Page 13 of A Leaner Meaner Midlife

“Tell me what you want,” Gideon said, lifting my chin and staring straight into my eyes.

His beauty still startled me. However, his insides were more beautiful than his outer exterior. My other half was the ridiculous kind of handsome—tall and built with full kissable lips, gray-blue eyes and sexy messy blond hair. Although, he was millions of years old, the man looked to be about forty-five. Wrapping my head around his true age was something I’d leave for another time. His life as the Grim Reaper had not been an easy or joyful one. However, he’d also made good use of his downtime—so to speak. He’d attended college and grad school multiple times, and over the years, he'd worked as a doctor, social worker, human rights activist, professor of philosophy, firefighter, sculptor, chef and dog trainer. Those occupations were the ones I knew of. It also delighted me that his favorite of all his jobs had been as a dog trainer.

The man was a keeper. I just wanted to live long enough to be able to keep him. Yes, I was Immortal, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t die. I was just harder to kill. Decapitation killed even the strongest of the Immortals.

“Tell me, baby,” Gideon whispered, looking concerned. “What can I do to make you feel better?”

There was no time for a run. I knew seeing Alana Catherine before we left was out of the question too. Right now, in this moment, I wasn’t sure what he could do. However, I could do something. I would make plans for the future. Having something to look forward to meant that I believed we would all come out of the next twenty-four to forty-eight hours in one piece. At least, that was the story I was going with.

“A vacation,” I told him.

Gideon tilted his head His expression was one of confusion. “Now?”

“Nope. The minute this is over… after we’ve won. I want you, Alana Catherine and me to get the hell out of dodge. I want to go somewhere sunny where there’s a beach and a crystal-clear ocean. I want to drink pina coladas and not wear shoes for a week… or maybe two. I don’t want to think about the world ending or who wants me dead. I want to have sex every single time our baby takes a nap and multiple times each night. I want pancakes for dinner and dessert for breakfast.”

Gideon’s grin was wide and his laugh made me lose my breath. His laugh and happiness were like a drug to me that I needed to survive.

“I do believe I can make that happen,” he said, pressing his lips to mine and making me forget my name for a hot sec. “I have a place on the French Rivera that will fit the bill. If that doesn’t appeal, I have another in Turks and Caicos or another in Thailand.”

I squinted at him. “How many places do you have?” It was easy to forget he was older than dirt and richer than Midas.

“Lots,” he said with a chuckle as he grabbed both his and my duffle bags. “Enough that we could go a year or so and spend a week at each without repeating a stay.”

“Dude,” I said with a whistle. “You should probably have me sign a prenup before we get hitched.”

Gideon stopped dead in his tracks. He slowly turned back to me. His eyes lit up red with desire and his expression made my panties damp. “Did you just ask me to marry you, Daisy?”

My mouth dropped open into a perfect O… and then I laughed. It sounded a little unhinged even to my own ears. I was a modern woman. Gender roles were silly. But… “Umm… I think I might have.” I began to fidget as his gaze bored into mine. It was impossible to tell what he was thinking. Had I said something stupid? I mean, we already had a baby and a home together. Yes, he was the Grim Reaper and I was the Angel of Mercy, but did that matter? Maybe Demons didn’t do human rituals. Maybe I was an idiot of epic proportions.

I stuttered as I backtracked. “Umm… we don’t… you know… ahh… have to do that. No worries. None at all. I was just joshing you. Cause… umm… That was crazy. I’m crazy. So… umm… if we could just erase that and, you know…”

The smile on his lips started slowly. It became full as he listened to my mini freak out. By the time I was finished, he was down on one knee.

I clapped my hand over my mouth to keep from squealing as my stomach turned somersaults. I felt like I was having an out-of-body experience. The timing was odd since we were about to go to what basically amounted to war, but nothing in my life was normal anymore. I was learning to take happiness where I could get it.

This was all kinds of happy.

“There’s nothing more in this world I’d like to do than marry you, Daisy Leigh Amara Jones,” he said, snapping his fingers and producing an engagement ring so exquisite I gasped. It wasn’t huge. It was perfect for me. The diamond was pink surrounded by a cluster of small white diamonds. The band was platinum with delicate scrolls. “There will be no prenup,” he continued as he slid the ring onto my shaking finger. It fit. No surprise there. “Because we will be together until the end of time. Everything material I have means nothing. Only you and Alana Catherine make me feel alive. So… yes. I will marry you.”

I couldn’t help myself. I checked the time on my phone. We had thirty-three more minutes. So I did what any newly engaged forty-year-old woman who was in love with her man would do.

I jumped him.

His bellow of laughter as I removed his clothes was music to my ears. I ripped off my own even quicker. To say he was happy to see me would have been an understatement.

“Bed. Now,” Gideon said gruffly as he picked me up and tossed me onto the mattress. “I have an issue that only you can solve.”

I eyed his impressive package and grinned. “I know just the thing to solve that issue. Come over here and let me work on that.”

“With pleasure.”

The sex was fast, furious and mind-blowing. It was also life-affirming and glorious. Sex was great. Sex combined with love was simply beyond. Two freaking orgasms in twenty-seven minutes. Hell to the yes. Gideon’s body becoming one with mine was what we both needed. His love for me and mine for him was all that mattered.

“Holy hell,” I wheezed out as we lay side by side after what felt like the best lovemaking of my life. Quickies were vastly underrated. Being the parents of a baby, the quickie was going to be our new hobby, and I was all for it.

He chuckled. “My thoughts exactly. Up,” he said, pulling me to my feet with the expression of a very satisfied man. “We have three minutes to get downstairs.”

“Not sure I can walk,” I muttered with a laugh as I grabbed my clothes. “You’re really good at that.”

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