"My pleasure. This is nice."
"What?" I asked, grabbing a piece of garlic bread.
"Not talking about work, just two people enjoying time together."
"I agree," I replied, sipping my wine.
After dinner, we headed to the living room, and Gisselle settled on the blanket, tucking her legs underneath her. She patted a spot on the blanket. "The opening credits are starting."
I lowered myself onto the blanket next to her. On the TV screen, the menu displayed a classic action movie I hadn't seen in years.
"Die Hard?" I asked, amused by her choice.
"It's a perfect distraction movie — explosions with Bruce in his dirty tank top." We laughed.
I leaned back against the couch. "Can't argue with you on that one."
Gisselle started the movie and settled against me. Without thinking, I lifted my arm to wrap around her shoulders, and she immediately curled closer to me as the movie played. I found my attention drifting to the woman beside me. It was cute how she mouthed certain lines along with the actors. About halfway through the movie, she looked at me.
"You're not watching," she softly accused.
"I am."
"Liar. What just happened?"
I looked at the screen, trying to catch up. "Explosions?"
Gisselle laughed. "You're terrible at this. The point of the distraction is to actually get distracted."
"I am distracted, but not by the movie," I admitted, meeting her eyes.
Something shifted in her expression as her hand came up to my chest, right over my heart. I pulled her closer.
"Thank you for tonight's dinner, the movie, and all of this."
"We needed it."
"You make me want things I've given up on — a life outside of the firehouse, someone to come home to," I admitted.
Gisselle was still for a moment. "Good, because I'm not going anywhere, even after we catch this guy."
Her declaration knocked the air from my lungs more than any smoke from a fire had. I leaned down as she met me halfway. This kiss differed from our others. It was deeper, a promise rather than a question. My hand cradled the back of her head, tangling in her soft curls. When we finished, she smiled at me.
"The movie's still playing," she murmured.
"I don't care," I replied, pulling her closer again. She laughed against my mouth.
"Me neither."
As Bruce saved the day in the background, Gisselle straddled my lap.
"If all you wanted was a dirty wife-beater, you should've caught me before my shower," I joked.
Two weeksof quiet had my nerves stretched thinner than dollar store dental floss. I sat on Liam's couch, flicking between news channels, wondering if anything had changed, but nothing had. I set the remote down.
Living with Liam these past weeks had been a mix of domestic bliss and constant vigilance. At night, we cooked dinner together, watched movies, and talked about everything until we fell asleep. In bed, he curved his body protectively around mine, but during the day, he checked the locks twice before leaving for work and called to make sure I made it safely to the construction site. He constantly scanned for any threats if we were in public.
The community center project was still on track after the last council meeting. Mayor Thompson made it a point of publicly reaffirming her support for my design. Still, there were no arrests or suspects in the case, which seemed to go cold by the day, while we all pretended life was back to normal. I'd almost given up when Liam's doorbell rang without warning. I opened the door to Fire Marshal Winters.
