Page 78 of Queen of Blades

“So, you want to go home?” he asked.

She furrowed her brow. “Where else would I go?”

Slowly, he peered up at her. He looked like a shy little boy about to tell his kindergarten crush he liked her. “With me?”

“You mean back to the house?”

He shook his head. “No. That place is compromised. We’ll remodel it and sell it.”

Blinking, she did her best to follow. Maybe it was the concussion or the medication kicking in, but she didn’t understand. “Then where?”

He cocked his head, and a smile spread across his lips. “Did you think that was where I lived? Like full-time?”

She attempted a shrug, but it hurt too much, so she gave up halfway through it. “I don’t know your life.”

A small chuckle escaped him. The way it brightened his features warmed her heart. “I have a place in Oklahoma City. Nothing fancy or anything, but it’s comfortable.”

“So, to be clear,” she said as she tried to navigate her brain fog, “I have to choose between jumping on a planeright nowor going to your place?”

He nodded. “Yeah.”

She groaned and flopped back on the couch. Pinching the bridge of her nose, she closed her eyes. She was too tired and too injured to have this conversation.

This wasn’t about where she wanted to spend the night. It wasn’t even about where she’d heal. Paul asked her if she wanted to stay in Oklahoma with him or go home without him. The choice was truly impossible.

Though she might be reading into things. The pain had waned, allowing her to jump to conclusions far more efficiently. She should get clarity. “For how long?”

“As long as you’d like.”

Oh yeah. They weren’t discussing short-term arrangements.

“Is your bed comfortable?” Honestly, that was the only thing that mattered to her at the moment. Everything else could be sorted out in time. She wasn’t ready to make that decision. If she weren’t in so much pain or fresh out of a traumatic event, she might be able to think more about it, but she didn’t have the energy.

“Like a cloud.”

Sold.

“Take me to your bed. It’s closer.”

“Your wish is my command, my queen,” he mused as he stood and offered his hand to help her to her feet.

She had unfinished business in Oklahoma anyway. Her father’s funeral needed to be planned. She’d have to check on her mother and her sister. Eventually, her brothers would come home. There was a lot to do, and she couldn’t accomplish any of it from North Carolina. Harper wasn’t the type of person to just abandon her family.

When she left them back in the day, she believed they could care for themselves, but not now. Not through this. She had to be around them to support them through this, just as much as she would need them for the exact same thing for her.

Besides, where better to stay than in the home of the man who would sacrifice his life for her? It was the safest place she could be.

She’d turned her back on Paul once. Whether that was the correct choice at the time, she’d never know, but she’d made it. Questioning it was futile. It wouldn’t change a damn thing.

When she healed up, she’d decide what to do with her life. For now, she wanted to take a breath and enjoy Paul.

Everyone’s life was full of twists and turns. Her path may have been convoluted and slightly more dangerous than others, but it led her to where she belonged—home to Paul. She’d figure out the rest in time.

Epilogue

Paul

Paul hadn’t made it a habit of attending the funerals of bikers. This was a first for him, but something told him this wasn’t the way things went normally. For one, none of Snoopy’s so-called brothers dared to show their faces.

---