Page 79 of Dead Serious: Case 3 Mr Bruce Reyes

I pull in a breath as his hand leaves my hair and cups my cheek. Turning my head, I press a kiss to his palm.

“I’m sorry, Danny.”

“What for?” His brow furrows in confusion.

“For all of this.” I shrug. “I shouldn’t have let the roof get that bad at my place. I should have been firmer with Mr Ahmed and made him deal with the repairs months ago.”

“Hey, this isn’t your fault. The repairs not being done was on your landlord, and now he’s going to be paying through the nose for his neglect because instead of a repair, he’s looking at a completely new roof. Besides, no one could have predicted this bizarre weather. You saw how many roads were blocked off from flooding on the way over here and how many houses had sustained damage.”

“I kinda wish we’d moved into your old place instead of mine.”

“It wouldn’t have worked.” Danny shakes his head. “The place I had was little more than a bedsit. There wouldn’t have been enough room.”

“You’re right again.” I lean forward and press my forehead to his. “I’m being incredibly selfish right now, whining about everything.” I pull back and study his face. “How are you coping with all of it? On top of the accident and being benched from work, now you’ve been forced into your third move in a year, from Yorkshire to London, then to my place, and now here. It’s probably really unsettling every time.”

“It honestly doesn’t bother me,” he answers comfortably, “even leaving Yorkshire. I didn’t have attachments to any of those places.” He grips my jaw and leans in to plant a soft kiss on my lips. “It’s you I’m attached to.”

“I just feel like I’ve thrown a lot at you these past few weeks.” I frown.

“And I wouldn’t have it any other way.” He chuckles. “Life with you will never be boring, Tris.”

“Life with me will probably require additional life insurance and an on-call therapist.” I give a small self-deprecating huff.

“Tris.” He pulls me in closer. “Meeting you was the best thing that ever happened to me. You filled all those spaces inside me that I didn’t even realise were empty. All this…” He shrugs. “This is all the good stuff we’ll look back on and laugh about when we’re old and grey.”

I can’t help but smile as I step in closer and wrap my arms around his neck, careful not to knock him off-balance. “You think we’ll be old and grey together?”

“Oh yeah, definitely.” He grins. “We’ll be hiding each other’s false teeth and laughing at each other’s incontinence pants.”

Warmth and pure love fills me, temporarily elbowing aside all the worries and stress of everything that’s going on until all I can focus on is Danny.

Leaning in for a kiss, I sink deeply, and everything around us disappears until we’re surrounded by love and lazy contentment. He opens his mouth, and I can’t resist the invitation as I slide my tongue into his mouth and taste him. Individually as people we might not be perfect, but this? When we’re together, it’s as close to perfection as I can imagine.

“Oh, for the love of tit tape.” Chan huffs a laugh and I swear I can hear her rolling her eyes at us. “Every time I look at you two, you’re surgically attached at the mouth. Have you learned to breathe through your ears?”

We break our mouths apart, but I keep one arm wrapped around his neck with our cheeks pressed together as we turn to face Chan. I can feel the ridiculous smile tugging at my lips.

“Christ, you look love drunk.” She snorts affectionately, her gaze softening. “It’s a good look on you. You’ve come quite a way from the boy who balked at putting on lacy knickers at Halloween.”

I grin. “That’s because you’re a bad influence.”

“Thank you.” She curtsies.

“Watch where you’re sticking that thing!” Ginger’s voice rings out from one of the other rooms.

“Come here and I’ll show you exactly where I’m going to stick it,” Brandy’s baritone echoes back.

“For fucking fuckety fuck’s sake, will you two shut up and help me? I’m going to drop this,” Ruby whines.

“Here, hold this,” Brandy says.

“I’m not holding the psycho cat. I nearly lost a layer of skin when I stepped too close. You hold the furry demon, I’ll help Ruby,” Ginger replies.

“You’re not a furry demon, are you, handsome boy?” Brandy makes kissy noises and I hear Jacob Marley meow in response.

“Will someone fucking help me!” Ruby says in panic followed a second later by a loud crash.

There’s a second of absolute silence.