Page 34 of Control Line

Barney couldn’t resist a tease. “I’d say you learned about ‘em already.”

The hand petting his chest made a half-hearted slap. “Smartass. I don’t mean that. I meant like what they’re called and can I start a religion around them. I’ll have to look it up.”

Barney barked out a laugh, Zee’s was lazier. She was exhausted. A long hike and a couple of orgasms took it out of her, but she was still funny. He loved it.

No, not love, poor choice of words.

But he knew it was more accurate than he was ready to admit.

“It’s a pelvic, a magic cross, and a lorum. We’ll look into building materials for a church and getting a non-profit license tomorrow. For now, doll, sleep.”

Barney dropped a kiss on her temple as she once again called him a smartass, but she was out before she could put any pepper on the word.

He was tired as fuck, too, but he couldn’t help himself from delaying sleep a few minutes to just take her all in. Her face was relaxed in sleep in a way he’d not seen in her waking hours. It was getting closer every day, but it wasn’t there yet.

She was letting go of her past and Barney wanted to take a lesson from her. They’d talked about how much she was missing out on every day because of fears caused by her past.

He vowed to do the same. He would prove he was alive and well, but he would let all the other shit go. Some stranger halfway across the country didn’t choose him for some grand design. Barney was a victim of identity theft and while that felt personal, it really wasn’t. It was just a criminal committing a crime. A crime the people he left behind shouldn’t pay for.

His chest felt lighter the second he decided that. Now he understood why she looked so relaxed. Of course, the chest thumping fireman inside him wanted to say it was great sex that did it, but it was that letting go.

Barney kissed her cheek, lingering to inhale her once more. He wanted to hold her inside him somehow and that’s when it hit him. He already held her inside him, in the very chest that lightened.

He was about to admit something to himself he just moments before denied. Something altogether new to him.

“I love you, doll,” he whispered against her cheek before tucking his chin around her head and letting sleep claim him.

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