“Yeah?” I chuckled at her comment.
“Yeah.” She lifted her head, a smile on her face. Little dimples formed at each end other lips. I leaned in and kissed her quickly.
“You are stunning.”
“Yeah?” she asked this time.
“Yeah,” I returned the same smile she was showing me. “Spend the night.”
“Okay.” It was a simple answer. She didn’t say she needed to go back home or make an excuse as to why she shouldn’t be here.
No.
She was going to stay with me.
“I just want a little more time with you.” I offered as an explanation of my wanting her to stay in case that might change her mind.
“Ryker.” Her head tilted, and she took my face in her hands. “I’m not going anywhere.”
She leaned in and placed a kiss on my lips. Quick as the one I’d just given her.
“I love you.” The words came from her mouth again. Those words were what had gotten us into the current situation we were sitting in.
“I love you,” I said back. Odette leaned back down, head back on my shoulder.
I squeezed her tighter, enjoying our moment.
I felt myself relax the longer we sat there.
All of my cards were laid on the table now; my whole heart was in Odette’s hands.
“Ithink it’s time for a break.” Jemma’s voice brought me out of the bubble I’d put myself in for the last hour.
“Huh?” My fingers were still typing out the sentence I had started. I was currently working on edits forLeague of Warlockswhile simultaneously trying to finish this draft to send to my editor. I was so close to completing this new story, and the deadline was quickly approaching. Finding my own happiness was exactly what I’d needed, but I wasn’t going to let Alexa know she was right. Even if that muse was Ryker.
Ryker.
It’d been a week since he had laid everything out, and we’d spent the night together. It was magic. Still was magic.
We’d spent a few nights together, but he still needed to stream and do work, and so did I. When I wasn’t with him, I had his streaming on as background noise. It was constant Ryker all the time.
“Let’s go touch grass.” Jemma got up from the couch where she’d been working in her sketchbook after spending the earlier part of the morning working on social media and our calendars for upcoming deadlines and events. She placed her notebook on the coffee table and came over to me, shooed my hands away from my keyboard, saved the document I was working on, andclosed the laptop. She took it from me and placed it on the coffee table.
“But—” I tried to reach out, but Jemma swatted my hand away.
“No buts.” Jemma held out her hands to me and helped me off the couch. My knees creaked. Maybe she was right; I should move a bit. “We’ve been sitting here for hours, you haven’t eaten anything but chips and have only drunk from the same hot tea that was made this morning.”
I sighed. She wasn’t wrong. When I got in the zone, I kind of forgot about the rest of the world around me. I was left standing as Jemma exited the room to the kitchen and came back with two bottles of water.
I followed her to the front door, slipping on my shoes.
We both made our way to the front yard, where I had a porch swing set up under the large oak tree. We both sat in silence, drank our water, and looked around. It was a quiet day, sunny but cloudy and a bit on the chilly side. I’d been bundled up in sweats and a jacket inside, and it was paying off coming out with Jemma.
“This is nice.” I had my face pointed to the sky, trying to take in as much of the sunlight as I could.
“I was looking at your calendar for the rest of the year.”
“I thought we weren’t working; touching grass as you said.” I gave Jemma a pointed look, who just took a sip of water and continued. She was a little more put together in jeans and a cardigan.
