Page 73 of Perfect Pursuit

“Yeah,” Leanne leans forward. “That’s why I’m thanking you.”

“Lives are at stake.”

She hums her agreement. “Mine and my unborn child.”

I meet her gaze head on. “Not to mention the unknown number of people whose lives you save with your wizardry. So, no, Leanne, I’m not doing this just for you. I’m doing this for them. That’s how I’m getting through.”

She pauses before asking me, “Has this affected your relationship?”

I bark out a laugh. “With Fallon?”

“Is that her…wait, what? Fallon?” Leanne is incredulous.

“You say her name as if you know her.”

“If it’s the same woman, I met her at a party at Redemption.”

I snort. “If it was at Redemption, that’s highly likely.”

An unfettered smile breaks across her face. “I liked her. We talked for a while after someone was blowing up her phone.”

My head tilts as I study her face. “Why were you there?”

“I was invited for Kensington’s birthday.”

A short laugh escapes. “Then you’re right on all accounts.”

“Those being?”

“That’s my Fallon and yes, I was the one blowing up her phone.” Leaning back in my desk chair, I admit, “I’d said some pretty shitty things to her after she asked why I wasn’t there.”

Leanne tsks. “Finished groveling yet?”

I sputter. “It’s been years. She can’t still hold that against me.”

She calls out something to someone off screen. The next thing I know, I hear a quick agreement and a door slam. Leanne’s smile is strained before she confides, “I wanted some privacy, so I just begged for some lasagna. Since my husband can’t cook, that means he’s heading to Daniela Trattoria to get it for me. We have a little bit of time.”

I wait for Leanne to gather herself before she begins to tell me how she and her husband got together. It’s a story of subterfuge and vengeance that spanned a year and left both of them buried beneath emotional baggage. “He knew what I was doing and why, Ethan. But when push came to shove, his past got in our way. I don’t want to see this set you down the very tumultuous path I went down.”

“It won’t happen. Fallon trusts me,” I declare confidently.

“She knows what you do? What you really do? What you’re doing now?”

I hesitate for a second too long and Leanne jumps all over it. “You can’t hold back any piece of your heart if you want her to trust you with hers.”

Long after Leanne hangs up, her words play over and over in my head. Leanne’s right. I know I love Fallon because over the last five years, she’s become one of my closest friends as well as the missing piece to my soul. But since we’ve become lovers, our conversations have taken a turn.

Fallon and I need to talk about more than sex.

And soon.

She needs to know how I feel about her and I need to know where her heart is at.

CHAPTER FORTY

SEVEN VIRTUES, NORTH CAROLINA

This is a public service announcement.

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