Page 66 of By His Side

The rest of the afternoon went relatively smoothly, with Hayden being a lot less antagonistic. Even so, I breathed a sigh of relief when they finally left and the door closed in their wake to leave me alone with Darien.

“Did you mean it?” he asked straightaway. “Or did you say it to get him off your back? Because I completely understand if that was the reason, but I’d like to know. Just for my peace of mind.”

It took a moment to work out what he was referring to, my vow of love obviously having been on his mind. Luckily, it was a simple question to answer with no obfuscation needed. “I meant it. I love you.”

Darien’s smile was everything.

Chapter Twenty-six

Darien

As days went, it wouldn’t rank in my top hundred, my meeting with my supervisor going as well as you might expect when you were admitting to not only sleeping with a client, but to also having moved him into your house, and all within a couple of weeks of him being transferred to me. It was safe to assume that it being a gay relationship hadn’t helped either, even though the stone-faced Elisha Pond had been sensible enough not to comment on that aspect of it.

She thanked me for being honest, and then, as predicted, suspended me, pending an investigation. Follow-up questions had included whether I planned to end the relationship, my announcement that I wouldn’t be, going down like a lead balloon. I had no illusions about how the investigation would go: I’d basically just kissed goodbye to my career in the probation service. But at least it felt like I’d had somemeasure of control over it, captain of my own destiny or something like that.

Felix wandered into the room to remind me why I’d gone to those extremes just as my phone rang. It helped that he was barefoot and shirtless, my fascination with his toned torso making me answer the call without checking who it was.

“I thought I told you not to fall for him. Did you mishear me and just hear fall for him or something?”

Katherine. News traveled fast, and bad news traveled even faster. “Well, I would assume you said it because you thought it might be likely.”

“Not really. I thought you’d be capable of looking past the fact that he’s rather aesthetically pleasing.”

“Don’t let your husband hear you say that.”

“It’s fine. Felix is gay. I could leave my husband and still not have a chance with him. Plus, he’s my ex-client.” Katherine gave a little laugh. “Except I’m talking to the wrong person saying that, aren’t I?”

“I didn’t plan this.”

“I know.” Her voice softened. “Are you okay, Darien?”

“I’m fine. At least I did things on my own terms.”

“And will it be worth it?”

Felix had stretched out on the sofa with his feet up on the table. He had beautiful feet. Which if that wasn’t proof of how much I loved him, I didn’t know what was. I couldn’t remember appreciating anyone’s feet before, male or female.

“Darien?”

“What?”

“I asked you if it will be worth it?”

“Yes.”

Katherine let out a prolonged sigh. “I had high hopes of you and Emily getting together and creating beautiful babies that could play with Oliver.”

“That was never going to happen.”

“No… Probably not. She’s back with her husband, anyway.”

I laughed. “Big surprise. Shame they went through with a divorce first.”

“Isn’t it? Anyway,” Katherine said, “I just wanted to check you were bearing up okay. And I know I have my hands full with Oliver, but I am here if you need someone to talk to.”

“Even if I’m not a PO anymore?” Felix gave me a sharp look for that one. I offered him a smile in return. One that hopefully said there were zero regrets on my part.

“Even if you’re not a PO,” Katherine agreed. “I figured we were friends even without the job.”

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