“I...I don’t know what to say. Would I really have full autonomy or would I be running your bar?”
“Full autonomy. Your bar, love.”
“You make it really difficult to say no,” she admitted.
“Then say yes.”
She studied him for a moment and then nodded. “Yes.”
He blinked at her incredulously. “Really?” He was so sure she was going to fight him on it.
“Really,” she said, grinning at him. “You’re making all of my dreams come true. It would be stupid to turn that down.”
“You do make a fair point there,” he agreed. “There’s a little bit more.”
“What more could their possibly be?” she asked.
“This, I’m sure, will come as less of a shock. I’d very much like you to continue living here with me even after you’re well.”
Lilly was silent for a moment. He could tell her mind was at work. Eventually she asked, “Are you sure? You’re buying me a bar and wanting me to move in. Isn’t this moving a bit quickly?”
Talan moved from the chair to perch on the side of the bed. Cupping her cheek, he asked her, “Do you know the thing that I miss most about being human?”
A completely mystified look on her face, she shook her head no.
“The sunlight. Before the change, I used to love being outdoors. I loved the warm sun on my face, a cool breeze. That was my idea of perfect. Since the change, I’ve not had that same feeling of warm pleasure and peace. Until you. You worry that things are moving too fast, but what you don’t seem to understand is that I want nothing more than to keep you with me for as long as the fates allow. I am irrevocably in love with you, Lilly.”
He watched as tears spilled over onto her cheeks. Gently, he wiped them off her cheekbone and said, “Please don’t cry.”
Lilly sniffled and then said, “I’ll stay.”
“You will?” he asked, hopeful.
“I will.”
Talan leaned in and brushed his lips gently against hers. When she sighed against his lips, he deepened the kiss.
Sometime later, he lay stretched out next to her, having given up on work for the day. He gently stroked a hand over her hair. He had been so close to losing everything.
A frown marring her face, she softly said, “I’m sorry you can’t be in the sun. I wish there was a way to give that to you. I would do it in a heartbeat.”
His sweet Lilly. She had such a caring heart. He was truly blessed to have found such an amazing woman. His voice filled with emotion as he explained, “Lilly. In my universe, you are the sun.”
Epilogue
One and a Half Years Later
“Trevor,” Lilly groaned at her project manager. “What do you mean they broke the granite countertop? During shipping? Are they going to replace it?”
“They’ll be finding a piece as close to the original color as possible and shipping it within the week,” he confirmed. “The bathrooms will get done.”
Lilly took a deep breath. She was getting way too worked up over a countertop. It seemed almost daily lately that she was talking herself down from a panic attack about something idiotic like this. How the hell did Talan keep it together during the construction of entire casinos?
Searching for her patience, Lilly finally said, “Well, that’ll have to do, I guess. How long does this put us behind?”
“Good news there, ma’am. I’ve discussed it with Mr. Corbett already. We’ll just start a day earlier in the kitchen.”
It had been quite a coup when she’d gotten Magnus Corbett, Toronto’s own celebrity chef, to agree to run the kitchen. She had talked it over with both Talan and the lawyer when she’d seen his list of demands, which included creative control of the kitchen design. He’d specifically requested “none of that open floor design bullshit.” He’d informed her that he hated “guests watching over his fucking shoulder like he was a trained seal.” He was something else.