“Perry.” Gideon rolled over and yawned.
Then he blinked slowly and opened his eyes. When his gaze caught on mine, a soft smile lit his face. If I looked like I did on a normal morning, then my hair was sticking up everywhere and I had creases on my cheek from the pillow. I was wearing one of his old threadbare t-shirts, but the look on his face made me feel like I was the sexiest man on earth.
It was the same every time we shared a bed. Gideon was always open and honest, but there was something about this first moment of wakefulness that always got me. It was like just thesight of me made him happy, and it didn’t matter what happened next because we’d started the day together.
And I suspected I looked at him the same way.
I loved waking up next to him. Actually… I loved everything about him and our relationship. In these quiet moments, I questioned why I was moving forward so cautiously with our relationship. If I followed my instincts, like Elwood suggested, I would wake beside Gideon every morning.
When I ignored my head and thought only about my heart, my answer was a resounding ‘hell yeah, let’s do this.’ Unfortunately, my head tended to be pretty loud. Although it was getting quieter every day.
“Everything okay?” Gideon asked.
I wasn’t sure what he’d seen on my face, but I wasn’t ready to talk about everything I was feeling. So I swallowed and nodded. “Yeah.” Then I thought about what he’d said. “Wait. Did you say that was Perry? There’s no way. He’s so quiet…”
“He still forgets his own strength sometimes.”
“Are you sure that was him?”
“Yeah.” He rubbed his eyes. “I’ll have another talk with him…”
“No,” I said quickly, putting my hand on his chest, as if my touch would stop him from jumping out of bed and talking to Perry this second if that’s what he really wanted to do. “He probably feels bad enough already. I can’t imagine him doing that on purpose. God, the poor guy. He hates being the center of attention. He must be mortified.”
“You know…” Gideon grinned up at me. “Now that we’re awake early…”
“We should get up and figure out how we’re going to catch Roy?” I asked, throwing back the covers. “You’re right. We shouldn’t waste any time.”
His grin dropped away.
“Just kidding…” I laughed and leaned forward to kiss him.
I drew my mouth along his jaw, where his short beard scraped along my lips, and heat shot through me. I wanted to feel that on my neck, trailing down my chest and lower.
“Come here,” he murmured and rolled me under him, pressing me between his warm muscled body and the soft mattress.
After we’d welcomed the day in the best possible way, Gideon went to clean up while I lingered in bed a little longer. As soon as I heard the water in the shower, I pulled out my phone and checked the time. Perfect. Most businesses would be open by now. There was something I’d been meaning to do, and it was long past time. But after my talk with Gideon last night, something clicked for me. It was time to take a few more steps toward building my life here.
I found the right number and waited for the call to connect.
“Good morning, Janis Naylor speaking.”
Following Winston’s death, Janis had been named the successor to his business, Wilcox Developments, and the various holdings that came with it. I didn’t know all the legalities of how a business was passed from one person to the next, but it seemed she’d simply stepped into the vampire’s now-empty shoes. Was that a quirk of the supernatural world that it’d happened so quickly? Or perhaps Winston had no one else in his life who’d contest his will.
“Hi, Janis, this is Declan Hawthorne…”
“How can I help you?”
“Would you be able to show me the retail spaces you have available?”
“Of course. I have a couple–”
I cut her off before she offered me ones I wasn’t interested in. “There’s a place kitty corner to The Den. Is that one of yours? I saw there’s a new sign in the window saying it is for lease.”
“Oh, yes. It’s a gorgeous space. So much potential,” Janis said. “I have an opening tomorrow at ten, would that work?”
Already? “Uh, yes. Tomorrow. Great. Anytime.”
“Perfect. I’ll text you some links to the property listing for that one and a few others so you can look them over before we meet.”
