It may not have been real, but it was—absolutely—real right now.
Casey grabbed onto that, surrendered to it, let it be her truth—at least for this moment—as she let all else go.
When Casey exploded in his arms, Rio came in a rush.
He’d been trying to hang on for a bit longer, but it was just. Too. Fucking. Hot.
Not just that she wanted him, although that was freaking great, but that she loved him. She loved him. And he hadn’t known just how much he’d wanted that—to be loved, and not just by anyone, but by her.
It gave him a profound sense of satisfaction and fulfillment. A sense of completeness, of harmony with the entire universe.
Life was good, and it was only going to get better, with Casey by his side.
He’d started tonight in a pretty dark place—worried for her safety, and certain that by kissing her the way he’d done back at ’Wulfs, he’d fucked things up beyond repair.
But now he kissed her again and as he both rolled off of her and enveloped her in his arms, pulling her against him so that her back was spooned against his front, he whispered, “Thank you for forgiving me.”
She made a little noise that might’ve been laughter. “I’m so tired. Can we just... sleep now?”
“Yeah,” he told her. “Sleep. I’m just gonna do a quick pass through the house, make sure everything’s locked up tight.”
“You do you.”
Rio had to laugh as he reluctantly let her go and got out of bed. He gathered his clothes up off of the floor. “That’s kinda my MO.”
Her eyes were already tightly closed and his heart expanded a little as he looked at her. These past few days had been brutal. And even on a normal, non-high-stress day, she found sleep to be elusive. “Look, I’m gonna stay out in the other room so I don’t wake you. I’ll be up a lot, checking that everything’s secure.”
Casey opened her eyes at that, but only briefly before she snuggled herself even further down into the covers. “Just... kiss me one last time...?” she murmured.
Her voice was so tentative, as if she thought he somehow wouldn’t...? Rio dropped everything he’d just picked up and went back to the bed, where she was still lying, eyes tightly shut.
But then she opened her eyes as she turned her face up to him, and he smiled and kissed her.
Sweetly. Softly. As tenderly as he could manage even though his heart was pounding again.
Because this was his life now, and he still couldn’t quite believe his luck.
She sighed, and he whispered, “Sleep well,” against the warmth of her lips.
She didn’t answer as he scooped up his clothes and went out the door, leaving it ajar behind him.
Chapter Nineteen
Saturday
When Casey woke up, completely alone in her vigorously used bed, her first though was That bastard.
He’d slipped out in the dark of night...? Todd? No, no, no, definitely not Todd, it was Luc.
Luc...?
What?
Wait...
As the slit of sunlight streaming in from the edge of the curtains traveled from her eyes to her brain and made her wince, she grabbed for the emergency bottle of water she kept tucked behind her bedside table lamp. And as she poured some into her painfully desert-dry mouth, Casey remembered. Todd had texted her last night, yes. But...
She’d opened the slider and let Luc in. Figuratively as well as literally. Luc-but-not-Luc.
