Page 74 of Tequila & Lace

“That’s okay.”

“I love you, Joselyn.”

A tear rolled down her cheek. “I love you too, Paul.”

“What’s wrong?”

She started to cry a little more. “I’ve been waiting a long time for you to call me Joselyn and to hear you say that you love me.”

I wiped her tears. “Knowing your real name doesn’t change how I feel about you, gorgeous.”

She nodded. “I know, but it’s still nice to finally hear.”

“What’s your middle name?”

“Olivia.”

“Joselyn Olivia Marquez, I fucking love you!”

She blushed and kissed me quickly.

“And if you want you can call me PJ.” When we met, she knew me as Paul. It was weird to correct her after all this time. Now since she had a new name, it felt as though she could call me by a new name as well. After all, my close friends and the ones I loved and cared for all called me PJ.

She laughed. “Oh yeah?” I nodded. “Well, you can call me Joss.”

“I’ll stick to gorgeous.”

“I’ll stick with sexy.”

I kissed her again, finally pulling out of her and carrying her to the bed. I went to clean up before crawling into bed with her.

I needed a few more minutes to build my stamina up for round two.

We lie wrapped in each other, my fingers lightly caressing her arm as she twirled the ring I’d finally put on her finger after we were done showing each other how much we’dmissedone another.

I caught a glimpse of her tattoo on her side and it finally clicked:

she always had a way

with her brokenness

she would take her pieces

and make them beautiful

“Is your tattoo about that night?”

She stopped fidgeting with the ring. “For so long I felt used. I was broken.” She turned over, placing her chin on my chest and peered into my eyes. “I never felt beautiful until you. I got that tattoo hoping that one day I would find my missing piece—and I have.”

We kissed briefly again. There were no more words spoken. I knew what it was like to be broken and to find the missing piece. She was mine. Joss returned to staring at the ring; the afternoon sun shined through the window, reflecting the diamond against the wall.

“Can I live here?” I asked.

“I don’t think so,” she replied.

“Fuck.”

“We’ll figure it out. Maybe the case won’t take that long. Can you stay with Gabe and Autumn?”