Page 62 of Deadly Protector
Behind them, Lizzy’s mouth fell open. She hadn’t asked once if Benny could stay with them, probably because she’d known he’d be grumpy about it. Because his wife was damn amazing, and while he never forgot that, he should have offered before now.
“Oh…ah.” Benny looked at Chrissy, who just shrugged. Then he looked back at Porter. “We’ve got our dog, so—”
“We’ve got one too. A friendly Lab. But if you think your dog won’t get along with ours, it’s not a big deal. I just wanted to throw the offer out there.”
“We’d love to.” Benny smiled at him. “We haven’t even unpacked or anything. Thank you.”
“No problem.” He should have offered long ago, was kicking himself for not doing it sooner, especially seeing the expression on Lizzy’s face right now.
“I’d say this calls for a celebration. Let’s go grab your stuff,” Lizzy said. “Then we’ll have a big barbeque at our place tonight. Unless that’s too overwhelming?”
“No way. I want to meet my nephews.” Benny’s whole face lit up as he spoke.
“Good, it’s settled, then. Let me grab my stuff and we’ll meet you guys in the lobby and follow you to your rental?”
Benny and Chrissy nodded, and the moment the front door shut behind them Lizzy threw her arms around Porter.
She kissed him hard, wrapping her legs around him tightly, making him stumble, then laugh.
“You can’t get me all worked up now,” he growled against her mouth.
“Thank you for asking him to stay. It means so much to me and to him. Now he knows you’ve truly forgiven him.”
“I should have done it before now.” He knew how much Benny meant to her, and he should have put aside his own shit a lot earlier.
“It doesn’t matter.” She let her legs fall, but kept her arms wrapped tight around him. “The fact that you’re inviting him over means everything to me. Thank you.”
“You don’t need to thank me. He’s your family.” And it was clear he’d turned over a new leaf. “And it’ll be good for him to get to know the boys.”
She buried her face against his chest, her dark curls escaping from her braid. “I love you even more.”
“I love you more every day.” He wasn’t even sure how it was possible, but every moment with her, even the ones where she made him crazy, was better than all the time he spent away from her.
His world was infinitely brighter with her in it. Hell, the world itself was brighter with her in it. Which was why his instinct had always been to neutralize any threat against her, “caveman style” as she liked to say.
Including Ryba. So if Gorcyca didn’t take care of her nephew, Porter would.
