The applause was raucous—loud and obnoxious and perfect—as I kissed her deeply, tightening my hold on her body. I was never letting her go again.
We broke apart, and Remi smiled.
In the space of a heartbeat, my entire world shrank down, with that smile dead center.
“We did this all wrong, didn’t we?”
She laughed. “I don’t know. It feels pretty right to me.”
Ignoring the eyes on us, I leaned closer and let my lips brush hers. “Are you gonna get fired if I tell you I love you right now?”
“Probably not, since I told Muriel about an hour ago that I was in love with you too.”
My head reared back. “You did? You do?”
Her gaze was filled with adoration. “You gonna believe me when I tell you?”
I kissed her again, my chest filling with something warm and soft and perfect. Love, probably. Whatever it was, it was hers.
“Yeah, firefly, I think I will.”
The judge allowed Remi to take Williams’s seat—an upgrade in just about every way that mattered for me—and with her by my side, I read my actual statement for the court. Remi cried. So did Williams. And I held her hand when the judge gave me a fond smile and told me she never wanted to see me again outside of her TV on Sundays.
The entire group filtered out of the courtroom, and the amount of hugs and backslaps and congratulations I received made my head spin, all of it with Remi’s fingers wound through mine.
We took the elevator downstairs, and I dropped a kiss on Remi’s head, then leaned down to whisper in her ear. “There’s journalists outside,” I told her. “Just a heads-up.”
She wound her arm around my waist and hummed in acknowledgment. The thought of letting her go, even for a moment, sounded like fucking torture, but this was the kind of patience I was ready for.
My teammates left the courthouse first, and before we walked out behind them, I took a deep breath and dropped her hand, even though we were still walking side by side.
I hated it. Ihatedit.
Hated pretending like she wasn’t my entire fucking world.
Eventually, I’d be able to. Small steps. Building to the thing we wanted. And for her, I could handle the waiting.
As we left the building and moved into the harsh sunlight, I pulled out my sunglasses and slid them on my face. Remi paused, glancing up at me.
“What are you doing?” she asked with a tilt of her head.
The click of camera shutters came closer, and I ignored them.
Archer, how did court go?
Archer, tell me who’s with you?
Archer, give us a picture!
I kept my eyes on her. “I’m ... going to my truck. You’re coming over, right?”
Remi smiled again, then stepped forward, sliding her hands up my chest. “Not just yet.”
Then she tugged my face down for a deep kiss, and I wound my arms around her waist, clutching her as close as I could. Could she feel the hammering of my heart? There was no way she couldn’t.
I was breathless when she pulled back. Lightheaded from the kiss. From the statement it made.
From her.