Somebody to Hold (Tyler Jamison #2) - April Wilson Page 0,87
neck. “I would love for us to work together, but you have to listen to me, all right? I won’t let you put yourself in danger. You have to promise you’ll do as I say.”
“Whatever you say, boss.” At this point, I’d agree to just about anything.
He laughs. “I’d be your partner, not your boss.”
“Jamison Investigations,” I say, trying out the sound of it. “That has a nice ring to it.”
He cocks his head. “How about Jamison and Alexander? That’s more equitable, don’t you think?”
I laugh. “That sounds like a wedding invitation.” And then, when I realize what I just said, my face heats. I can’t believe I said that out loud.
But Tyler’s not laughing. “It does sound like a wedding invitation.” He pulls me closer for a kiss. When he draws back, he gazes into my eyes as if searching for something.
“That sounds good to me,” I say, my voice suddenly breathy.
“I always feel like I’m rushing things. I practically invited myself to move in with you when we’d only known each other a few weeks. I told you I loved you—”
My heart starts pounding. “Yeah, but I said it first.”
“And now, I know it’s way too soon, but I—”
“It’s not. Ask me.”
“I can’t imagine a life without you, Ian. Whenever I think of the future, you’re always in it. I picture us together. And after seeing you holding Luke, I can’t stop imagining you with a baby in your arms—our baby. You’re my family, Ian. You’re everything I’ve ever wanted.”
I swallow hard against the knot in my throat as my chest constricts. But it’s not anxiety this time that’s making it hard for me to breathe. It’s anticipation. My heart feels like it might explode. “You still haven’t asked me, Tyler.”
“It’s not too soon? Because if it is, I’ll wait. I’m not going anywhere. I’ll wait as long as you—”
I crush my mouth to his, partially to stop him from talking himself out of it, and partially because I want to breathe him in. “Shut up and ask me.”
He smiles. “Ian Alexander, would you do me the honor of allowing me to be your husband?”
“Oh, my god, that’s the most beautiful proposal I’ve ever heard.” I wipe my teary eyes. “Look what you’ve made me do. I’m a wreck now.”
“You didn’t actually answer me,” he says with a smile.
“Yes! The answer is yes.”
“So, we’re doing it? We’re getting married?”
“You’d better believe we are.” I smile as Tyler pulls me onto the sofa and rolls me to my back.
He lifts my shirt and kisses his way up my abdomen, to my nipples, which he teases with the tip of his tongue. Lighting streaks down my spine, and my cock stirs.
Tyler whips my T-shirt off me and tosses it aside. I reach up and unbutton his shirt, revealing a broad, masculine chest that never fails to arouse me.
The notion that we’ll spend the rest of our lives together, as husbands, fills me with unimaginable joy. “Ian Jamison,” I say aloud, wanting to hear how it sounds.
Tyler smiles. “You’d take my name?”
I run my hands over his chest to his arms and wrap my fingers around his biceps. “Are you kidding? Hell, yes. I want the whole world to know I belong to you.”
Tyler’s phone chimes with an incoming text. He glances at the screen. “It’s the doctor’s office. My results are in.”
“What are you waiting for? Look and see.”
Tyler taps the link in the text message, and it takes him to the online patient portal. “All negative,” he says.
I dig my phone out of my back pocket and find a similar message. I check my results. “Negative,” I tell him. “You know what this means, don’t you?”
He grins. “I do. It means no more condoms, baby. Just me and you.”
Epilogue
Tyler Jamison … two months later
Construction is well underway on the carriage house addition that will contain the offices of Jamison Investigations, Inc. I suggested to Ian that we call ourselves Jamison-Alexander Investigations, to be fair, but he thought that was too much of a mouthful, and that Jamison was enough.
Besides, as he loves to point out, when we’re married and he takes my name—which he insists on doing—then Jamison Investigations will cover the both of us.
The remodeling plans call for a waiting room, a private office for us to share, and a conference room, all on the ground floor. We’re putting in a small apartment above the office, and we’re expanding the garage to make room for our recently-purchased work