Page 106 of Gray Area

“Because you were safe,” he says. “I needed you to be safe, and you were. I wanted you to succeed, and you were doing well in your classes. I was happy that you were making your dreams come true, and I didn’t want you to have to stop.”

This man, this beautiful man who pretends to be so hard. “And if we had never connected again?”

“I would have left you alone,” he confirms what I already knew. “I would have always wondered, but I would have let you go.”

I smile at him. “Now you never have to wonder.”

“So you’re staying with me?” he asks.

“You and me, we are going to live in the gray area together, forever,” I tell him, and seal our fate with a kiss.

And we lived happily ever after.

THE END

Epilogue

VIVIAN

It takes a few weeks of healing and therapy for Declan to get back to being mobile without any assistive devices, which he refuses to use anyway. While he heals, I work nonstop at the office and remotely when I’m with him to clear off my caseload. I’m sad to be leaving my job after all I have accomplished there, but I refuse to be without Declan any longer.

Declan offers to move to DC for me, a gesture I am sure is due to the drugs when he first brings it up. But the third time he offers, I give it some serious thought. Declan’s entire life—his brothers, his business, his home—is all back in Massachusetts. I can’t ask him to move; I know what it’s like to leave stuff behind.

Besides, wherever Declan is, that’s home for me.

It amazes me how my love for him hasn’t faded in the slightest in all the years we’ve been apart. It’s like my feelings were frozen,and seeing him again has thawed them out. Every interaction between us only makes my heart love him more.

Of course, he is still Declan—overstepping and doing whatever he thinks is best for me. Like when he has two guards assigned to follow me at all times when I’m not with him. Or when he had my entire condo packed up and moved me into the home he and his brothers own just outside of DC. Then again to move me back to Massachusetts.

I know he will get me things; that’s Declan. And now that he is one of the richest men in the country, there is no stopping him. So, when my jacket has a small rip, he buys me four Canada Goose coats. And when I say in passing my hair looks ragged and I’m overdue for a trim, he has the most renowned stylist, along with three assistants, come to the hospital and give me a complete treatment lasting 6 hours.

I appreciate his generosity, but I don’t need it. I don’t want him to lavish me with expensive things or try to buy my love. It’s unnecessary and silly. I’m not with Declan because he can give me everything and anything. I’m with him because being in love with Declan Falco is the only thing I am 100% sure is right in this world.

I do have to admit, the perks of him being a billionaire are pretty sweet. I mean, I’m never going to be as satisfied with a first-class flight as I am with a flight in the Falco private jet. That plane may be the second love of my life.

Now that we are in Massachusetts, things feel more settled. Declan and I live in his apartment in Fall River. Of course this apartment is the size of a family home in an old mill building minutes from the Falco International Headquarters.

Each day since returning, I head out and check out the community centers surrounding us where I might work. Declan, of course, tells me I don’t have to work, but I want to. Helping people, especially kids who are growing up like I had, is such anamazing thing. But while there are plenty of opportunities, none of them seem like a good fit. Today I went and checked out a youth center in New Bedford, but they were adequately staffed, and kindly turned me down.

I get home just as Declan is finishing up his PT in the gym. I don’t want to disturb him and instead walk back to our bedroom. I’m ready to change into my comfy clothes and settle down for the night. It has become a routine at the end of the day for Declan and me to have dinner, then settle in for a couple of episodes of something fun—most recently, Bob’s Burgers.

I’m just kicking off my shoes when Declan enters the room, shedding his T-shirt as he does. His wounds are healing beautifully, and his body is as muscular as ever. You’d never know what he has been through just by looking at him. This is what I love most: us just being together doing ordinary things. His body is also a nice bonus.

I am positively ogling him when Declan says something I can’t hear over my horny thoughts.

“Huh?” I say as Declan puts on a shirt and draws me back to the here and now.

I watch him smirk, but I don’t care. He is mine. And after years of denying that he could ever be mine again, I will take all his smirks and teasing. I feel so much happiness and peace now that we are back together. It just feels so right.

“I said I have to go somewhere,” Declan says as he buttons up the shirt he’s put on.

His words break me free from my peaceful fog. “What? Where?” I ask him. He’s supposed to be off duty until his PT is complete, which isn’t for another three to four weeks, depending on his progress. I feel my blood start to boil at him not doing what has been agreed upon.

“There’s something I have to deal with,” Declan says, offering me absolutely no inkling of what it is he has to do.

“What do you mean there’s something you have to deal with?” I demand. “You said you were off; that was the deal. You’re gonna get hurt if you push yourself too hard!” I finish hotly, my anger flaring, and my voice rising right along with it.

“This can’t wait,” he says flatly, tucking in his shirt and momentarily distracting me. It’s crazy—ever since we’ve gotten back together, I’m a horny teenage boy with this man’s every move.

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