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Story: The Strategist

“Since when?” I narrowed my eyes at her. “Why haven’t you told me?”

“Things have been crazy, remember?”

“Tell me. NOW.” I trapped her in my arms, preventing her from escaping.

She tilted her chin and beamed. “How about you show me the inside of this new building that would soon be my new office, and I’ll tell you what I plan to do for each room?”

“It’s not in its best condition right now. There’s stuff everywhere.”

“I don’t care. That’s just life, right? Things are scattered everywhere. When we first met, things weren’t perfect either. But we saw something in each other.” She went on her tippy toes and kissed me. “I like this working phase because I get to see the before and after.” She took my hand in hers. “My charger for all things.”

Grinning, I swung our joined hands and stepped up to the entrance.

She squeezed my hand. “I have a surprise for you.”

“Really? You’re hiding a lot from me today, Tulip.”

“I’ll tell you if you give me a piggyback ride around the building.”

A laugh burst out of me as I opened the door and stepped inside. “Get on!”

As I showed her around the property, she kissed my cheek. “I love you.” Another kiss. “The secret project has to do with Bullseye.”

“Now I’ll have to seduce you into telling me everything.”

She laughed. “That’ll work.”

And that was exactly what I did.

I seduced and loved her that day and all the days to come.

EPILOGUE

THREE MONTHS LATER

Arrow

“Where are you taking me?”I asked as Vivian covered my eyes with a blindfold.

Bat wings stirred in my gut, no matter how much I tried to stop them. So I focused on the woman I love, wondering what she had planned for me.

“You’ll see.”

“Want me to seduce it out of you?”

She laughed, and the lovely sound of her voice energized me. “Okay.”

“But it didn’t work the last time. You never told me anything about the Bullseye project.”

“I was too distracted. I couldn’t think straight.” She tugged my hand, leading me somewhere down the hallway. “You were in the moment too.”

“My fingers, mouth, and tongue were busy.”

“You were fabulous, my love.” She nudged me down to a seat.

My hands felt around the chair. “Don’t tell me you’re giving me a cleaning.”

Laughing, she yanked off the blindfold. “Ta-da! Bullseye is getting the best cleaning ever to exist.”