Death of Me | Now Published to Kindle and Paperback!

Hideaway

"It's perfect." I ran my index finger around the edge of my coffee. "How'd you know?"

"I'd love to say that I'm amazing and just knew, but I text Lucas."

A soft laugh escaped me, and I shook my head at him. "I should've known."

"He spends an awful lot of time here," he mused.

"You're the one that took him off watching over me."

"So, one would think he would spend his time doing other things."

"Vincent," I teased, trying my damnedest not to grin at him. "Are you jealous?"

"Only of the fact that Lucas seems to pay more attention to you than his actual job. But not at him being here. Not at him spending time with you. I like that the men are comfortable around you. That they seem to see you as one of their own."

And that struck a chord with me. I had never thought of it like that. Had never considered that the boys spent so much time here because – somehow – I had become a place of familiarity to them. My heart warmed at the thought, and I ducked my head to hide my smile.

"They're not so bad."

"I'll be sure to tell Lucas and Brandon you were speaking so highly of them."

"Don't you dare. They'll never shut up about it."

He chuckled, the sound light and warm. We fell into a companionable silence as we ate. When I was pretty sure he wasn't paying attention, I studied him from underneath my lashes. There was something about seeing him like this, with his defenses down, that made something inside me settle. These stolen moments we were getting more and more often felt as natural as breathing, and that scared me as much as it excited me. I knew it was a bad idea to always be waiting for the other shoe to drop, but I had lost the two most important people in my life in some of the worst ways. It was a hard habit to break.

But I was willing to try. For this. For him.

If Vincent could put his feelings for me before his fear of losing someone else as a consequence of his world, like the entirety of his family, then I could do the same. I owed him that much. I owed myself that much.

"You're thinking awfully hard over there, princess."

I threw my last piece of bacon at him. To my surprise, he caught it in his mouth. Because of course he did.

"What did you want to show me?"

"Are you finished eating?" I nodded. He collected our plates and placed them in the sink before turning back to me. "It's a little bit of a drive. You up for it?"

"You haven't finally decided to kill me, have you?"

"Juliette." And that snap of warning in his voice had my blood running hot all over again.

"I know, I know," I muttered, standing from the table before making my way to the bedroom to get changed. "But yes, I'm in. Just let me take Dexter out."

I swapped my over-sized t shirt for a pair of dark jeans and a thick sweater. As I was grabbing a pair of socks out of my dresser, I heard the front door open followed by the jingling of Dexter's tags. A smile overtook my face as I finished getting dressed. And sure enough, a few minutes later when I emerged back into the living room, Vincent and Dexter were just reentering the apartment. Vincent gave me a cool look before glancing back at the security system. That I had forgot to engage when we got in the night before.