Page 40 of All Out of Flux
“Leon. You’re a terrible cook.”
“And I’ll clean.”
He sighed. “I always have to clean up after you.”
“Then it’s settled. I’m a walking disaster area, and you’re the stable, chiseled marble statue who’s going to be my rock. And my butler. And my personal chef. It’ll be great.”
Max stared past my head, off into the distance. “Oh, God. What have I gotten myself into?”
“A relationship, apparently.” I kissed him on the lips this time, quick and chaste. “In all seriousness? Thank you. For everything. You don’t know how much of a load this takes off my back.”
He chuckled. “As long as you remember to take my loads on your back.”
I slapped him, light and playful, only hard enough to nudge his face. “So rude. Very obscene.”
Max leaned in, initiating his own kiss this time. Slow and sensual. Dark, warm, beautiful. Just like him. “But you love it, Leon. Admit it.”
“No, I don’t. But I do love you.”
The world went perfectly still, all the breath evacuating my body. Did I just say that out loud, with my own stupid mouth? But the look in Max’s eyes, how they sparkled as he stared at me? Worth it. He chewed on his lip, grinning as he gave it some thought.
“I’m pretty sure there’s a ninety-nine percent chance that I love you, too.”
I thumped him in the chest. “Only ninety-nine? What’s a guy got to do to get it up to a hundred?”
He made a face, wrinkled his nose. “The one percent is for the times when you bother the living hell out of me. I can only take so much of you in chaos goblin mode.”
I puffed my chest up, the proudest little goblin. “But bothering the living hell out of you is my love language. Speaking of which, we should totally start that finder agency I keep talking about.”
He sighed, his breath blowing upward, tousling locks of his hair. “Ninety-eight percent.”
“But I have so many good names. Double Cheese Burglars. Thievin’ Beavers. Swindle Unlimited is still my favorite, though.”
Patiently, softly, he stroked the curls of hair out of my face and smiled. “One commitment at a time.”
I couldn’t hold back my own smile. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders. “I think I can live with that.”
Max cocked an eyebrow. “You sure about that, Leonardo?”
Grinning, delighted, I kissed him on the side of his cheek. “One hundred percent.”
He took me in his arms, hands so strong, yet somehow so gently cradling the small of my back. “One hundred percent.”
One commitment at a time. No, I really could live with that. When he kissed me, I ran my fingers through his hair, relishing that we finally had the time to just sit back and relax. At least until the next assignment came in from the Jade Spider, until the next demented member of the Brillante family decided to glance in our general direction.
Until the next dragon came knocking. The three dragons had gone for the moment, but who knew if they’d be back, if otherswould follow their example? But even then, only one thing at a time. One job. One dragon. Especially the dragon.
Or one Drake, for that matter. A certain Maximilian Drake, my favorite of the species.
Almost at once, our phones buzzed. I could feel mine rumble in my pocket, feel his vibrate against my hip. He pulled away, and I lurched after him, still hungry for more. He never reached into his pocket, never broke eye contact.
“It can wait,” he said, and for once, we were in total agreement. He leaned in, kissing me full on the mouth once more. I savored the moment, savored his presence, his taste, his smell.
Who needed chronomancy when Max’s embrace could make the Earth stop turning?
He kissed me harder. I laughed against his lips.
Time stood still. The world could wait.
