Page 127 of Ruthless Cross

After his father had left, after Olivia had died, he'd never allowed himself to deal in the wordlove. He'd lusted after women. He'd liked and respected previous girlfriends. He'd felt fondness and affection. He'd cared about them. But using the word love had not been part of his vocabulary. He'd never let himself go there, until Callie.

They might not have spoken of love, but they'd definitely shared it. They'd opened themselves up to each other in every possible way. They'd been honest. They'd been vulnerable. They'd trusted each other, even when they had no reason to.

She was the one. And he was damned if he was going to be too afraid to accept that, to act on it. He'd lived his life being fearless with everything but love. Now he was going to walk up to the edge of that cliff, and he'd either survive, or it would be a hell of a ride on the way down. But he wouldn't regret what he hadn't done.

Striding up to her door, he punched her buzzer with an impatient hand.

Her voice came over the speaker. "Hello?" she asked on a wary note.

"It's Flynn. Can I come up?"

She hesitated. "All right." She hit the buzzer.

He moved into the building before she had a chance to change her mind. He jogged up the stairs, and when he got to her door, she was waiting for him. She was dressed for a night at home, lounging leggings and a fuzzy, soft purple sweatshirt. Her brown hair fell loose about her shoulders. Her cheeks were flushed, her eyes sparkling, her lips slightly parted, and he wanted so much to kiss her. But first…

He handed her the bouquet of red roses he'd picked up on his way over.

"This is probably cheesy," he said. "But what the hell. I'm going all in."

"What does that mean?"

"It means I don't want this to end, Callie."

"You haven't called me in days."

"And you didn't say good-bye after the incredible night we had together."

"I wasn't sure I could," she admitted. "But I knew I should. What we had was fueled by adrenaline, danger, and passion. It wasn't real life. I'm actually pretty boring in real life."

"There's no way that's true."

"It is true. I work a lot."

"So do I."

"I just feed people. I don't solve crimes or save the world."

"Who cares about our jobs?"

"I have my mom, who can sometimes be a full-time job."

"I have people I care about, too. None of that matters. We go together, Callie." He put his arms around her, crushing the flowers between them. He pushed her back into her apartment, kicking the door shut.

"Ow," she yelped. "These roses have thorns."

"Sorry," he said with a laugh, taking the bouquet out of her hands and tossing it onto the couch. "We'll get to those later." He lowered his head and took the kiss he'd been hungering for.

She kissed him back for a long minute, then broke away with a breathless smile. "This is crazy, Flynn."

"Isn't that what love is?"

Her gaze darkened. "You're going there? You're using the L word?"

"I'm already there, babe."

"It's so fast. How can we fall in love in a week?"

"I don't know, but it happened. Can you tell me I'm wrong?"

---