“How else am I going to convince you that the outdoors isn’t out to get you?” He grinned, but the expression fell away. “It might not be easy, peaches, but I’m willing to fight for you. Will you do the same for me?”
Like there was any other answer. “Yes.” She threw herself into his arms and kissed him with everything she had. Aubry pulled away enough to say, “I submitted my game.”
His eyes went wide. “What?”
“You’re right. I can’t spend my whole life hiding because I’m afraid of being hurt. Look at what you inspired me to do. I went to Deathcon. I got into one of those flying death traps without being tranquilized. I submitted my game.” She gave a tentative smile. “I couldn’t have done it without you. You make me want to be, if not a better person, at least one who’s slightly more higher functioning in the greater society.”
“I didn’t do that, peaches. You did.” He settled her against him. “I’m proud of you.”
“We’re an unstoppable partnership, that’s for damn sure.”
“You’re amazing.” He framed her face with his hands, his thumbs feathering over her cheekbones. “I have to say, that I’m pretty much in love with your contrary ass, Aubry Kaiser.”
Her entire heart lit up like the Fourth of July. “That’s good, because I’m head over heels for you.” She kissed him again. “I can’t believe you did all this for me.”
He rearranged her beneath his arm. “You have to admit, it’s pretty damn gorgeous out here.”
“I do, though I fully expect you to save my ass if mutant crocodiles show up.”
“Crocodiles, zombies, serial killers, and mutants of every variety.”
“If that’s not a declaration of love I can get behind, I don’t know what is.”
Epilogue
Aubry couldn’t calm down, and she sure as hell couldn’t sit still. She felt like Jules must on a daily basis—too much energy for anyone’s health. She shot a nervous glance at the television that she’d jury-rigged to her computer. I can’t believe I’m doing this.
“Peaches?”
If anything, her tension ramped up a notch at the sound of Quinn’s voice, even as the rest of her went all melty. She even managed a smile as his big frame filled the doorway. “Hey.”
Quinn’s gaze slid over her in a move she could almost feel. “You look half a second from losing it. What’s going on?” He shifted, sliding one hand behind his back, and she zeroed in on him.
“What’s that?”
“Oh, no. You’re the one who’s been acting sneaky and underhanded for the last few days—you go first.” He stepped fully into the apartment and looked around. “I forgot how tiny everything is in here. It’s like stepping into a dollhouse.”
They hadn’t spent much time here in the last few months. It turned out that Quinn had a great setup for gaming and, beyond that, playing Deathmatch with him was even more fun than playing with the faceless people on the Internet. In turn, he’d drawn her out of her shell a little bit further with each month they were together.
She lifted her chin. “That’s just because everything in your house has to be fit for a giant or it will collapse under your immense weight.”
He laughed. “You like that I’m immense.”
Yeah, she really, really did. Aubry took a step back and motioned to the couch. It looked shabby compared to his most excellent leather one, but they weren’t going to be here for long. “Sit.”
“Is this the part where you strap that contraption from Clockwork Orange to my eyelids and try to convince me—again—to see that damn movie?”
“Power Rangers is going to be sublime, and I’ll thank you kindly to stop referring to it as ‘that damn movie.’” But she couldn’t help the smile that slipped through.
Quinn sat where she motioned to and took the Xbox controller she handed him. “How about a deal? I’ll go see that movie—without bitching and moaning about it—if you come riding with me.”
“Riding.” She narrowed her eyes. “You wouldn’t be trying to convince me to get on the back of one of those hellbeasts would you? Because those damn animals are out to get me.”
“Peaches, they’re horses, not hellbeasts.”
“I disagree. The Headless Horseman rides one—and so does the Wild Hunt. I could go on.” When he just watched her, an amused smile on his face, she sighed. “I’ll consider it.”
“Good enough.” He turned to look at the TV. “So, if you didn’t lure me here for nefarious purposes, why are we here?”
As if on cue, her nerves kicked up a notch, her stomach twisting. She took a breath, counting slowly in her head. The panic didn’t completely dissipate, but her voice sounded mostly normal when she spoke. “I have something to show you.”
It took far too little time to get things up and running, the screen clearing to display an armored knight with a sword almost as big as he was. She bit her lip. “You’ve gamed enough in the last few months to muddle through the controls.”
Quinn sent his character forward, moving around the room. She surveyed it with a critical eye. It could use another layer of detail. She knew she should have waited. “It’s not finished—”
“This is your game, peaches?” He leaned forward, studying the screen as his character swung the sword, chopping the table into splinters. “This is fucking fantastic. Where’s something for me to kill?”
“I love you.”
“I love you, too.” He motioned to the screen. “Now, I know for a fact you wouldn’t have put a demo in my hands if there wasn’t something to murder. Point me in the right direction.”
She gave him curt instructions, watching as he hacked his way through a group of zombies. “Your gaming skills have gotten impressive.”
“I have this really hot girlfriend who’s into that sort of thing.” He grinned without taking his eyes off the screen. “The detail in the blood spatter is impressive. I expect nothing less. Where to next?”
This was the moment of truth. She tried to keep her tone cool and confident. “Go check out that shack in the woods?”
“You really know how to show a guy a good time. What are the odds of encountering more zombies?”
Not great. “Why don’t you go over there and find out for yourself?”
His character opened the door and Quinn went still. She tried to see it from his point of view. Was the text not clear? God, she’d fucked this up, hadn’t she? “This was a dumb idea.” She reached over his shoulder to grab the controller, but he caught her wrist, his gaze never leaving the screen.
“Am I reading this right, peaches? Because that sure as fuck looks like a marriage proposal from where I’m sitting.”
Considering there was a banner strung across the inside of the cabin reading WILL YOU MARRY ME? she didn’t see how it could be anything else. Aubry didn’t know how proposals were supposed to go, but she was pretty damn sure he was supposed to be doing…something…other than sitting there like a Quinn-shaped statue.
Her throat tried to close and she made a grab for the controller with her other hand. “Let’s pretend this never happened.”
He exhaled a long breath. “We’re going to laugh about this one day.”
She felt more like throwing herself in front of a runaway train. Aubry yanked against his hold, but he didn’t release her. “I think I’m just going to die of humiliation instead.”
“Come here.” He towed her around the couch to sit next to him. “Funny story.”
“This doesn’t feel funny.”
He shot her a look. “I had a plan—I might even go as far to say I had a brilliant plan.”
What the hell was he talking about? “Quinn—”