“I think your heart is bleeding. He could also be one of the millions of people who have a set of online balls that don’t exist here in the real world.” Colt reached across the breakfast spread and stole the other half of my toast. “That’s why I don’t do the online thing. It’s bullshit.”
I swear, it was like pulling teeth with this man sometimes…
“Could you at least look?” I asked patiently. “He expresses curiosity toward pain on his profile, if that sweetens the deal.”
“They all state that.” Colt rolled his eyes. “But fine. Send me the link again.”
“Thank you. I appreciate it.” I finished my coffee and rose from my seat. “Don’t forget to call your mother today.”
“Huh?”
“It’s her birthday, Colt.”
“Oh shit.”
I brought my plate to the sink and adjusted my tie. “I sent flowers from us, and I’m picking up her gift after work.”
Colt smiled and leaned back in his seat, locking his fingers behind his head. “What would I do without you?”
“You’d be forced to learn how to put reminders on your phone.” Rounding the kitchen counter, I smacked a kiss to his lips, then grabbed my suit jacket from the back of his chair. “I’ll bring dinner home with me later. You work up a good sweat with those moving boxes.”
“Will do.”
The apartments in my building had been turned into condos last winter, and Colt and I had managed to take out a mortgage to both cover the purchase of our place as well as a renovation. Then work had gotten in the way; Colt was in the development stages of the security company he was opening with two others, and I had more clients than ever. This summer, though, at last… Renovations began next week and would take three months.
“Love you, baby,” I said on my way out the door.
“Wait!” he hollered, and I paused in the doorway. “Coffee or mornin’ sex? Mornin’ sex with me.”
“Coffee!” I laughed and closed the door while he cursed me out and called me a liar.He had worked up a sweat…
Our hallway had turned into a maze of moving boxes, and the living room was completely empty, with the exception of the couch and the entertainment center, which he’d disassembled.
“You’ve been busy today.” I entered our bedroom and set down my briefcase and the bag with takeout.
Colt hummed, seated at the desk. So that’s where I’d left my reading glasses; I spotted them next to the mouse pad. I’d missed them today.
“Yeah,” he responded eventually. “How was work?”
“Good. Busy.” I positioned myself behind him and dropped a kiss to the top of his head. “What’cha doin’?”
“As you can see…” He drawled.
I smiled. He was reading Kit’s profile. I dipped down lower and kissed Colt’s neck, my hands slipping down his exposed torso. “What do you think?”
“Mmm.” He gathered my hands in his and kissed my knuckles. “I admit he’s piqued my interest, but you said he ain’t like this in real life.” He skimmed the text with his finger. “Here—this. I didn’t know this hashtag, so I googled it. Avgeek stands for aviation geek. Did you know that?”
I hid a smirk and kissed the shell of his ear. “If I’d known he was into airplanes, don’t you think I would’ve led with that?”
“I guess.” He tilted his head back to look me in the eye. “As long as you and I remain solid, I suppose we can try.”
I touched his cheek and kissed his forehead, then his nose. “Colt, it took me five minutes to recognize how attracted I was to you. Less than an hour to feel the chemistry. One night to get attached and realize you’d be trouble.” I pressed a kiss to his lips. “Half a deployment to fall in love, another few months to know I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you. At the risk of stealing your words from when you proposed to me, our love won’t die.”
It’d been four years since he’d asked me to commit to him for life. We wore engagement rings but had no intention of getting married, because we didn’t know if we’d one day include another person in our relationship. Either way, he’d told me our love was the kind of love that went beyond the grave. We would guard it with our loyalty to each other, and those words had cemented over time. I trusted Colt with my life, with everything.
It was the only reason I was willing to search for that one missing piece.
“I love you.” He kissed me and didn’t break away as he spun the chair around so we faced each other.
“I love you too.” I gripped the armrests and kissed him deeper. “My point is, I think we’ll notice pretty fast if there’s anything with this man. And if there isn’t, we won’t push it. We didn’t listen to our gut feeling with the other ones.”