Page 206 of A Matter of Time

“You don’t?”

“Don’t be an idiot.” I sighed, turning to look at his profile. “You know I’m good with us.”

He kept his eyes on the road. “I know you are.”

“May I say, I have a lot of friends that have open relationships.”

“Meaning what?”

“Meaning they live with someone but still sleep around.”

“And?”

“And so you know, I’m not built that way.”

“Good, because it ain’t gonna be that way. You belong to just me.”

I turned away so he couldn’t see me smile.

“Look at me.”

When I did, his gaze met mine. I hadn’t realized he’d pulled over.

“I just want you to be sure that this, us, alone, is what you want, J, ’cause I’ve got my mind made up, but you gotta be on board too.”

I understood that was how he worked. There was the wrestling with the problem, then the resolution, the yes or no on a decision, followed by the buy-in from all parties involved. He liked a rock-solid foundation before he moved forward. After this, there was no going back.

“I’m on board, Sam.”

He reached for me, wrapped his hand around the back of my neck, and pulled me forward to kiss me breathless. I had to push back to take in air.

His smile was wicked, very pleased with himself.

“You look very happy,” I said, my voice soft so it wouldn’t crack on me.

“Because I am,” he assured me, running the backs of his fingers up and down my throat before suddenly settling behind the wheel again and easing the SUV back out into traffic.

“Let’s go eat. I’m starving.”

We ended up at a deli, where we both ordered sandwiches stacked to the sky and took them to go. He told me how frustrating it was that, in all the mess of my rifled apartment, there was not one fingerprint, strand of hair, or any other telltale piece of evidence to suggest that there had even been an intruder. Professionally done was an understatement, and when I pressed him for a guess as to who it could have been, he had nothing he wanted to share. I knew better, even in the short time we had known each other, than to push. I was about to ask some more questions about his new partner when his phone went off. I was surprised when mine rang a second later.

“Hello?”

“Jory?”

“Yeah.”

“Jory, it’s Jen.”

“Oh.” I glanced over at Sam, who was listening very intently to whoever was on the other end. “Hey, how are you? I had no idea you had my⁠—”

“Jory, I need you and Sam to come to my house right now.”

“Are you⁠—”

“I’m okay, I just need some support.” She was close to tears; I could hear it in her voice. “I told Mitch, and he just left and…then I called Kurt and…could you just come?”

“Course,” I soothed her. “We’ll be right there.”