Page 116 of To the Chase

Her brows winged in the center. “Thatwas your worst?”

“With you, yes. I will never yell at you. I won’t abandon you. I won’t blame you for anything that isn’t your fault. But sometimes, it may take me time to adjust when things don’t happen how I’ve worked them out in my head.” I took her chin between my fingers. “When that happens, please tell me I'm being a tool. I’ll snap out of it.”

I would have to learn to pause. When my plans deviated, I would have to remind myself not to assume the worst and react. Bea deserved that. So did my kids. And I did too.

“Sal,” she squeaked. I liked her calling me that. Hearing her say the name I’d been called most of my life was like coming home. “Sal, I love you.”

And that was even better.

“Thank you.” I cupped her face, tracing every one of her features with new eyes—eyes loved by Beatrice Novak. “Thank you very much for falling in love with me.”

That earned me another feathery laugh. “I wish I hadn’t said it when I have a million things to get done within the next thirty minutes. I would really like to discuss this more.”

“Oh, we’ll discuss it more.” I pressed my thickening cock into her soft stomach. “You’ll stay over tonight.”

“Yes. I’ll be in your bed.”

Behind us, Ben cleared his throat. “Sorry, kids, but I’m still on the premises.”

Bea groaned, blindly waving him away. “Go to the kitchen. I’ll be right there.”

“I’ll help you too,” I said.

I trusted her implicitly, but there was not a chance I would be letting another man help her when I was perfectly capable. Besides, leaving her now, after what we’d just shared, held no appeal.

She blinked at me. “But your meeting—”

“Rescheduled. Or ruined. Doesn’t matter. You do.”

She sighed and gave my jacket a shake. “Lizards, do I love you.”

“Is that a yes? You’ll accept my help?”

“Yes.” She pushed up on her toes and kissed my chin. “But I’d like you to say you love me. For future reference, that’s an always thing.”

I shut my eyes against my own stupidity. “Yes. I do love you. Very much. I was so distracted by you saying it, I forgot to reciprocate.”

She laughed. “I know you love me. I just wanted to hear it.”

Opening my eyes, I pinned her with my gaze. “I love you, Bea. I don’t write poetry or paint, but I’ll continue to program apps to make your life easier.”

“That’s much more useful than love letters.” She threaded her fingers through mine. “Come with me. I’m going to put your muscles to good use.”

Ben stepped out of the kitchen, flexing his tree trunk biceps as he crossed his arms. “Are my muscles being usurped? I don’t know how to feel about this, Buzz.”

Bea flicked his elbow. “You feel great about it. And I do too. I’m not meant for manual labor. The more strong men I have to do my bidding, the better.”

Benpoked his finger at me. “This is all fine and good. I don’t mind my value being measured by how much I can carry, but if you start calling her Buzz too, I’m filing a formal complaint.”

Bea snorted. “You don’t have an HR department.”

“IamHR,” he said, thumping his chest. “I’ll let today’s incidents slide if you give me your muffin recipe.”

Bea shot him a dirty look as she went to work on packing up the food for her next gig. “Keep dreaming, Wells.”

I leaned against the counter beside her. “Don’t worry, beautiful. I’ve got the encryption keys.”

Ben raised a brow. “You encrypted amuffin recipe? Wow. Nerd love is both terrifying and adorable.”