Page 82 of Love & Heart Braking

I sniffed hard, bottom lip trembling. “Thank you.” A traitorous tear slipped free of my hold.

Devereaux was on his knees on the ground before me. He didn’t dash my tears away or hush me. “Milestone, huh?”

“I never thought past kissing a random guy to loosen the curse. I’m so grateful it was with you and that it meant so much.”

My first kiss in three years had been with the man I loved.

He grabbed a blanket from over the back of the couch and slung it over my knees, then sat beside me again. “Let it all out, sweetheart.”

And I did as we watched the game, not feeling one bit stupid at leaking a few tears during the date I’d meticulously planned.

He absently circled his thumb on my knee over the blanket. “My mother had quite the tale to tell me the other day.”

I wiped my face. “Oh?”

“Seems you’ve been keeping a few secrets, Miss Concordia.”

“Just a few, Officer. Am I in trouble?”

Devereaux slung me a grin. “Do you want to be?”

Sure did. “Hold that thought. How do you feel about what your mom said?”

He tilted his head. “My mother and the chief… feels strange. You matched them though, so I know they could be the real deal.”

I smiled at the compliment. “They really could, and you’ll get used to the idea in time.” I patted his arm.

“Yes, ma’am.”

Winking at him, I then tilted my head to the game. “How long does this go for?”

“Still four innings to go. Are you bored? A lot of people find the game drags.”

“Not one bit.” And I meant it. That he enjoyed baseball was enough entertainment for me, but maybe we could spice it up too.

I hummed.

Devereaux glanced at me. “What are you up to?”

“Who, me?”

“Those innocent looks of yours didn’t work on me at the start, and they don’t work now.”

I lowered my eyelashes. “They never worked?”

He pursed his lips. “Maybe the very first time, but after Trillings, I knew I’d have to work hard to keep up with you. A cupid who could speak jazz and knew the layout of the random bar I’d taken her into was a force to be reckoned with.”

“I remember thinking you were the sexiest and most bored man I’d ever seen. And then, that there was no way you’d remember to come after me in a few days. How wrong I was.”

We chuckled over that, and I snatched a cookie off the plate.

“You still haven’t answered my question,” he mused, brow quirked.

My berserker was still as determined as day one. “Just thinking is all.”

“Tell me.”

I settled back. “Those strikeouts happen every so often, and those home runs too. Mostly I’m just thinking we have a lot of clothes on, and that if you were game to choose a team, we could use those strikeouts and home runs to help solve our problem.”

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