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Cyrus placed a hard peck on my mouth. “You don’t need to thank me, baby. That’s my job.” He kissed me one last time before pulling away from me. As he did, I couldn’t help but watch him in all his naked glory. His muscles rippled over his bones, his dick, although flaccid, jumped under my scrutiny. His piercings glittered in the dim lighting of the room.

A throat cleared, forcing my eyes to meet his.

“Checking me out, pet?”

I nodded, rising to my knees and shuffling toward him. “You’re beautiful,” I told him softly. “With all of your metal and scars.” I cupped the side of his neck and crushed my mouth to his. “I love you,” I whispered against his lips.

“Hmm...” He gave my bottom lip a gentle bite. “I love you too. Now let’s shower, so I can bring you home and put you in my bed.”

As much as I wanted to draw out the shower, we didn’t and ended up making it quick instead.

“We can go to your apartment,” I told him as I finished getting dressed. “We don’t have to go to the clubhouse.”

Cyrus stiffened, his gaze slowly meeting mine. “I don’t think going to the apartment is a good idea.”

“Oh. How come? Sammy and I can be civil now that you talked.”

“It’s not that.” Cyrus rubbed the back of his neck, clearly uncomfortable about something. “It’s where we...I brought...I just don’t want you there because it’s not good enough for you.”

I thought a moment. “Is that where you brought the other women?”

“I never brought them to the clubhouse and neither did Sammy. We consider it our actual home and the apartment is just...fuck, I’m not making this sound any better.” He closed the distance between us. “I hadn’t been with someone for a while before I met you. In fact, it was months. I had issues getting hard. I don’t know why. I’ll probably never know. But when I met you, both my dick and I knew that you were it. That you were what we needed.”

A lump formed in my throat, followed by a laugh. “God, you say the sweetest but dirtiest things.”

“Just being honest with you.” He shrugged. “Life’s too serious. You of all people should know that. If I can make you laugh at least once a day, then that’s all that matters to me. Love and laughter, pet. It’s life’s perfect medicine.”

I threw my arms around his middle. “Thank you, Cyrus. For everything. For being my friend first, for falling in love with me, for showing me that I can be passionate and fierce, and it won’t backfire on me. That I can be with someone who loves me for me. Who can bring out the submissive in me. Who can—”

A warm mouth crushed against mine. “No, thankyou, pet.”

A shuddered breath left me.

“Pack a bag and then I’ll take you out of here. Are you wanting to actually move out?”

“I do. I wanted to before I met you but then I got distracted.” I cupped his cheek, the dark scruff on his strong jaw tickling my palm. “You distracted me, and I appreciate it because I’ve been so stuck in my head, that the words could never come out. You helped me get them out.”

Cyrus kissed my palm. “Have you thought of subletting this place instead? You could pack up your clothes and personal items but leave the furniture. I know you just gave me a key...”

“I like that idea but...” I wasn’t sure what he wanted out of this but if he taught me anything, it was to say how I felt and to speak my mind. “Would you want to move in together?”

A cheeky grin spread on his face. “I thought you’d never ask.”

I laughed.

“We can live at the clubhouse until we find a place of our own.” He leaned back, crouching until we were at eye level. “It’s safe, so I’d like to stay there until we can figure out if someone is in fact stalking you or not.”

A sour taste filled my mouth. I pulled away from him and went to the closet. Grabbing a large bag, I started pulling items off the hangers and shoving them into the bag. A warm body came up behind me, forcing a sigh from my mouth. “I don’t know why all of a sudden they’re stalking me, whoever it is. I don’t know if the bastards who ended up in jail after the raid, are now free instead of being locked up for life like they should have been.”

“I can do some digging.” He cupped my shoulders, spinning me around. “I should have dug a while ago, but you asked me not to, so I didn’t. But now...”

“You’ll dig whether I ask you to or not,” I finished for him.

Cyrus nodded.

I sighed, pulled away from him, and finished packing my bag. “I don’t have a lot here. I’ll talk to Jay when I go to work next Monday and see if anyone there wants to rent this apartment.”

“This building is owned by the center?” Cyrus asked, helping me pull clothes from my dresser.