I couldn't help but grin as I headed up the stairs.  No more surveillance means I can sleep in a real bed instead of on that couch in the office.  Of all the pain this case caused, that was the worst-- having to sleep on a small, uncomfortable couch.  Once in the bedroom, I carefully stripped off my suit and hung it up.  Rolling my shoulders and getting one last good stretch in, I headed for the bed.

"Did you decide to return from your self-imposed exile?" Nero asked.

"Now, you know, I had to sleep down there.  The G-men were watching our every move.  Somehow I don't think they would have missed the fact that I was sleeping with my employer, do you?"

"Pfui."

"Not fooey," I said as I crawled under the covers next to him.  "If they'd known about this, you wouldn't have been able to hold them over the barrel like that."

"I'd have found a way," he sulked.

You wouldn't think a man his size would look cute when he sulks, but he does.  He gets this little pout to his lips, tucks his chin in and then he looks up at you through his lashes.  It gets me every time.  Leaning over, I kissed him, sucking on that pouting lower lip until I felt his arms come up around me.

"I know you would have, but this way you didn't have to."

"But this way, I had to spend nine nights sleeping alone," he said petulantly.

"Absence makes the heart grow fonder."

"I can't be made any fonder of you, Archie."

I was floored.  Every once in a while, I am reminded of just how lucky I got when I met this man.  He might not say it right out, but he loves me.  You know what?  I love him too.

"I know. Me either."

 

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