I wanted to roll my eyes but my face hurt too much for that. “And then what?”
“Then you marry me,” he replied, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
I touched a finger to my temple and found I was bleeding. Where the hell were the emergency services? I’d thrown that watch entireminutesago. “Two years.”
“Nine months.”
“Who the hell do you think you’re negotiating with? I’m not one of those people who gets an eyeful of scowl and hands over the house,” I yelled back. “Eighteen months, take it or leave it.”
“Fifteen and we tell people we’re engaged tomorrow.”
“Yeah, sure, if I was into bargaining against myselfandmaking deals with the devil,” I replied. “We can make this work. I believe it. But not without a whole lot of figuring it out as we go.”
I blinked and realized some of this wavy gravy vision was from my cheek swelling. Another delightful development, but at least we weren’t hurtling toward a seizure. “Fifteen months and we don’t speak a word about making it legal until then.”
Beck was quiet for a moment. Then, “Can we talk about the honeymoon?”
A blinding crack of lightning struck very close by and the entire building shook. Hell, it was possible the entire town shook.
A cackle rang out and Beck asked Joey, “What the fuck is your problem?”
“This entire place is going to be a fireball any minute,” he said. “I unloaded five tanks of gas around the perimeter and doused the outside walls, and soon enough, your girlfriend and her stupid vegetable restaurant will be gone.”
“That’s enough bullshit out of you,” Beck replied.
“No, Beck, he’s telling the truth,” I said. “The gasoline, I noticed it earlier.”
“When this is all over, we’re going to have a conversation about the correct order of items to communicate when you’ve been held at knifepoint,” he said, his words freakishly calm as he stood, dragging Joey with him.
“Maybe you shouldn’t have picked a fight about when we’ll get married.”
Another crack of lightning pierced the night and we all turned toward the back of the café as a great whoosh sounded. I didn’t know what it was but I knew it couldn’t be good.
“We’ll have the next fifteen months to hash that out. Right now, we need to get the fuck out of here,” Beck said. “Can you walk, sweetheart?”
“Yeah. I think so.” I’d pushed to my hands and knees to find my balance when one enormous crash after another froze me on the spot. I couldn’t tell if the building was on fire or it was thunder or just a noise inside my head. Or maybe the blare of sirens in the distance? “What the hell was—”
Broken glass rained into the café and then I heard, “Loew!”
“Where the fuck have you been, Price?” Beck shouted. “The one time you can be useful happens to be the one time you’re not crammed all the way up my ass.”
I pushed to my feet and found Agent Price stepping through one of the now-shattered windows. “The front door’s barricaded with sandbags and the gable wall is on fire.” He pulled a pair of handcuffs from his back pocket and slapped them on Joey. For his part, Joey started howling about being framed, which made fine sense considering the rest of his logic. “I’ve got him. Get your girl. Let’sgo.”
I pushed my way through the wreckage of my happy accident café and let Beck help me out the window. Rain poured down as sirens drew close but none of that stopped Beck from folding me into his arms.
“Fifteen months is no bargain.” He pressed his lips to my forehead. “But I’ll take it. I don’t care whether it’s fifteen months or fifteen years. I love everything about you, even the sadistic way you drive me mad, and as long as I get you, nothing else matters.”
Flashing lights filled the night sky and bounced off the buildings as the first responders arrived.
“Close your eyes, storm cloud,” he said, cradling my head in his hand and tucking me under his chin. “Don’t look. Stay right here.”
Tears of relief, of adrenaline, of exhaustion flooded my eyes and immediately spilled over. “I love you too,” I said into his shirt. “And I’ll accept fifteen as long as you understand that you’re not allowed to move in with me for at least nine months.”
“I’ll agree to those terms only because I know you’ll break them before winter.”
“Go ahead and antagonize me, Beck. That’s worked out so well for you in the past few months.”
“Go ahead and test me,” he replied. “We know how well that works out for you.”
