“I’m glad. We spend almost every night together, and now I’m barging my way onto your crime scenes. I sometimes worry you’ll get sick of me.”
“Oh, I’m so tired of seeing your handsome face everywhere. Who even likes looking at a chiseled jawline twenty-four/seven?” she teased. “I think it’s time for me to find a different boyfriend.”
“The detective has jokes, ladies and gentlemen.” Eamon captured her shoulders and pinned her against his chest as if she were a little brother and not his thirty-five-year-old girlfriend.
“And I’ll be here all week.” She pinched his stomach, and he played along with an exaggerated flinch. Bel loved him for that, for being someone who defied his nature for her. He was a monster born and bred for violent cruelty, yet he’d learned howto become her best friend, to become a man comfortable with an uncharacteristic playfulness for a creature his size.
“I love you, Detective.” He kissed the top of her head, refusing to release her from his grip, so she twisted her face against his still bare chest and kissed his eternally cool skin.
“All right, all right. I surrender.” He removed his arm from her shoulders and gently pushed her away from him. “You’re going to make me crash.”
“You drove through that storm yesterday without issue, but one kiss from me is enough to run you off the road?”
“You are all-powerful, Detective.” Eamon turned into Olivia’s neighborhood. “Holy deserving of worship.”
“Put your shirt back on.” Bel grabbed his black t-shirt and slapped it against his chest. “Your abs and compliments make me wanna smack Olivia for calling and ruining our proposed day off.”
“We can’t go home, but I can drive you around today if you like,” he said as he slipped into his tee. “We can be together, just not in bed with a bottle of wine… as long as you’re fine with me crashing your crime scenes. I don’t do it to be controlling or overbearing. I’m just selfish. I want every second of your life to be spent alongside mine.”
“I’m not worried about that. If you shoved your way into a case, took over my job, and refused to let me make my own choices, then we’d have a problem, but I wear my own pants. I choose my own fate, even if it’s a dangerous and sometimes stupid one.”
“Don’t get me started on the heart attacks you give me.”
“Maybe I’ll give you grey hairs to match mine once they start coming in.” She ran her fingers through his light hair, its paleness matching his skin.
“If anyone could accomplish that, it would be you. Another reason I hang around. I don’t want to run your life, but I do want to stop you from running headfirst into trouble.”
“I’ll always run headfirst into trouble, but that’s your fault, especially when you stay close on a case. Your presence at the lake helped me not internalize what the mermaids must have endured. Plus, your expertise was a huge help.”
“So you’re okay with the old ball and chain following you around?”
“I prefer it.” Bel held up her hand so that they could both see her bare ring finger. “But you aren’t a ball and chain yet, Mr. Stone.”
“I will change that right now. Just say the word.”
“Just like that? No proposal in Paris? No diamond ring heavy enough to be an actual ball and chain?”
“You wouldHATEa diamond ring that big,” Eamon emphasized the word, knowing her all too well. “And you’ll probably have to propose to me when you’re ready because I’d take you to the courthouse right now if you let me.”
“Even if I wanted kids?” Bel pinned him with her question as he parked before Olivia’s apartment and her mangled car.
“Isobel…”
“Then no, I won’t let you take me to the courthouse.”
“So, is this you saying that kids are a deal breaker for you?”
“This is me saying that I’m not ready to get married. We haven’t even been together for a year. We don’t live together, and I don’t know how I feel about kids. All I know is I love you, and I want you in my life so desperately that it hurts when I think about losing you. So, can we shelve this for now? I have work to do, anyway.”
“Yeah.” Eamon didn’t look convinced. “We’ll talk about this later.”
“Thanks.” Bel kissed his cheek before pulling out her phone to text her partner that they were outside. She didn’t want to talk about losing Eamon. She didn’t want to face the fact that they might not be compatible. Drowned women weren’t the right backdrop for this discussion anyway, and if she were honest with herself, she didn’t want to have the conversation, because what if she realized that she wanted children? What if this was her deal breaker? She would lose him, and that was a fate she never wanted to meet.
“You’re here?”Griffin stopped short as the detectives climbed out of the SUV. “I was just about to call and ask if you needed emergency services to come clear the roads for… oh. Mr. Stone.” He nodded at the mountain of a man emerging from the driver’s seat. “I see you employed your own emergency service.”
“Fast and efficient,” Bel smirked.
“Good… good.” Griffin’s gaze shifted between the trio, and Bel’s stomach dropped at his expression. It couldn’t be happening again. Which god had Bajka angered to incur such wrath? What had they done to deserve such devastation?
