Page 57 of A Soldier's Temptation
Sick of him? Hell no. She was actually kind of dreading moving out of his place. Not being around him all the time would be hard. He brought sunshine into her bleak life, and she’d fallen head over heels for him. Waking up in his arms from her nightmares, taking Mr. Darcy on long walks, and watching movies every night.
They’d created a life together without even trying and that it was coming to an end. Just the thought of no longer sharing his life dimmed her sunshine. But she couldn’t assume he wanted her to stay. He said he loved her, but he hadn’t said anything about the future.
She’d talked about it with Shira when she visited her every day. They both wondered what he was thinking since he hadn’t brought up the future at all. Shira said she should come right out and ask him, but that wasn’t Ari’s way. She’d give him a bit more time to see if he really wanted a life with her.
Their only disagreements had been about Colin. John was still pissed at him, but Ari understood why he made the choice he did, even if she didn’t like it. She just wanted to put it all behind her and move on and that included going back to work. When her boss called and told her they’d kept her job open, she couldn’t have been happier. Once she was cleared to return to work, life would finally get back to normal.
“Where are you going to start?” John asked as he stood in the middle of the mess that used to be her living room.
“Not in here, that’s for sure. I think I’ll go work in the bedroom. This way I can grab more clothes. I’m getting sick of wearing the same thing every couple of days.”
“Okay, Mr. Darcy and I will start in the kitchen. But you need to take it easy. No stretching or reaching. Sit in the chair I left in there, and I’ll bring you what you need.”
“You don’t have to be a mother hen. I’ll be good.”
“You’d better.”
“I will,” she said and blew him a kiss.
“Mr. Darcy, maybe we can find something to eat.”
“You just had breakfast.”
“And your point is?”
Shaking her head, she stepped carefully over the debris on the way to her bedroom. It was weird being back, the last time she’d been there had been the day she found out Paul died. It seemed like it had been months instead of weeks. Her life had changed so much. The swelling was almost gone on her face, but it still felt strange. Hopefully, after another four weeks, she’d be fully recovered. Wincing as she pressed a hand against her still tender ribs, she sat down in the chair John left in the bedroom.
John and Shaggy had taken most of the furniture to the dump to make room for the new stuff she’d ordered. It wouldn’t be coming for another couple of weeks, so he was right, they didn’t have to do it all in one day. Most of what was left were the items that made the apartment hers—clothing, photographs, her kitchen stuff. Most of it had been broken or was ruined, but she found the photo of Mr. Darcy from the first day she’d brought him home and miraculously it was unbroken. As she rubbed it against the sleeve of her shirt to clean it off, the edge of the wood broke off.
“Hey, look what I found,” she yelled to John.
“What did you find?” he asked from the doorway.
“Mr. Darcy’s adoption day photo. But I think I just broke it cleaning off the fingerprints. It is one of the few things that survived the dirtbag brigade.”
“Let me see, if I can’t fix it, we’ll just get a new frame.”
She handed it over and he ran his finger along the edge where she thought she’d chipped the wood. Instead, a little door popped open revealing a micro SD card.
“Holy shit, it was here all the time. I can’t believe it,” Ari said as she took the little card from John.
“You had this when you were with Chen?”
“Yeah, but it had a picture of the two of us that he got for us on our first anniversary. I liked the frame, so I kept it and put Mr. Darcy in it instead, he’s prettier.”
“Woof.”
“Yes, you are.”
He rubbed against her legs and she leaned down gave him a kiss on the head. “I should call Colin. It looks like he’s going to get his mole after all.”
“Yeah, I guess so.
“This is a cause for celebration. Can we go to Amici’s tonight for some lasagna?” Ari asked, trying to get John to smile after her mention of Colin. It was sad their friendship had been destroyed. But she still had hope that they’d work it out.
“Sounds perfect.”
John gingerly pulled her into his arms and smiled. “You are the love of my life. I know it’s too soon, but when you’re ready, I want to marry you. You have erased the darkness I’ve lived with since I was injured. I give you my heart, my body, and everything I am.”
