“Are you sure about this?”
She shifted, turning to face him. Hugh stared straight ahead as if watching Dee’s movie selection intently, but Grace was pretty sure he wasn’t that interested in the cartoon penguins dancing on the screen. “Are you pouting?”
“No.”
“Then why is your bottom lip sticking out like that?”
“I can’t help it if I have the mouth of a model.”
She laughed so hard that she tipped sideways against the back of the couch. Lexi, curled on the floor next to the couch, raised her head briefly and then went back to sleep. “I love it when you say ridiculous things like that, Mr. Badass Cop.”
“My friends just call me Badass.” Although she could tell he was fighting it, a smile curled the corners of the mouth under discussion. “You didn’t answer my question.”
Her laughter fading into a sigh, she lifted his arm and snuggled underneath it. “The question of whether I’m sure that I want to live in a house with five other people and one bathroom? Yeah, I’m sure.”
“I have the past four years of Tattered Hearts on DVD.”
Sitting up, she sucked in an excited breath.
“At my house.”
Slumping down again, she gave him her best hungry-puppy look. It wasn’t as effective as his, but it seemed to get her what she wanted from Hugh a little over half the time. “Can you bring them here on a day I’m not working at Nan’s? Please?”
“No. They’re for residents of my house only.”
She widened her eyes even more.
“Fine. I’ll bring them tomorrow.” He scowled at the waddling birds on the TV screen, and she poked him in the side.
“Quit sulking. You should be glad I’m not moving back to California, instead of just living five minutes away.”
Rather than flinching away from her prod, he squeezed her closer to his side. “I am glad. I’d just be gladder if you moved in with me.”
“I’d love that.” She really, really would. In the past two weeks following Noah’s arrest, she’d realized how much she’d undervalued privacy when she’d lived alone. Jules, the kids, and even Theo acted as an effective and entirely frustrating chastity belt.
Because of Hugh’s casted arm, he’d hired some people to help him reconstruct the deck, so his house was a beehive of activity during the day. Several times, Grace and Hugh had ended up parking his new pickup in some remote spot and then making out like teenagers despite their various injuries and the confines of the truck cab. The only reason they had the couch to themselves at the moment was that Jules and the boys were at the high school for an informational meeting about new safety measures implemented since the shooting, and Dee had gone to bed. Grace was reveling in the rare alone time with Hugh.
“Everything just happened really fast with us, and I want to give normal a chance, I guess. It’ll be different now that I know we’re both safe here, with the Jovanovics and Truman locked up.”
He frowned. “You always were safe. Noah and Martin had no idea you were here. If it hadn’t been for me…”
“Stop.” She gave him her best glare, but it only made him smile at her. “That’s all on Truman. Your only fault in all of that was being too good at your job. We’ve won, good has prevailed over evil, and there’s nothing the bad guys can do to us anymore. We get to live normal, boring, uninteresting lives now.”
“We could live a normal, boring, uninteresting life together at my house.”
“Nice try,” she retorted, “but you don’t get to skip the dating part.”
What she didn’t mention was that her confidence in her man-picking abilities had been shaken to her core. The FBI had searched Noah’s house and office, and what they’d found had led to eight other arrests—including Martin Jovanovic’s. Not only had Noah known about his uncle’s illegal pursuits, but the younger Jovanovic had actually been the leader of their expansive criminal organization—and the one who’d ordered the three men’s torture. Both Jovanovics were now in jail, waiting to be tried on charges ranging from drug trafficking to money laundering to murder.
Grace felt like an idiot. How had she mistaken the head of a crime family for a Disney prince? She suddenly had sympathy for the baffled people who were interviewed on the news after a serial killer was exposed, saying how they didn’t understand it because he seemed like such a nice man. Noah had seemed perfect, but he’d actually been as far from perfect as a guy could be. Although Grace trusted Hugh completely, and loved him so much her heart hurt, her trust in herself was a little shaky. Plus, she wanted a little more time to get to know her new Grace self outside her relationship with Hugh.
“So…we date?” Hugh scrunched up his face.
“Yes.” Shoving Noah’s perfidy out of her head, she laid her head on Hugh’s chest. “We date.”
“Do we have to?”
“Yes.”
“Why can’t we just skip to the good stuff?”
She pulled away slightly so she could frown at him. It was hard to hold a straight face when she saw his pout had returned. “No skipping to the good stuff. We’ll plan a date, and then you’ll drive here, and you’ll stand uncomfortably in the entry while Theo and Sam glare at you and Jules lectures you on responsible behavior. Next, I’ll sweep down the stairs, looking glamorous, and you’ll be struck speechless by my beauty, and then you’ll give me flowers, and we’ll go on a nice date. At the end, if you’re on your best behavior, you might get a kiss good night.”
“Huh.” He looked like he was trying not to laugh. “I’m not sure I’m capable of most of that, especially all the parts where I don’t talk. Theo glaring sounds about right, though.” Pulling her close again, he tucked his face in her neck. “I know I’m not capable of good behavior when I’m around you.”
At the touch of his lips, Grace lost the ability to think. She tipped her head so that he had better access to the side of her neck, and he immediately took advantage, kissing and nipping lightly at the sensitive skin. When he lifted his head abruptly, she made a soft sound of complaint until she followed his gaze to where Dee hovered in the doorway, watching them uncertainly.
“What’s wrong, Dee?” Hugh asked.
“I can’t sleep.”
Grace shifted over to open a space between her and Hugh. “C’mon in. Want to watch the end of your movie?”
“Okay.” Smiling, Dee rushed to snuggle into the gap between them while Lexi thumped her tail against the couch in approval. Hugh gave Grace a long-suffering look over the little girl’s head, and she had to swallow a laugh. Dating Hugh was going to be fun.
“When does your friend get here?” Dee asked.
“Penny?” Saying her name made Grace’s smile widen. That had been a fun phone call to make, even if she had to admit that her friend had been right about Noah’s lack of princely virtues. Another almost-as-wonderful call had been with her supervisors at St. Macartan’s. They’d agreed that Grace could continue working for the college by telecommuting from Monroe. Getting to keep both Hugh and her beloved job felt almost too good to be true, and now Penny was going to visit. Even while talking to her friend, Grace hadn’t doubted her decision to stay in Colorado. She’d carved out a new life, become a stronger person, and now that the threats to her life had ended, she was incredibly happy in Monroe. It was where she wanted to stay. “Tomorrow.”
“Are you excited?”
“Yeah.” Grace gave Dee a teasing nudge. “Especially since she’s bringing all of my shoes.”
Hugh snorted. When Grace mock glared at him, he gave her an innocent look and leaned over Dee’s head to whisper in Grace’s ear. “Fine. We’ll date. But I’m not promising good behavior.”
She met his eyes and smiled. “Perfect.”