Jimmy nodded, smiling aslightly brighter smile and closing the door after himself with a soft click.
Maintenance had finallyoiled the hinges.
“Aww,” Gray said, crossinghis arms over his chest. “That was sweet. And you’ve got a new little friend.”
Gray had a plant. It wasnamed Mavis.
Up until right now, I’d thought thatwas a cute little quirk and most people didn’t bother with that kind of thing.Suddenly, I’d become one of them.
“Thought of a name yet?”Gray teased.
“I’m not naming a plant,” Isaid, knowing that by the end of the week I would have caved in.
Gray gave me a look thatsaid he knew the same.
“Does this mean me and mynew…” I paused to check the label. “Maidenhair fern are welcome in yourapartment?”
“You and Juliet are alwayswelcome in my apartment,” Gray said. “You can change her name if you think of abetter one.”
Laughing to myself, I satback in my chair and sipped my coffee, looking up at Gray. Leaning against thedesk like he owned the place, and looking down at me with laughter in his eyes.
The worst part was that Iwouldn’thave had it any other way. Somehow, I’d come out of this with exactly the thingI’d been looking for since I was fifteen. Someone who’d love me exactly the wayI was.
I wasn’t letting himget away anytime soon.
Even if hedidnamemy plants.
EPILOGUE
GRAY
Four months later…
“I LOVE IT when you visit meat work.” I grinned as Miles ducked into the office, pushing my chair away fromthe desk to give him space to take up his usual place.
Straddling my lap.
There were one or two perksto having a steady, long-term boyfriend who loved me, and makeouts at lunchtimewere definitely one of them. Miles was working on doing more walking, and thewalk from his office to mine and back just happened to cover the bulk of hisstep goal for the day.
That worked just fine forme.
He strode around the desksilently and dropped himself into my lap, shrugging his suit jacket off andletting it pool on the desk behind him. Just as well I’d heard his footsteps inthe hall and closed my laptop, because I doubted he would have paused to makesure I’d saved my work.
He got in these moods, sometimes.Needy and desperate and not afraid to show it.
I knew that was still hardfor him, and I was honored that he felt he could be this way around me. As soonas Miles had really believed he could trust me, that I’d be there for him evenwhen his life was at its worst, he’d started opening up.
If I’d thought he was beautifulwhen I first met him, it was nothing compared to how I felt now.
“Rough morning?” I asked,tugging his shirt out of the front of his pants and sliding my hand up underit, scratching lightly at the sensitive skin of his belly. He liked this.Skin-on-skin contactalwaysworked for him, whether he needed to besoothed or loved or turned on.
“Annual physical resultscame in,” he said, resting his forehead against mine.
My heart sank. Was he aboutto tell me bad news?
I tried to keep my face asneutral as possible, but I was poised to comfort him. I’d see him through whateverhappened.
Miles was the love of mylife. Nothing would ever change that.
