I chuckled and let him put his arm around my shoulders and guide me back towards the bar.
“Ari is a handful but mostly harmless.” I cut him a look and reached out to wrap my arm around his waist and tugged him closer to me. “My family will love you because I love you. We just need to clear a few things up.”
Again those light eyes became glinty with moisture. “Yeah?” this time when he asked it, I could hear all the questions he was scared to ask in it.
“Yeah, Lando.” My response had all the answers in that one word. No hiding and no fear.
We weren’t about a beginning, middle or end because now that he was here with me without the fear and regret he had used as a barrier, we were endless and our hearts were indeed limitless when it came to the love we had for one another.
Chapter 14
Lando
4 weeks later …
My new normal was better than my old normal had ever been.
There was still an adjustment here and there and the fear that something was going to happen to Dom while at he was work never really went away, but I trusted him to take care of himself as best he could and I trusted him to take care of the love we had between us by making smart choices and being extra careful. Still there was a night he was late coming over and when he showed up, he had a vicious-looking black eye, a cut on his cheek and a gash that was taped shut on his forehead. He brushed it off as a tussle with a suspect that got out of hand but the wounds, as superficial as they were, still sent me into full-on flight mode and I’d had a momentary freak-out, which meant I shut down and pulled away from him … well, I tried to. Because we were in this together, Dom came after me, bugged me, pulled at me until I came out of my safe place behind the fear and he refused to let me wallow in the mire of worry and doubt.
I’d managed to smooth things over with his family and he was right, they loved me because he loved me, even if Ari did watch me with eagle eyes to make sure I watched my step with her brother. They were a tight-knit unit and there were no words to describe how warm and right it felt to be embraced by the people that loved the same man I did. I in turn took Dom home to my folks and spent the entire visit giving my mother warning looks as she kept dropping hints about a future wedding and the possibility of grandchildren. Dom took it all in his stride and with good humor. When he mentioned his sisters, I could see the wheels spin in my mom’s head as she told him to bring them by for a visit over the holidays. I knew instantly that she was thinking that Austin was still single and if this particular Voss could settle down one of her boys, maybe another Voss could work miracles and give her other boy a reason to return home. With her fiery personality and dark good looks, Ari was right up my younger brother’s alley, but I didn’t tell Dom that because he was fiercely protective of his siblings and I doubted he wanted my playboy of a brother around either of the girls.