Erik (Arizona Vengeance 2)

Deciding to let her up for air, I pull back from Blue and set her upright. Her hands go to my shoulders and she looks up at me with sparkling eyes and puffy lips split into a grin.

“Hope I don’t get fired for that,” she pants.

“I seriously doubt it,” I reply dryly and then with a little more awe. “That was quite the spectacle you made of yourself.”

Her gaze drifts left and she gives an impertinent shrug. “Well, you know…you were being all stubborn so I had to resort to some theatrics to get your attention.”

Cupping her face, I bring her eyes back to me and lean in. “You always will have my attention, Blue.”

“I mean what I said,” she offers me. “I’ll find the balance that works.”

I’m shaking my head before she completes the thought. “Your balance was fine as is. We learned a lesson. We can’t ignore the phone anymore. It’s as simple as that.”

“We?” she asks with hope in her eyes. “As in you and me?”

“Yup.”

“Sounds like a partnership of sorts,” she muses out loud while tapping her chin speculatively.

“You did say you loved me,” I point out.

“I did?” she teases. “I don’t recall that.”

“You said,” I drawl slowly. “That if you were to love a man such as me…”

“I guess I did say that, didn’t I?”

“No backing out of it now.”

We smile at each other and then I decide to kiss her again. Soft and with the same amount of devotion I feel inside me right now, which is a fuck of a lot.

When we break, I keep my mouth gently against hers and tell her for the first time—but not the last—“I love you.”

I can feel her lips curve as she smiles back against me briefly before pressing in for one more kiss.

“Get a room,” someone hollers from behind me.

Blue giggles and pushes me away. I reluctantly let her go. “We’ll continue this in New York.”

“Damn right, we will,” she says putting a hand on her hip. “Now go sit back down before you get me fired.”

I grin at her and pivot, making my way back through the tables and chairs. I receive fist bumps, shakes, and one saucy smack on my ass from one of the trainers. Legend, Bishop, and Dax are grinning at me when I sit back down, and I realize my chest is overly puffed out but fuck it.

Blue loves me. She’s back in my life and she’s going to stay there.

Ladies’ man Erik Dalhbeck is officially off the market.

Someone should let the press know.Chapter 29Erik“This garden is pretty pathetic,” I mutter as Blue and I walk hand in hand. We’re following along behind Billy as he maneuvers his motorized chair around what is loosely termed a “garden” behind the Cresson. It’s pretty much a large round, concrete path that’s crumbling with haphazard plantings on the inside and out. It’s as depressing as the building itself.

“I know,” Blue agrees, and then moves in closer to me. “But he won’t have to suffer it much longer.”

This is because Blue just received the insurance payout on her father’s policy. Whatever Dominik’s lawyers did to make it happen so fast, I’ll never be able to guess, but I’m grateful for it.

As is Blue.

She immediately started making arrangements to have Billy transferred. The home that he was in at the time of their parents’ death did not have an opening but she found an even nicer place for him. We’re set to make the move next week.

I suddenly stop, pulling Blue to a stop with me. Turning to face her, I take both of her hands in mine. She looks exceptionally gorgeous in nothing more than a pair of faded jeans and a Vengeance T-shirt. Her hair is in a ponytail and her face is free of makeup.

“I love you,” I tell her simply.

Her smile is tender in return. “I love you too.”

She shoots a quick glance at Billy who is happily motoring along, then back to me.

“No.” I give her hands a squeeze as if to reiterate a very important point. “I mean, I really love you. I’m not just overly fond of you, succumbing to all these new and amazing feelings and spectacular sex. I mean I love you like nothing I’ve ever loved. Not even hockey. I love you and will only ever love you until the day I die.”

Blue’s expression morphs into one of horror as she exclaims, “Oh God. You’re not dying, are you?”

“Fuck, no,” I hasten to reassure her with equal horror in my tone. “Why would you think that?”

“Because you’re talking about love and dying and I thought you were trying to tell me something—”

“Blue,” I say with a laugh, cutting her off. “I just want you to know that this is deep for me. Deeper than anything I could have imagined.”