***
It had been two monthssince my little Nancy Drew and her girl detective friends had solved the mystery of the vandal cop. Brian had gone back to prison on his parole violation and would likely have extra time added to his sentence for breaking and entering and willful destruction of property. I’d had some time to interrogate Peterson before the state marshals took him and had been surprised that his grand plan was to get Evie to close the shop, with no idea how he’d take it over himself. What an idiot. He’d had no money and no plan for what he would do if he'd succeeded in getting Evie to give up the shop.
Since Brian’s arrest, Evie and I basically spent every day together. We alternated between sleeping at her place or mine, and I still stopped by the store most mornings to bring her a caramel macchiato. I might have gotten into the sweet coffee drinks myself, though I’d deny it if anyone asked me. When Evie got off work we would either go to dinner, order take-out, or one of us would cook. It was all very homey.
Evie had finally hired an assistant manager for her store, which mean she didn’t have to work as many hours as she did before. Although she never said that she did it to give us more time together, I appreciated having more time with her.
Honestly, things between us were going better than I could have dreamed. We still fought, especially when Evie was being stubborn or she thought that I was being high-handed, but the make-up sex was out of this world. She challenged me, in all the best ways.
I’d avoided talking about commitment, trusting my instincts to give her more time to get comfortable with me. She was still independent and stubborn as hell, but she was gradually letting me in, and I was grateful for every hard-won bit of trust she showed me. I’d even met her daughter on a video call last week. That felt like a big step.
Evie padded out of bed, heading for the bathroom. I laid in bed, listening as she brushed her teeth and washed her face. Exiting the bathroom, she headed for her walk-in closet, then walked out a few seconds later with a weird look on her face.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, pushing myself to sitting.
“I think you’ve got more clothes in my closet than I do,” she said ruefully. “You’re lucky I love you enough to share my closet space.”
My eyes widened and Evie clamped her hand over her mouth as she realized what she’d said. I rolled out of bed and walked slowly to where she stood frozen in place.
“What did you say?”
She winced and dropped her hand. “You heard me. Don’t make me say it again.”
I wrapped my arms over her shoulders and stared at her until she looked up and met my gaze. Her expression turned stubborn, something I’d seen a lot of during our relationship.
“Fine. I love you. Okay?” she said grudgingly. “I hope you’re happy.”
I whooped, grabbing her waist, and picking her up to twirl her in a circle, her feet flailing.
“Put me down, you idiot. You’re going to hurt yourself.”
I carried her to the bed and gently laid her on her back, then crawled over her, pinning her to the bed with the lower half of my body. Propping myself up on my elbows, I stared down at her.
“Say it again.”
“What’s in it for me?” she asked teasingly.
“Lots and lots of orgasms.”
She pretended to think. “Okay, I’ll accept your offer. I love you Jake, even if you are the most annoying person I know.”
“I love you too, Nancy Drew, even though you’re the most annoying person I know too.”
I lowered my head and kissed her deeply. We didn’t get out of bed again for a very long time.