don’t make excuses.”
I scowled as he made his way over to the yellow IKEA chair where he had thrown his jacket. “It’s not an excuse. It really is a family thing.” Not my blood family but family nonetheless.
He fished his phone out of his pocket and took a minute to scan his notifications. When he looked up, he had his keys in his hands and a serious expression on his darkly handsome face.
“For the record, whatever we’re doing isn’t a race, so there is no need to keep up. We already decided we’re in the middle, and if you feel like we’re rushing, then that means eventually we’re gonna hit the finish line. Keep that in mind, Lando.”
Realizing he was dressed and ready to go I pulled myself up off the bed and told him to give me a minute. I took a quick shower and threw on a pair of jeans and fitted gray sweater. I was never much of a T-shirt guy. Probably because I spent the majority of my youth and adulthood in a gym. I wanted my clothes to look like actual clothes and not stuff I could just as easily work out in. I scrubbed my teeth and combed my hair down and even though it all only took around twenty minutes Dom had obviously gotten bored and wandered off to check out the rest of my house. It was a cute little Venerable cottage I had paid more for than I wanted to in the Highland area of Denver, but the craftsmanship and flat-out love for the older home that the seller had put into it couldn’t be ignored. I snapped the gem up the day it went on the market and hadn’t bothered to haggle.
My house had a lot less black than his did. I liked some color but I did have the requisite flat screen that covered the wall over the fireplace and a few signed jerseys that were matted and framed, that keep the space from looking anywhere close to overly styled.
Dom was standing in front of a wall that had a few pictures of my family on it and one of my favorite pictures of me and Remy from when we had first moved in together. We had our arms around each other, and Remy’s best friend, Shaw, in all her adorable blond glory, was hugging us both. For a long time Shaw had been the only person in Remy’s life that knew about me, that knew about us. The three of us looked happy, like nothing in the world would stop us from living the lives we were meant to live. How quickly that had all changed.
Dom tapped the picture and looked over his shoulder at me. “He’s the football player in your office, too. Who is he?” I shouldn’t be surprised by his keen perception. It was part of his job after all.
I found my own coat where I had abandoned it along with all my common sense in my rush to get him naked and to get myself inside of him last night.
“Someone that isn’t in my life anymore.” I hated talking about Remy, hated having to admit out loud that he was dead, that I would never see him again, that the world would never be touched by his beautiful and warm nature ever again.
Dom gave me a questioning look and followed me to the front door. “Not in your life but still on your wall and in your office? And if I had to guess I would say the reason you no longer like football.”
I bristled a little as we both slid into my car. The weather was steadily getting colder and I was going to have to swap out the sports car for my SUV in the next few months. I kept the big four-wheel drive stashed at my folks’ until the weather really called for it, but I loved my Jag.