Torch (Unbreakable Bonds 3)

“I did meet her. Once. Sort of.”

Rowe jerked back a little in surprise. “When?”

“You were skyping me a few years ago. It was near Christmas. She came in and peered over your shoulder. Said I had nice eyes.”

Looking into those hypnotic blue eyes, Rowe had to agree with his wife. “She also said that she picked the wrong damn Ranger, but that was Mel. Always teasing and laughing.”

“I’m glad you found her.”

“And I’m glad you gave me a second chance.” Rowe leaned in and gently kissed Noah, slowly exploring the softness of his lips, reveling in the fact that Noah was his and he could sink into his warmth and laughter anytime he wanted. He just needed to make sure that Noah understood that he wasn’t going anywhere.

He broke off the kiss before it could continue and bumped his forehead against Noah’s. “Let’s get inside where it’s warm.”

Noah nodded and slid out of the truck, while Rowe turned off the engine and grabbed the giant bag of leftovers from the backseat.

“Is Ian worried about us being able to feed ourselves?” Noah asked as he unlocked the door.

“Are you really complaining about getting Ian’s food to take home?”

“Nope,” he said with a wide grin as he led the way into the house.

They took a moment to give attention to the dogs who were excited about their return and the smell of food. It was as Noah was taking off his coat that he noticed him take a thick yellow envelope out of his pocket.

“What’s that?”

Noah paused, his hand tightening around the envelope so that the paper crinkled. “After your other house burned, I asked Ian and Snow if they had any pictures of your wife. I thought…when you’re ready…we could put them up around the house.”

Rowe dropped the bag of food on the table and grabbed Noah in a searing kiss because there was no way he could speak past the lump in his throat or hide the tears burning in his eyes. Noah melted against him, kissing him back as if he was the only thing that mattered in the world.

“Tomorrow,” Rowe said, his voice rough with emotion. “Tomorrow, we’ll go out and get some frames.”

Noah chuckled. “Babe, tomorrow is Black Friday.”

“Oh fuck,” he whispered, feeling his stomach drop in panic. There was no way in hell he was heading out in that madness. “Okay, we’re going online tomorrow and ordering some frames. And then we watch college football and fuck.”

“Did anyone ever tell you that you say the sexiest things?”

“Only my mom.”

Noah shoved Rowe away, laughing hard. “Sick perv.”

Rowe backpedaled, grabbing up the bag of food again. “Go put on some comfortable clothes while I shove this in the fridge. I’m too full of Ian’s food to struggle with stripping you out of difficult stuff like belts and things with buttons.”

Noah’s warm laughter echoed down the hall as he walked toward the guest bedroom. They were sleeping together every night now, but Noah continued to keep his clothes in the other room as if he wanted to give Rowe some space. Yeah, that was changing whether Noah wanted it to or not.

“Holy fuck!” Noah shouted, his voice carrying enough to bring the dogs rushing to his side.

Rowe smiled and gave up trying to shove the last container in his full fridge. Shedding his coat and throwing it over the back of the kitchen chair, Rowe walked down the hall and leaned against the doorjamb. Noah stood in the center of the room, both hands shoved into his hair, pushing it back from his face so that Rowe could see the tears sparkling in his eyes, which he couldn’t take off the upright piano.

“You like it?”

“How?” was all he could manage.

“I happen to have some large, strong men who work for me. While at dinner, they stopped by and moved the bed to the basement and the piano in here.”

Noah gave a choked laugh as he looked around the changed room, what Rowe was now thinking of as the music room. He’d found a refurbished upright piano just a few days ago and arranged for Sven and Dominic to pick it up and bring it to the house. They met with Royce, who helped to move the piano and remove the bed. Noah’s acoustic guitar was also on a stand in the corner. The guys even left a fresh stack of music sheets on the top of the piano.

“You made your people work on a holiday?”

“Hell no. I just said that anyone who helped would get some of Ian’s leftovers from Thanksgiving.” Noah’s laugh was a little freer this time and Rowe stepped into the room. He moved behind Noah and wrapped his arms around his waist, soaking in the man’s natural warmth, the soft hint of peppermint. “You’ll quickly learn that Ian’s food is worth a lot on the black market.”