I didn’t want to do that. My exhaustion had been swept away in the drama and lovemaking but now, especially after the drama, and most especially after the lovemaking, all I wanted to do was curl into his heat and go to sleep.

I couldn’t do that so I repeated, “Yeah, we better do that.”

He gave me a squeeze but didn’t let me go.

He looked deep into my eyes and said gently, “I should say I’m sorry I didn’t give you that after givin’ you a nice night out like you deserve. But I’m not sorry. Just in case shit twists for you, I wanna be sure it’s clear. I like that it went down in a way that I’ll never forget. I hope you’re over the shit that warped it for you because it’d mean a lot to me you feel the same.”

I closed my eyes, pressed closer, dipped my head, and pushed my face in his throat.

“I’m over that warped stuff,” I whispered there. “And I feel the same.”

“Good,” he murmured into the top of my hair. “Now, sucks, but we gotta move you.”

“Yes, it does suck.” I tipped my head back. “But then I’ll be moved. Travis and me will be safe and in a nice place. And that’ll be that.”

“Yeah,” he replied on a grin.

“So maybe you’ll kiss me so we can get on with that and get it over with,” I suggested.

“Yeah,” he repeated on a smile.

But he didn’t kiss me.

So I called, “Joker?”

“Carissa Teodoro in my arms in my bed askin’ me to kiss her,” he said quietly like he wasn’t talking to me and he couldn’t quite believe his words were true.

I felt my body grow still.

Then I forced the stillness out and rolled Carson “Joker” Steele to his back, with me on top, murmuring, “He won’t kiss me, I’ll kiss him.”

And I commenced in doing just that.

Lucky for me, Carson “Joker” Steele liked it.

So he kissed me back.

* * *

I stood in Tyra’s house—my house—dead on my feet but still taking it all in as Joker closed the door on the last to leave, Tabby and Shy.

I was in.

Not in in the sense that tomorrow I had to unpack all I could before starting back to work the next day at the same time getting laundry done and also getting to the grocery store as well as back to my old place to do a deep clean.

In as in everything was unpacked, my pictures were even hung on the walls, the boxes were taken away, and I didn’t have to go back to my old place except to take back my keys.