Page 55 of Watch Over Me

Fuck.

Could he, really? Could he have fallen for Eddie without noticing it?

He had no idea. If he was invested enough to take a risk he'd spent a long time cautioning himself against, it had to count for something, but… was that love?

Perhaps. He had so little experience with it that he wasn't sure.

"You coming?" Eddie's head appeared in the bathroom doorway, surrounded by bright, harsh lighting.

James crossed the room quickly, stealing a kiss once he was close enough to do so.

He might not know how to label his feelings, but he was ready for whatever they were. He'd already stalled for too long and come frighteningly close to missing his chance. He wasn't going to make that mistake again.

And if it turned out to be love… He wouldn't mind it.

He wouldn't mind it at all.

* * *

The next morning had him grabbing a bag with a spare change of clothes from his car, since he hadn't even tried to pullhimself away from Eddie last night.

"You need anything, call me," James said when it was time for him to head to work and he found it harder than expected. "If I don't answer, call Ryan. Or Jeremy, or Martinez, they'll be stuck doing a bunch of paperwork today, too."

"I'm fine, and I'll continue to be fine." Eddie curled both hands around the coffee mug as he blinked slowly, not really awake yet. He had only a pair of pajama pants on and he was sporting impressive bed head curls. "I'll stay in all day and catch up on some sleep, or Netflix, or both. You're welcome to come by after work, though," he added, suddenly a bit more alert as he grinned at James. "To check on me, of course."

James chuckled, relaxing a bit. "Of course."

While he didn't think Eddie was in danger anymore, he still subscribed to the better-safe-than-sorry approach. A little hyper vigilance for a few more days wouldn't hurt.

For now, he pulled Eddie into another, coffee-flavored kiss.

"See you later."

On the way to work, James tried to focus on everything he needed to do today. Senator Corner was traveling out of town with her children for a few days, which had been scheduled as the time off for him and Ryan right from the start of the assignment, but now it was particularly lucky timing as the Lavon investigation unfolded.

They'd told the officers some of it yesterday at the scene, then the rest to the detectives who had come to the headquarters to talk to them afterwards. With their testimonies, especially Eddie's, the police had enough for an arrest, but finding Albert Corner might prove to be tricky. While it was possible that the asshole believed he'd be able to bluff his way out of his involvement, he could also try to leave the country, just in case.

All in all, things didn't look good for the Corner family,and once the KRK Security's role became clear, their assignment would no doubt be terminated, but for now, James and Ryan were still officially on it.

However, while they wouldn't get a new case for now either way, they were going to be busy with paperwork and multiple meetings in the next few days, since there was a lot of after-action stuff that needed to be handled.

A kidnapping of one of their own had never happened before and they'd handled it as best as they could, but Kalei would probably expect a contingency plan for the future. Which was smart, of course, but James didn't relish trying to put everything that happened into protocols and decision trees.

After arriving at work, he left his things in the office he shared with Ryan, then went straight to the kitchen for coffee, where he ended up bombarded with questions about Eddie—was he alright, did he need anything, was James sure he was safe or maybe they should set up some drop-ins?

He reassured everyone, repeating what Eddie had told him, but he didn't miss a glint in Ryan's eyes when James let it slip that he'd talked with Eddie this morning.

Nobodymissed the wide grin Martinez gave him, but thankfully, nobody asked.

Yet.

Because there was no doubt in James's mind that he was going to be answering questions as soon as he and Ryan went back to their office.

And then whenever Martinez and Jeremy would corner him.

James didn't even want to think about the rumor mill.

He paused, realizing he and Eddie hadn't talked about that. Multiple people had seen them holding hands yesterday, but James had no idea what was Eddie's stance on sharing anything more.

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