Page 143 of Outside The Wire

I nodded, feeling a huge weight leave my chest. “Yeah, I think she really is.”

“Asher…I’m so sorry about all this. I can’t even imagine what it was like to have her come back from the dead and?—”

“I didn’t handle it the best,” I laughed. “It could have gone better all around. Then again, if I had just answered my phone when Chase called, I would have found out a long time ago.”

“Why weren’t you answering him?” she asked curiously, pulling me over to the couch.

“Because when he called the first time, I had this horrible dream. It was about Jade, only you somehow worked your way into it. It scared the hell out of me. I thought for sure it was some kind of premonition that if I let him back into my life, you would somehow be put in danger.”

“And do you still believe that?”

I thought about it and shook my head. “No. I think my mind was telling me what I feared the most.”

“So…where does that leave us?”

I turned to her, unsure of where she was going with this. “Where does that leave us in what way?”

Her eyes dropped and she focused solely on her fingers as they fiddled with the blanket draped over the back of the couch. “I guess what I’m asking is…does that mean you want to go back to your old job?”

I barked out a laugh, pulling her into my arms. “Where did you get that idea?”

“Where do you think?”

“Baby, you can’t listen to things Jade said.”

“But she had a point.”

“About what?”

“That it’s in your blood. The whole…adrenaline junkie, fast-paced life thing. She said you were drawn to it and that one day you would want to go back.”

“Yeah, I am drawn to that life. I had some good times, and there are stories I could tell you that would make you laugh at how stupid I was.”

“And?”

“And I also like my life the way it is now. I come home to you every night. There’s nobody shooting at me. I don’t carry a gun every day, and I find I don’t mind. I like knowing that my job doesn’t put you in danger. Unless I really piss off a customer, which I have no intention of doing.”

“But what about the excitement? Aren’t you worried you’re going to get bored?”

“With you?” I laughed. “Not possible.”

She rolled her eyes at me. “You know what I mean. I just want you to be sure. I would hate for you to make this decision and then five years down the road, decide that it wasn’t what you wanted.”

“Baby, if that day ever came, I would discuss it with you. I wouldn’t make the decision alone. But I like that you’re thinking about us five years from now. But now that you brought it up, I have to tell you that Chase asked me to go back to OPS.” She flinched at my words. “Cash, my old boss, has gone off the rails and is missing or something. He left his family and is seeking revenge for the men who killed his brother.”

She nodded, swallowing hard. “Are you going to do it?”

“It wasn’t in my plans. I just thought you should know about it. I didn’t want there to be any secrets between us. And if there comes a day that I decide I need to go back, I didn’t want to tell you I’d known about it for months, but hadn’t told you.”

A smile tugged at her lips. “Thank you for that.”

I shrugged. “I do what I can to be a good boyfriend.”

Her hand skimmed over the scruff along my jaw and she sighed. “You’ve far exceeded my expectations.”

“I aim to please. So, what do you want to do tonight? Should we go out? Get some dinner?”

“Honestly? I don’t want to go anywhere. I just want to sit here and watch TV with you.” She winced, embarrassed by her choice of activities. “Is that okay?”

---