Tara had never been given flowers before. Nor had she had anyone make her dinner. When they returned to their hotel room after signing the paperwork on the building, she walked into the room and saw the romantic setting Colt had prepared for their evening.
“Wow,” she said, stepping inside. “You did all this?”
“I figure that if we’re going to live together, we might as well have a first date,” he joked, handing her a bouquet of purple tulips.
“Do you know,” she said as she buried her face in the flowers, “that we didn’t have tulips where I came from?”
“Seriously?” he asked, giving her a look of astonishment.
She laughed. “No, of course we had tulips.” She nudged his shoulder playfully and enjoyed the sound of his laughter.
“Okay, now I want to know everything that is different between our universes,” he said as he pulled out the chair for her. “Did you have Nazis, Cleopatra, the Titanic?”
“Yes, to all. Since I’ve been here, I’ve tried to find all the contrasts. I’d say the biggest differences are that we didn’t drop any atomic bombs and that our music is far better than yours.”
He set an elaborate salad down in front of her. It looked better than anything she’d ever eaten. There were strawberries, blueberries, walnuts, and cheese on top of crisp green lettuce.
“I highly doubt that. I mean, did you have Elvis?” Colt asked.
“Yeah.” She nodded. “He’s still singing and officiating over weddings in Vegas.”
He chuckled. “We have that too. Are you sure it’s the real Elvis?” He sat across from her.
“Oh, he’s the real one,” she answered with a smile. “At least my Elvis is still alive… which makes this a seriously screwed-up version of the universe.” Again, his warm laughter filled her heart.
For the next hour, as he fed her, she tried to elicit it as much as she could. They laughed about a few more small differences between their worlds.
Whatever happened the next day, at least they’d had today to laugh and love. She wanted to make sure that their last time together was perfect.
Neither of them brought up the next day. Instead, she listened to Colt dream about opening his own restaurant and bar. They talked about what would be needed to fix the place up. About what furniture they would buy for their own apartment. When they were going to move in.
She really liked that Colt was open to her ideas about the restaurant. At first he was just thinking of being open for dinner, but then she mentioned how it would be nice to open a little early for lunch and offer salads, soups, and sandwiches. Then they could have the more elaborate meals for dinnertime.
She didn’t know who made the move once the last of the dinner was finished, but she ended up sitting in his lap. She melted against his chest as his lips covered hers.
Her fingers tangled in his hair, which she noted was longer than it had been two weeks previously. Actually, so much had changed in that short time.
When she’d driven into town, she’d been alone, desperate for answers. Now she had more friends than she’d ever had in her previous life. Friends she trusted with her secrets and her life.
She was settling down and she was in love. She was moving in with Colt and looking forward to helping him start his own business. Commitments had never been her forte before. Now, she didn’t even question her future.
If they survived what was coming, she knew without a doubt that she wanted to be with Colt.
“I love you,” Colt said against her skin. He stood up, holding her in his arms as he walked towards the bed.
“I love you,” she replied as he laid her down gently. They started removing each other’s clothes.
She couldn’t stop the tears from slipping from her eyes as he cherished her, raining little kisses all over her heated skin. She felt her entire body vibrate with desire, aching for him, needing him more than she had before.
There was so much she wanted to say to him so that he could understand how much he meant to her. Instead, she showed him as they moved together.
This time when he slipped into her, all her barriers broke free, allowing her power to build. With her release, every ounce of control slipped free, shattering everything she’d held at bay.
Power flowed from her, from them, and the entire room shook as the lights flashed.
“Wow,” Colt said against the crook of her breast. “Just… wow.”
She chuckled. “I agree. Wow.” She sighed and ran her fingers through his hair.
“I need a haircut.” He sighed. “Tomorrow I’ll…” He stopped, and she felt him tense.
“I like your hair a little longer,” she said, breaking into his dark thoughts.
He sat up slightly and looked down at her. “Do we need to talk about tomorrow?”
She’d known it was coming. Knew there were things that had to be said. Sitting up, she pulled on his shirt, the one she’d removed from him earlier, and sat on the edge of the bed while Colt slipped on his jeans and pulled two containers from the fridge.
“This discussion calls for chocolate,” he said, glancing at her. “And ice cream.”
She watched him scoop some ice cream on each brownie cake.
“You are more than amazing,” she said as he handed her the container and a spoon. “You are my world.”
“Me or the brownie?” he joked as he sat next to her on the bed.
“Both.” She took a bite. “Okay, now I think I can talk about tomorrow.” She sighed. “I have this feeling that when my mother comes, things are going to turn bad. Which means, more than likely, she is the one we should fear. Not Typhon.”
He nodded. “I think we’ve all felt that way since your last meeting with your dad.”
“Okay, so, why would my mother be acting all sweet and kind?” she asked, taking another bite of the sugary goodness.
“Maybe she needs something from you? Maybe she wants to sway you to her side?”
“Maybe she’s just toying with me?” she thought out loud.
“With us,” he said, taking her free hand.
Nodding she agreed. “Yes, all of us. Either way, all we can do is wait and see and react as best as we can when she shows up.”
“So what you’re saying is, there’s no use worrying tonight?” he asked with a smile.
“Exactly. There is, however, a reason to talk about what will happen if things do go wrong.” She set her brownie down and turned to him. She waited for him to set his brownie down as well and then took his hands in hers. “If something should happen to me.”
“Don’t say that.”
“We’re realists, remember? If something does happen, sell my van, open your restaurant. Find love again.” She hadn’t realized tears were slipping from her eyes until he reached up and brushed the wetness from her cheeks.
“Nothing is going to happen to you. I won’t let it.” He pulled her into his arms.
“I can’t bear to think about something happening to you, or any of the others. The kids.” She felt her throat close up. “I won’t let Jess, Jacob, Xtina, or Mike put themselves in danger.”
“I agree,” he said firmly. “So how do we go about fighting what’s coming without them? Something tells me that if we tried to do it alone, they’d find us somehow and kick our butts.”
She smiled and pulled back slightly to look up at him. “Jess is actually treating the entire ordeal as if it’s going to be fun.”
“Jacob too.” Colt shook his head. “Don’t forget, they’ve done this a few times already. Saved the world from gods and all that.”
She smiled. “Okay, so we both agree, we can’t do it without them, but we don’t want anything to happen to anyone else.”
She knew that he understood what she was saying when he nodded slowly. “How do we go about doing that?”
“Joe and Brea might be able to help us with that,” she said clearly.
“Let’s finish the brownies and get dressed before we call them.”
“Sounds like a plan.” She took up the brownie again. “If you can make a meal this good without a stove, I can’t wait to try your cooking for real.”