Live For Me (Blurred Lines #2)(54)
Author: Erin McCarthy

That’s what I had been waiting six months to hear. “Really? That’s good news. I’m happy for you.” I leaned closer to him. The air was acrid with smoke. “So where is she? Please tell me they arrested her.”

“They did. Though they may conclude it was an accident. The arson, though? I don’t think she can get out of that one. She threw gasoline all over everything. Funny thing is, she was trying to destroy your jeep. That TIFFANY license plate enraged her. But the jeep is still standing.”

“Like you.” Like me. Hopefully, even like us. I kissed his forehead, immensely relieved that he was okay. If she had shot him straight on and killed him, I didn’t know what I would do.

“I don’t know. I’m feeling kind of beat to shit. And I just lost about three million dollars between the house and everything in it. There wasn’t any insurance on it. I let it lapse. Between that and the divorce settlement, I’m hard up for cash. I may need to sell the apartment in the village.”

“I’m really sorry, Devin.” I was. I knew he’d worked damn hard for everything he had. But I didn’t doubt for a minute that he would recover. If he chose to.

“I’m a mess, Tiff. Broke. Busted.” He briefly touched my waist. “You’re wearing a dress,” he said in a completely random comment.

“It’s summer,” I said, equally inane. “So where will you go if you sell the apartment in New York?”

“I think I’ll rent for awhile. Maybe a small cottage on the coast here. Know a good housesitter?”

“Why do you need a housesitter if you’ll be living there?” I asked, my voice low. I wanted to kiss him, desperately. I wanted to start over, on the same page. As partners. I couldn’t walk away from him a second time. Not now that he was divorced. Not now that he had lost money, been injured. He needed me.

And I needed him.

“You tell me,” he murmured. “Unless you have a boyfriend or something.”

“No boyfriend. You?”

He shook his head. “No. No girlfriend either.”

I laughed a little. “Well. I’d like to apply for the position of girlfriend since it’s open. My qualifications are that I love you and I plan to never leave you.”

“You’re hired. Though I have to warn you I’m a hard employer. Demanding.”

“I can handle it. I can handle you.”

Devin started to move forward to kiss me but he winced in pain. So I met him halfway and pressed my lips to his. I was happy to meet him halfway. Happy to be his equal, his friend, his lover. God, I had missed him. His mouth felt perfect on mine, like we’d never been apart. When I moved back an inch, I breathed deeply, filling my nostrils with his scent.

“Can I start immediately?” I asked.

“I think you already have.” Devin slipped his fingers into my hair and kissed me again, softly. “This doesn’t seem like it’s real. I didn’t actually die, did I?”

The thought made me grip the sides of his shirt tightly. “No,” I said tightly. “Of course not.”

“I would die for you,” he murmured to me. “Do you know that?”

“I don’t want a man who will die for me, Devin.” I rested my forehead on his. “I want a man who will live for me.”

“I can do that, chipmunk.” He smiled softly at me. “That’s all I really want to do.”

Chapter Fifteen

So we rented that cottage by the shore and I married him there. With my father and his family in attendance, Cat and Heath, and Devin’s parents. We didn’t want anyone else there, but it was perfect. We had lobster, blueberry salad, corn on the cob. There were fairy lights strung over the table on our back deck and lots of smiles and laughter. Tyrell ran around in circles, cramming blueberries into his mouth, and blowing bubbles with a bubble gun.

“So why did you get married?” he asked me in a tone like he thought I was crazy, climbing up on my lap.

“Because I love Devin,” I told him, hugging his wiggling body against me.

“Duh.” He rolled his eyes and moved his head back and forth.

I laughed. “Then why are you asking?”

“I don’t know.” He slid down off my lap again and blew bubbles in Amelia’s face, who bit them. Tyrell laughed as they popped over Amelia’s snout.

Devin was sitting next to me and he reached over and gave me a kiss. He tasted like champagne. His amber eyes were full of mischief.

“What?” I asked him, suspicious, but smiling back. He looked very happy and that made me ecstatic.

“Look what just showed up.” He pointed to the driveway of our cottage.

It was my jeep, fire ash cleaned off. It looked as perfect as it had in December. Only now I didn’t feel strange about accepting it. Because I had a gift for him too.

“Thank you.” I gave him a kiss. “You’re very sweet.”

“You’d better get your driver’s license now or I’m selling it.”

I stuck my tongue out at him. “I have a gift for you too.” I jumped up out of my chair and went into the house to get it. I’d been hiding it in the cabinet above the fridge. Using a chair, I reached up there and retrieved the two boxes. My wedding dress brushed against my skin. It was just a simple off-the-rack strapless slip dress, but I felt beautiful and bridal in it.

“Don’t fall,” Cat said, coming into the kitchen.

“I’m fine.”

“God, I can’t believe you’re married. You look beautiful, Tiffany.”

I turned and gave her a wink. “Whatev.”

She laughed. “Smartass. And to tell you the truth, I always knew you’d marry an older guy. You were way too worldly to settle for some twenty-year-old moron.”

The thought made my skin crawl frankly. “Yeah, that was never going to happen. I would have preferred to be single forever.”

Cat smiled. “I’m just glad you’re happy.”

“Me, too. Look at us. Who would have thought?”

“Not me, that’s for sure. We were dusty kids with hand-me-down clothes and scabs on our knees about a minute ago.”

Cat’s dark hair was pulled sleekly back in a high ponytail. It was a far cry from her teen years when it was always a snarled mess, half the time with twigs in it. “Ha. I was never dusty. That was you.”

I hopped down on the chair, packages in hand. “It’s your turn next.”