“I really do want you to meet my family,” he blurted.
“Are you sure about that?”
“Absolutely. I’ll call when we get back to the house and let them know we’re in town.”
Ava nodded, but she seemed distracted. Razor put his arm around her shoulders.
“Tell me what you’re thinking.”
“It’s just…how will you introduce me?”
“Let’s see. My girlfriend, my lover, the best thing that ever happened to me. Any of those work for you?”
She smiled and rolled her eyes.
“I could also introduce you as the love of my life.”
She wasn’t smiling anymore.
“Ava?”
“Don’t make fun of me, Tabon.”
He stopped walking and turned her so he could look in her eyes. “How is that making fun of you?”
She tried to shrug away, but he wouldn’t let her.
“I get that you don
’t take…relationships seriously. But that doesn’t mean you have to make a mockery of them.”
“Hey,” he said, stroking his finger down the side of her face. “That was awfully presumptive of you, wasn’t it?”
“Am I wrong?”
“Couldn’t be more so.”
“I’m hardly the love of your life, Tabon. You don’t even know me.”
“I disagree with that assessment. I know you very well.”
“You know about me. That’s different than knowing me.”
“Again, I disagree. I know when you say you’re not hungry, you are. And I even know when you really aren’t. I know that you make sure the world sees you as independent and completely self-sufficient, and you are anything but. You rely on your sister to reassure you that you are so much more amazing than you know.”
“That isn’t—”
Razor stepped closer so he could feel her staggered breathing on his face and chest.
“I know how to make your body sing, Ava, in a way that no one else has or will again.”
“You have a high opinion of yourself, Tabon.”
“You’re wrong. The reason no one will again is because I have no intention of ever letting you go.”
“You don’t mean that.”
“Oh, I do, Avarie. Do you think the things I’ve told you aren’t true? I haven’t misled you. I’ve shared things with you that I never dreamed I’d share with anyone. And I’ve broken every cardinal rule of my job to take care of you and protect you in a way that I know is risky.”