He pushes by me and heads into the living room. He takes off his suit coat and lays it on the back of one of the couches. He turns back to face me, arms going across his chest again. It’s really a magnificent sight, except for the fact that he seems a little annoyed.
“What?”
“We’re not Anna and Creed,” he tells me.
“I know. We’re John Smith and Valentino—”
“Stop,” he says, cutting me off. “Listen. Just for a minute, okay?”
“Okay,” I say weakly.
He shakes his head and huffs out a little breath. “We’re not them. Okay? And whatever Anna told you should give you no reason to worry.”
“But they….” I sigh and look down at my hands. “She asked me when the last time we had sex was, and I really couldn’t remember.”
“We’ve had a lot on our plates,” Otter says quietly. “Things have happened very quickly.”
“I know that. But it worried me a little.”
“It shouldn’t,” Otter says, dropping his arms. “Just because Anna and Creed hit a rough patch and went to therapy—”
“How did you know that?”
“Creed told me.”
“He did? That asshole didn’t say a damn thing to me!”
“Because he knew how you’d react,” Otter says wryly.
“I wouldn’t react—”
“Tobias and Trixie.”
“Okay, maybe I would, but that doesn’t mean he can’t share shit like that with me.”
“If it makes you feel any better, I don’t think I was supposed to know. I overheard him making an appointment on the phone and asked him about it. He wasn’t trying to keep anything from you, just like I wasn’t. It was between them, and it’s helped them. They’re getting back to where they need to be.”
“But—you can’t think that—”
“We haven’t lost anything, Bear.” Otter takes a step toward me. “I want you to listen to me, okay? Can you do that?”
“Yeah,” I say, suddenly nervous for reasons I can’t quite explain.
“I love you,” he says. “And even better than that, I like you. I like most everything about you. There is no one else that I would rather spend my entire life with. We’re busy these days, and sometimes we forget to make time for each other, but that’s okay, because we can fix that. But we haven’t lost our spark. I want you just as much as I did when I kissed you for the very first time. More, even. And I think you feel exactly the same way.”
I nod, unable to speak around the lump in my throat.
He’s standing in front of me, and he puts two fingers under my chin, raising my head until I’m looking into his eyes. “I am going to love you forever,” he says quietly. “Because that’s what I want. And if you want to do all of this, all this elaborate whatever, then that’s what we’ll do. Or if you just want to stay at home and make out on the couch, we can do that too. What you want is important to me, Bear. And you can tell me, always. I know it can be tough sometimes, and you’ll probably piss me off, or I’ll make you mad, but we’re a team, okay? Never forget that. We’re a team, and no matter what happens, I’m always going to have your back. For everything.”
I blink away the burn. “You’re pretty good at that. Words and stuff.”
“Words and stuff,” he repeats. “Thanks? I think.”
“Just—I got a little scared.”
“I know you did.”
“I didn’t mean it.”