Page 91 of S.O.S. Perk

“This time,” she continued, “when and if I commit, I want it to be forever. So, I have to be really sure.” She ended on a whisper, wetness shimmering in her eyes.

What could Perk do, but agree?

“I’ll give you all the time you need, Sloane. I’m not going anywhere.”

“Promise?” she chuckled tearfully.

“Promise,” he immediately agreed.

He’d take whatever she could give him, because it was far better than the alternative, which would be walking away. And he didn’t think he’d ever be able to do that. If Sloane decided she couldn’t take the risk with him, she’d have to be the one to end things.

Right now, she needed his reassurance, so he reached for relevancy. “What’s that ring on your finger, again?” he questioned, injecting a note of playfulness into his voice.

“Uh, agoldring?” she answered, clearly confused.

“Yes, but it’s also afriendshipring,” he clarified. “Which means that I not only love you, I like you, too. And as long as you have that on your finger, we’re friends.Specialfriends.”

“That’s…kind of corny, Perk,” Sloane snuffled, but managed a tiny uptick of her lips.

“Corny but true,” he assured her. “And you can wear that for the rest of your life if that’s what you need, or you can eventually trade it in for what’s behind door number two when and if you feel more confident in what we have.”

“Door number two?” she asked, hesitant yet clearly interested in what that meant.

“Yup. When the time is right, if you decide you want me, we can swap it out for an engagement ring.” He didn’t want to scareSloane, but he wanted her to know that he was in this for the long run, with his entire heart.

It seemed he hadn’t frightened the intrepid agent.

“Hmmm,” she responded, an impish look washing over her face as she squared her shoulders and raised her hand to stare appreciatively at her ring.

The deliberate action made all Perk’s heretofore unknown caveman-possessiveness rear up inside him to see her reaction to his gift; to his mark on her finger.

“We may have to negotiate, if it comes down to that,” she told him, trying to maintain a serious demeanor but failing miserably.

Perk could see she was thoroughly amusing herself.

“Negotiate?” he repeated, posing it as the question he assumed she wanted.

“Yeah. I really,reallylike this one. If committing means I have to replace it, then I might be tempted to let things remain status quo.”

Not what Perk wanted.

He thought fast, knowing he needed to keep the conversation going in the same vein of lightness that she’d delivered. “Okay. How about this. If you finally decide that you can’t live without me because I’m so handsome and irresistible, we’ll have this ring remade with a platinum band and a bunch more diamonds. Will that do the trick?”

She shrugged noncommittally but gave him a huge smile. “Irresistible, huh?” she repeated, then smirked. “We’ll see.”

****

Monday morning came too fast.

Perk groaned, punched his pillow, and hit snooze on his alarm.

Just five more minutes before he had to drag his dejected ass out of bed.

After dropping Sloane off at her condo, Perk had driven back to his pretend home feeling…empty. It didn’t seem right, being so far away from her. They’d fit together almost seamlessly over the holidays, and now they were both in separate places.

Perk wondered if Sloane was feeling the void, too, or if it was just him. His fingers momentarily itched to pick up his phone and call her, but they both had jobs to do, and it was important to keep his head in the game. The faster they could clear up this case, the quicker they could concentrate on each other.

Mini pep-talk over, Perk flung the covers back and slipped his legs to the floor, shutting off his alarm in the process.

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