Page 56 of Undercover
But at least his powers of observation had let him figure out how off-balance I’d felt after finding out how much he knew about me and how little I knew about him. And then he’d given me his DMV records to make up for it. Who said romance was dead?
I stifled a giggle, or tried to.
“If you’re laughing, my technique might need some work.” I could feel him smiling against my skin, though. Maybe that intimacy thing went both ways.
And that was what he’d been trying to show me with the DMV records, in his weird, FBI-agent kind of way.
I turned my head to press a kiss to the side of his. “The only thing your technique needs is repetition. For science. We have to reproduce the result where we both come our brains out.”
Tension I hadn’t realized he still had in him seeped away, leaving him even heavier on top of me. I got up the energy to shove at his ribs. “Get off me, you big lump.”
“That’s Special Agent Lump to you,” he groused, nipped the side of my neck and made me squeak, and lifted himself off of me.
The pulling-out part never felt great, but he was gentle, and when he disappeared into the bathroom I had the presence of mind to check out the view from the back I hadn’t seen earlier.
Yep. Just as good.
He flopped down next to me a minute later, and I took my own turn in the bathroom, coming back to find him still sprawled across way more than half of my bed. I had a king already. Was I going to need a California king? Happiness sparked in me, fizzed in my veins, making me giddy. Fuck, but that was a good problem to have. I took a running leap.
“Oh,shit—ow,” and Alec caught me around the waist, flipped us, pinned me, and tickled me until I was almost crying, shoving at him ineffectually. “You’re the lump,” he growled. “Jesus, Gabe. If you break all my ribs I won’t be able to repeat anything for science.”
Science. And I hadn’t had a chance to tell him yet. Something he didn’t know from his background checks, because it had happened since I saw him last. “That’s going to be Dr. Lump to you, eventually,” I said, shy now that the words had left my mouth. “I mean, not right away. But in a couple of years. Fingers crossed. They still have to approve my petition, but Dr. Wilson thinks it’s a given they will.”
Alec’s grin widened with every word. “Seriously? That’s fucking amazing. Congratulations, baby. You deserve it.”
“Yeah? I feel like I’m a total fraud, and they’ll change their minds, and—”
“You,” he said, and kissed me hard, “are not a fraud,” another kiss, “and you deserve everything you want.” He kissed me one last time, long and deep, until I forgot what we’d been talking about.
Alec nibbled along my jaw, rubbing his big naked body over mine. Yeah, screw talking. And worrying. His cock had gotten half-hard again, and mine thought that sounded like a fine idea.
“I think I want that,” I gasped. “Do I deserve that?”
Alec pushed up on his elbows, looking down at me a lot more seriously than I thought that question merited. His dark eyes held something that made my heart flutter, something verging on devotion. “You deserve a lot better than me. But I’m going to do my damnedest to be more what you deserve. I promise. From now on, Gabe. I’m an open book. No lies, no secrets, and nothing but trying to make you happy.”
I knew all about how chemicals worked when released in the human body. How some drugs caused a mass release of serotonin and dopamine, for example. I knew, theoretically, that all they did was mimic or stimulate natural processes.
It hadn’t really sunk in until now, that I could feel that same rush from a person. From being simply happy. My skin tingled all over, and I couldn’t help my sappy smile.
“I can live with that. As long as you’re a reformed character. Don’t think I didn’t notice that speeding ticket you got on your motorcycle, Mr. Law-Abiding Special Agent—”
Alec swooped down and kissed the laughter off my lips, my smile melting into his.
It was exactly what I deserved.
Epilogue
Alec
I’d become intimately familiar with every bend and curve of the highways between Albany and Burlington. For someone who’d hated the idea of Vermont so much six months before, I’d gotten weirdly attached to the Poultney River, which marked the border from New York. Cruising over that little bridge meant I was in the same state as Gabe, and that I’d see him in almost exactly an hour and a half.
Yeah, I’d driven that route enough to know my ETA nearly down to the minute.
This time, I’d left Albany half an hour sooner than I’d hoped, wrapping up a stack of paperwork and jetting out of the office a few minutes before five. Friday afternoon traffic could be a bitch, but I’d gotten lucky, and I crossed the Vermont border at six-thirty on the dot. It hadn’t snowed yet. I knew the trip would only get longer once it did, another reason why living together would be so practical.
Not that I wanted it out of practicality. But I hoped that might sell it to Gabe, if he was on the fence.
And since I’d already been in negotiations about moving from Albany to a resident agency much closer to Burlington, I hoped I could sell it, once I mustered the courage to bring up the idea. I didn’t care if I had a commute, as long as my day started and ended with Gabe’s smile.
