The Rebel - Raleigh Ruebins Page 0,98

He made sure the people felt safe and secure on the other side. Hell, I’d even thrown together drinks and home-cooked meals for them after the shoots, when they wanted it.

This month, the videos had netted us a record-breaking amount of money.

I clicked over to my bank account website, transferring a healthy amount of my share into a smaller account I had titled “Proposal Money.”

That was something I had managed to keep secret from Liam. I had my eyes on an artisan jewelry crafter that would hand-engrave any design into the inside of a ring. I wanted it to be a rose for Liam.

Even just looking at the name of the account made my heart slam a little harder inside my chest, every time I saw it.

It was real. I wanted my life to be Liam’s, and vice versa. It didn’t feel scary. It felt like home.

I heard the back door swing open and I quickly clicked away from the website, heading back over toward Liam.

I found him completely naked inside by the back door, a pile of his sweaty gardening clothes on the floor beside him.

“Well, that’s something I could look at forever,” I said, letting my eyes roam up and down his body.

“I want you to,” he said, walking past me and making sure to bump the side of my body with his own. I grinned, turning to smack his ass as he started down the hallway.

“You know I mean that, right?” I said, following him to the bathroom where he was turning on the shower.

“I hope you do.”

I had already showered once that morning, but I didn’t care. I started stripping off my clothes as Liam hopped in, and in a moment I was right there behind him, wrapping my arms around him as the water pounded down onto both of us.

“You think we could be together forever, huh?” Liam asked, nuzzling back against my shoulder.

“I don’t think there’s a future where we aren’t,” I said.

He turned around in my arms, facing me. I could see the love in his eyes, but more importantly I could feel it, right there, with no filter between us.

“Well, I don’t think there’s a future where I’m not making you come hard tonight,” Liam said. “Twice.”

I hummed deeply, stroking my fingertips down his sides. “You’re a fucking dream.”

“You are,” he said. “And I love you.”

I chuckled, pulling his body close to mine. “Well, giddy up.”

The End

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Spring For Me, Chapter 1

Patrick

I probably should have known that the day Cobalt opened its doors would be a strange day.

When a customer mentioned Cobalt to me for the first time, I was barely even paying attention. There was way too much going on to begin with—it was the afternoon at my bar, which meant it was time to begin changing over my store from the morning shift to night. The espresso machine had to be cleaned, cash in the registers needed to be counted, and it was time to change over the lighting and music in the front of the café. Morning was over, and the people of Rose Falls would soon be looking for alcohol instead of caffeine as their vice of choice.

And the setting sun also meant that it was getting closer and closer to when Cobalt was set to have its grand opening.

“They’re saying it’s going to be the hottest bar in town by next month!” Dennis, a craggy old regular, said as he walked up to the front counter to pay for his usual decaf cup of coffee. “Have you heard of it yet, Patrick?”

I kept my eyes downcast as I counted through the quarters and nickels he’d passed to me. “Yep,” I said finally, “of course I have. Place has been under construction two doors down ever since before Christmas.”

“Did you know tonight is opening night?”

I closed the cash register and slid the paper cup over the bar toward Dennis, meeting his eyes. “I’ve been trying to forget.”

“I’ll bet you have.”

“Come on, Dennis,” I said, smiling politely. “Do you really think a place like that is going to make any difference to me? Sure, Cobalt might be slick and modern, but… it seems so impersonal. I know the name of almost every customer