“Now—the good shit first, or the heavy?” I ask, and she rubs her lips together.
“Heavy first, if I have to choose.”
“Right.” I pull her other leg up so that if she tries to bolt, I have a shot at stopping her. “Before I was born, my dad took out some really bad guys,” I start, and she turns to face me with her lips parting in a silent O. “He thought with them out of the way that it was the end of it, but as what tends to happen, that guy was replaced by another. And even though my father hasn’t been involved in that life for a very long time, he’s extremely cautious when it comes to his family’s protection.” I run my hand up and down the smooth skin of her shin. “That’s why we have security—not because my family has some kind of criminal affiliation, but because someone could decide they want to make a name for themselves and use my family to do it.”
“When you say ‘took out’...?” Her words trail off, and my hand stops moving.
“I mean he took them out in a way that they will never take another breath.”
“That’s what I thought,” she says quietly, biting her bottom lip.
“I told you before you are safe, and I meant that. There is no way I would ever put you out there if I thought someone might come after you to get to my family.”
“I don’t know that you have control over what other people do,” she says softly, and I shake my head.
“You’re right, but you’re wrong. My family might not be personally involved in what happens in the underground criminal world, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t still connected in one way or another to those who are in control.”
“That sounds—” She pauses for a long moment. “—scary.”
“I get why you would think that.” I smooth my hand down her leg once more. “And I wish I could tell you none of that matters, but I won’t do that, because it does. Things still come up from time to time, which means we have to be alert, and being with me, you’ll have to accept there is going to be security around as a precaution. Not only that, but you’ll have to accept that in the past, my family was connected to some really fucking bad people, even if they aren’t connected to them anymore.”
“I can accept that,” she says instantly, and I hold her gaze, seeing nothing but trust shining back at me.
“That’s good, baby. Now let’s talk about us,” I say, and that trust in her eyes is immediately replaced with fear, an emotion I’ve seen in her expression more than once since I decided I wasn’t willing to let this thing between us become some fling that both of us could just walk away from. Something I know she would have let happen, even if it wasn’t what she wanted. “I’m pretty sure I’ve made it clear that I like being with you,” I begin, and she gives me a slight nod, confirming she knows it. “I can say I wasn’t looking for this; a relationship wasn’t even on my radar. But you changed that for me.”
“Maxim—”
“You were right,” I interject, unsure if she was even going to say more. “This morning when you said you weren’t sure I was moving to Tennessee, I was pissed, because I assumed you knew how I felt about you. But then realized you couldn’t know, because I haven’t told you, and I’m learning you would rather assume this isn’t serious than to think it is and be let down.” I watch her watch me with rapt fascination.
“You’re right. I wasn’t planning on living full time in Nashville, but things changed after I had to leave you to come here for work last week. I learned quickly I didn’t like being away from you, and I know there is no way I’d be able to come here for weeks at a time unless you are coming with me. Since I don’t see that happening, because you have work and your family there, I’m looking for someone to run Wet for me so I can focus on finding a spot to open up in Tennessee—either a bar or a club; I don’t know which yet. And while I work on getting whatever place I find up and running, you and I will do the whole dating and getting to know each other thing before the whole wedding and kid thing.”
“What?” she breathes, and I smile at the stunned look on her face.
“Do you want to get married?
“I—”
“Not tomorrow,” I cut her off. “Though we are here in the city of drive-thru wedding chapels, so we could head into the city and get it over with,” I joke, even though it’s not something I’d be against if I thought she would go along with it. My parents didn’t really know each other before they got married, and they are still happy and completely in love. And from the time I was little, Mom always said that when you find the person you are meant to be with, it might not be easy, but you’ll know they are the one and that everything you go through to be with them is worth it. I honestly never believed her until now.