ALEXA: I love you.
LUKE: I love you, too.
I put my cell away and waited for Michael to finish talking to the police officer.
It had been quite a week.
There was nothing more I wanted to do than spend the weekend at home with Alexa.
Michael said goodbye to the police officer and came over to me. "You okay, Mr. Marshall?"
"I'm fine," I said. "You okay?"
"I'm perfect," Michael said. "Let's go get you home."
Home we went.
When I finally arrived at the beach house, Alexa came running out to the limo. As soon as I was out of the vehicle, she threw her arms around me and squeezed me tightly.
"Oh, God, you don't know how much that scared me. I'm so glad you're okay."
"I'm fine. Thanks to Michael's excellent driving skills, we're no worse for the wear."
Alexa let go of me and went to Michael. "Thank you for keeping him safe."
"It's my job, Ma'am." He smiled and tipped his hat at her and then gave me a nod. "Let me know if you need me for anything. I'm on shift until midnight."
"Thanks, Michael."
I shook his hand and followed Alexa inside. As soon as we got the door closed, she was on me, her arms around my neck, her body pressed against mine.
"I've been desperate, thinking of how close you came to being hurt or killed."
We kissed and I couldn't help but smile when I heard her breathing heavily.
"Desperate, are you?" I pulled back and quirked an eyebrow. "I know something that will relieve that desperation..."
Her eyes narrowed. "You do, do you? Let me guess... A back rub? Maybe a foot rub?"
"I was thinking of a different place to rub, actually."
With that, she wrapped her arms around me again, her mouth on mine, and that was the end of the joking for at least an hour.
When we were finished making love, and were lying naked on our bed, Alexa became serious, her brow furrowed.
"Are you going to charge Eric with attempted murder?"
I shook my head, uncertain what I'd do. "I'll have to speak to Pete tomorrow and see what he thinks. Plus, I'll need to talk to the detectives in charge of Eric's case. See what they think. He was just drunk. I don't think he really intended to kill me."
"What if he planned on running you off the road? There's no other reason for him to be on Fire Island. He doesn't live here. I think you should press charges. He's clearly dangerous."
"I'll think about it and talk to the experts," I said and pulled Alexa closer, my hand resting on her belly, which was now considerable, since she was fully eight months pregnant. "I'm just glad that nothing more serious than a broken nose and bruises happened to any of us. Let's forget about Eric. He's not worth the time."
"Okay," Alexa said and snuggled closer to me.
"All that matters is us," I said and kissed her.
That was all that mattered -- the three of us, together. All the rest -- the trouble with Alexa's paper, Blaine's stalking and attack on Candace, the videos, Seneca's turning Astra down as a partner -- it was just distraction from what really mattered.