“Cool,” Ben said, opening his eyes. “If I’m living with both of you guys, I get to live there no matter what, right?”
“The kitchen’s amazing.” Dan waxed poetic. “And the living room has this huge slider that opens up the entire wall to this screened porch. At night, when the sun sets … The view … It’s gorgeous.”
Izzy was nodding his agreement when Eden kissed him on the side of his face. “It’s just an apartment,” she whispered into his ear. “We can find someplace else.”
And as he pulled back to look into her eyes, he realized that she was right.
“Tie goes to the man who was shot,” Izzy said as he held Eden’s gaze. “The man who has to stay overnight in the hospital instead of renting a fabulous hotel room with his wife, on the government’s dime.”
“Are we seriously renting a fabulous hotel room on the government’s dime?” Eden asked with a smile.
“Kinda gotta, sweetheart,” Izzy reminded her. “Dead guy in your apartment.”
“Yeesh,” she said. “I forgot about that.”
Izzy stood up, with Eden still in his arms. “In fact, I think we’re going to go out right now and make those arrangements. Ben, we’ll be back for you a little bit later, dude.”
“I’ll be here,” Ben said.
“Wow,” Izzy heard Dan say as he carried Eden out of the room, “I think Zanella just let me win, but how come it doesn’t feel like I won?”
Eden was laughing, so Izzy put her down in the hallway, and they walked, hand in hand, to the elevators. It wasn’t until they were out front, at the taxi stand, that she turned to him and said, “Thank you for believing me—and not giving up on me.”
“You’re welcome,” he said.
“I love you,” she said, “and I need you. You make the sky more blue.”
“You do the same for me,” he admitted.
She nodded. “Good. And—I just want you to know that, the next time something in my life is hard and painful, I’m going to run toward you, not away from you, okay?”
Izzy nodded, too. “That would be most excellent.”
“And about the apartment,” she said. “I just thought since Danny seemed to really be into it, and … That sort of thing doesn’t matter that much to, well, to either one of us and …”
“Eden,” Izzy told this woman who was his wife, his lover, and his best friend, “we’ll find someplace perfect. I know we will, because as long as you’re there? I’m home.”
Eden smiled and kissed him.
And the sky was very, very blue.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
SUZANNE BROCKMANN is the award-winning author of fifty books, and is widely recognized as one of the leading voices in romantic suspense. Her work has earned her repeated appearances on the New York Times bestseller list, as well as numerous awards, including Romance Writers of America’s #1 Favorite Book of the Year and two RITA Awards.
Brockmann divides her time between Siesta Key, Florida, New York City, and Boston, Massachusetts. Visit her website at www.SuzanneBrockmann.com and find her on Facebook by searching for Suz Brockmann’s Troubleshooters World.
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