Page 54 of Defended By Love

“No.”

“What about run away?”

I scowl at him. “For someone who professes to be in love with me, you’re not very complimentary.”

He pulls me against his side, kisses the top of my head, and steers us towards Dominic who’s waving us over. “You’re an absolutely enchanting person who could use some therapy. Better?”

It kind of is.

“Just don’t embarrass me in front of my boss. If you do, I’ll stab you and I won’t even care because we’re in a time loop.”

Grant laughs because he still has no idea when I’m being completely serious.

“Since we’re in a time loop, shouldn’t you not care if I embarrass you?”

“Dominic might not remember, but I will. Do you know how many cases I had to win before he even learned my name? Now, I’m his right-hand man. He literally told me that he doesn’t know what he would do without me. I don’t care if he doesn’t remember. I can’t deal with the shame of knowing that he, at one point, thought a little less of me.”

“But you could deal with the memory of stabbing me?” Grant asks, a bit melodramatically if I do say so myself.

It’s not like I said I’d fatally stab him.

“If you don’t say anything to embarrass me—no, if you don’t say anything at all, I’ll let you take me on a real date,” I say quickly as we rapidly approach earshot of my boss.

“When?”

“Tomorrow.”

“Define tomorrow,” he says in a low voice.

The corner of my mouth turns ever so slightly upwards. Telling people to define their words is kind of my thing. It sounds cuter coming from him.

“A today-tomorrow. I’ll let you choose all the activities for an entire time loop day.”

Grant nods, catching my eye as he does so. His eyes are light with amusement, and perfectly serene. Beautiful. For a second, it feels like I’m looking into his brown eyes for the first time, back when I thought they were the most honest, open eyes I’d ever seen. Even from the first glance, I always thought they felt like home.

“There’s my girl,” Dominic says, capturing my attention away from Grant. He has a wide smile and holds out an arm to the side. I do the same. It’s the corporate, HR-approved equivalent of a hug. No touching needed—just the way I like it. “How are you holding up, kiddo?”

Despite the fact that he’s as cleanly pressed as usual in his suit and dyed brown hair, there’s a tired look in his eyes. It’s the only hint that this ordeal has taken as much of a toll on him as it has me.

For a second, the weight of it all threatens to crumple me. The office meant a lot to so many people. Dominic, like me, sacrificed family time and holidays to make the place what it was. And now it’s gone.

“I just can’t believe this is real.”

He nods. “I know what you mean.”

He doesn’t. He really doesn’t, but his commiseration means a lot, nonetheless.

“Now, I’m actually glad you came here.” My heart swells with an amount of pride usually reserved for Nobel Peace Prize winners. I can’t help it though. He’s glad I’m here. I am his right-hand man. He needs me. “You’re always sneaking into work after hours, right?”

I deflate. Does everyone know about that? Here I thought I’d always been so careful and sneaky.

“I wouldn’t say always.”

“Now, now. You sneak in so often that we partners have considered taking some rent out of your pay cheque.” Dominic laughs a country club laugh. It’s all tittles and sideways looks, inviting people to join in. Except they don’t. Grant, for all his inappropriate laughter, just squeezes my hand a little bit. Beth, perpetually perky Beth, stares stone-faced at him.

So, I join in when he’s on the brink of discomfort.

“I guess I do come in a lot,” I say with an extra guffaw thrown in at the end for good measure.

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