Page 93 of More Than a Spark

With a wavering scoff, Ryder freed me and twisted around, swiping at his eyes. “Milo, don’t be stupid.” His hardened gaze met mine. “You can and you will take the job.” He pointed his finger at me. “If you don’t, you’ll regret it and you’ll blame me someday. I want us to work. Hell, I want us to be forever. A few years in different cities in the grand scheme of things isn’t all that bad if we can have each other for the rest of our lives.”

I blinked a few times, then wiped the wetness from my eyes. Holy fuck, he was serious.

“If it makes you feel better about it, I’ll marry you before you go.” He shrugged a shoulder. “Okay?”

“What?” My heart skipped a beat. He was crazy, but I loved him even more for it. “W-we can’t?—”

“We can do whatever the fuck we like.” He snatched my hands and held them between us. “Milo Richardson, will you marry me before you leave?”

I stared at him. He was serious right now. Fuck, Axel would kill me. He’d always told everyone that he and Remy had to get married first. “I…uh, yeah. Yes.”

“There. See?” He pressed a long, deep kiss on my mouth, sliding his tongue inside to tangle with mine.

I slanted my lips over his, savoring every second of our connection. As the kiss broke, I took long breaths. Was this real? I hadn’t even told my dad about us yet. My head swam with possibilities. My whole life was about to be turned upside down. This was so fast. The room spun and my body trembled. “Ryder, I uh, I need to sit down.”

He led me to the couch and guided me to sitting. My gaze caught on his forearm, the bandage was gone along with the stitches, but a nasty red scar remained. I hadn’t even noticed. “You um, your wound.” I pointed to it.

“Yeah, I had one of the paramedics take out the stitches today. No point in going back to the doc just for that.” He sank in next to me and wound an arm over my shoulders. “When are you going to call AllAction and accept their offer?”

I tipped my head back, then focused on him. “Give me a minute, Ryder.” I huffed. God, when he got something in his head, he could be relentless. “I’ll call them back tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow? What if they change their mind and retract the offer?” He glared at me.

I faced him, my wits coming back to me. “Moving to Seattle is a huge decision to make. I have the guys in the band to think about, too.” I pursed my lips. “And Mom. I’d be leaving her all alone, too.” I could give a shit about Dad.

“You’re making excuses.” He hung his head and grabbed my hand rubbing his thumb into my palm. “If you ask me, it’s a no brainer.” He chewed his lower lip. “You’ll have me. I love you, Milo.”

Was he right? “Fuck, okay.” With a huff, I slipped my phone out and dialed Lynda’s number.

The phone clicked once. “Hello? This is Lynda McDermott.”

“Hi Lynda.” I glanced at Ryder, smirking back at me. “This is Milo Richardson. I’m calling to let you know that I’m verbally accepting your offer.” As my pulse raced, I swallowed hard. Fuck, I was really doing this.

“Oh, that’s great news. I’ll let Dice know. Be looking for the e-sign. I’ll send it over in a few minutes.” Her breath caught. “And Milo? Welcome to AllAction.”

TWENTY-FOUR

RYDER

With my chest stinging, I watched Milo accept his job offer. We would be going back to having a long-distance relationship in a few months. But this time, what we had was so much more. It hurt. Fuck, it hurt a lot.

Clenching my jaw, I turned away from him and blinked away the blurriness in my eyes, then fisted my hands. He didn’t need to see how hard this was for me. He needed to go all out on this and have no regrets. I couldn’t let him stay here with me and a job he hated.

“Thanks, talk to you later.” Milo ended the call and tucked his phone into his front pocket. “Ryder?” Grabbing my arm, he pulled, twisting me to face him. His gaze searched my face. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” I croaked, then cleared my throat. I forced a smile. “You better get your laptop, so you can formally sign your offer, huh?”

“Yeah, guess so.” He pressed a lingering kiss on my cheek, then walked off to the hallway and stopped, turning to face me. “Get us both some beers while I’m signing that thing, okay? You look like you need it.” He flashed me a sad grin, then left.

I paced the room, my heart caught in a vice grip. Fuck, what had I done? I pounded my fist into my open palm, my eyes stinging. As my breath hitched, I sucked it in. I wasn’t going to break down. He agreed to marry me. I had to remember that. Fuck, but I wanted to be with him, every second of every day. Especially if we were married. I wanted a lifewithhim. I didn’t want to have to go back to FaceTime calls and seeing each other for a few days at a time. But I had to be strong for both of us.

A shadow moved on the wall in the hallway.

“Shit,” I muttered. I had to get the beers, or he’d know I was upset about this. I strode into the kitchen and pulled out two canned beers from the refrigerator, then snicked them open and set one on the counter.

“All done.” Milo strolled out from the hallway and into the kitchen, then picked up his beer and peered at me. “You sure you’re okay?”

“I’m fine.” I held up my can. “To your new job and our new life.”Together. It would have been nice to be able to add that. Someday I would.

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