Page 95 of Bulletproof Love

His blue eyes soften as he brushes his thumb across my cheek. “And now?”

“Now I can’t imagine running from any of it. Even when it scares the hell out of me.” I rise on my tiptoes to kiss him, not caring that we’re blocking pedestrian traffic. “Even when you drive me absolutely insane.”

“I am pretty good at that, huh. Some may say it’s my special skill.” He cocks his head and grins. “Actually scratch that… I have other, better, skills.”

“Speaking of skills,” I say. He smirks, but I bump his shoulder. “Not those kinds. Keep it in your pants, sir.”

“Sir? That’s not helping,” he jokes.

“I was saying…” I narrow my eyes, but with none of my usual annoyance, just playfulness. “Aunt Sarah called me earlier. She asked about you. Said and I quote, ‘That man can talk his way out of hell with the devil himself.’ I laughed but damn if she didn’t peg you right away.”

“Peg me?” He waggles his brows and I roll my eyes. “Kidding.” He laughs, full and deep. “It’s a gift. Got me out of trouble more times than I can count. Even got me the hottest woman in Manhattan, quite possibly the world.”

“Damn straight,” I say, squeezing his butt. So round and firm… I’m jealous. No man should go around with a butt this good.

“How are you feeling with all that?” he asks. I chew my lips, thinking of a way to put it all into words.

“It’s wild. Kind of like finding a missing puzzle piece you didn’t even know was missing. She has my eyes, or I guess I have hers. And she totally flings her hands around when she talks.” I start doing it without thinking and Jasper reaches for my hand, kissing my palm.

“You are a hand flinger when you talk,” he says.

I shrug. “Blake’s told me the same thing. Guess I never noticed before.” I smile remembering how my new aunt, my mom’s sister, embraced me like she’d known me her whole like. It’s still so surreal. She doesn’t have answers on where my mother is, but at least I can find out more about her past. “She wants us to come for dinner in a few weeks. If we’re not in London by then.”

“We’ll make it work either way,” he says, holding me close. “You deserve to know more about where you came from. Even if where you are now is pretty damn perfect.”

I lift up on my tiptoes to kiss him, not giving a shit that we’re blocking pedestrian traffic. “Pretty damn perfect, huh?”

The sound of a horn honking and whistling breaks us apart. Damon pulls up in his precious Chevelle with Blake hanging out the passenger window. “Get a room, lovebirds!”

“Good idea,” Jasper says. “Maybe we can use yours.”

“Over my dead body,” Damon says, smiling.

“Come on, we’ve got a going away dinner to get to,” Blake says.

The apartment is quiet when we walk in, just Leon sprawled on the couch with his sketchbook while the kittens attack his shoelaces. When they hear us, they zoom down the hall, yowling and batting at each other. I get a pang in my chest as I look at Leon. It won’t be the same at home without him.

“Are you all packed?” I ask. Blake and Damon head to the kitchen with the bags of takeout and bottles of booze.

“Almost. I have a few file transfers running, but once that’s through I can pack up the rest of my computer stuff.” His lips quirk up.

“No work talk,” Blake says, bringing Leon a glass of amber liquid. “It’s your last night, we’re sending you off properly.”

“By getting him drunk?” I ask. Although, I’m very much okay with this plan. I settle onto the couch, and Jasper claims his spot on the floor in front of me, leaning his head back between my legs.

“No,” she says, crossing her arms, so her cropped shirt rides up. Damon’s right behind her like a dog with a bone, wrapping his arms around her bare waist. She hums and leans into his embrace. “By being together. Everyone grab a drink, we need to make a toast.”

Jasper hands me one of the glasses on the coffee table, and takes one for himself. We all hold up our glasses, trying not to get emotional.

Jasper clears his throat. “To Leon, the smartest dude we know.”

“And the most stubborn,” Damon adds.

“And the best artist,” Blake adds, her lips quirking up in a small smile.

I think for a moment on what Leon’s become to me. “To the brother I never knew I needed.”

Leon angles his head, hiding his eyes. I catch the smile he doesn’t want us to see. The emotion in his gaze too. We clink our glasses together, the sound louder than the music coming from Damon’s phone. No one mentions how Blake wipes at her eyes, or how Damon’s hand shakes slightly as he throws back his drink.

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