Davis came.

Those two words kept pinging in my brain from the moment I saw him, though if I was being honest, it was even before I spotted him. I felt the air change, electrify and heat up, sure signs that Davis was nearby. But I ignored it and focused on inking my model since that’s why I came to Toronto. Only when the work was finished did I turn to face the crowd and my gaze slammed right into a familiar blue gaze that sent my heart racing faster than the INDY 500.

The convention had been a success as far as I was concerned, well the weekend anyway. I connected with some old friends in the industry, met a few new ones and even got a line on a few shops around the country that might have a spot for a talented artist not looking for anything permanent. But somewhere between the first day of the convention over drinks with some old friends and late last night, I decided to stick around Belle Musique for a while. To fight for Davis.

For us.

Somehow I managed to remain on my feet throughout the awards ceremony, mostly by forcing my gaze to stick on the audience at large, rather than the big sexy blond peering up at me like I was something terrific. Thankfully, it wasn’t an event that required us to smile or be gracious, because all of my effort was focused on not letting my knees buckle or start doing backflips that Davis had showed up.

That had to mean something, didn’t it?

I thought so, but as the third place winner, Jonny Ortega, was announced I began to have my thoughts. What if Davis had only showed up to support me like he said? Or to tell me that he loved me too but there was still some reason we couldn’t work. His eyes were full of love, big and blue and bursting with awe. It made me feel like the woman he saw and I liked it. A lot.

“The second place winner is, Magenta O’Malley!” I blinked because I thought I heard my name, but the words hadn’t register. “Mags, girl, get over here!”

It was the sound of Anya’s voice in the microphone that finally pulled me out of my deep thoughts. I blinked again to let my eyes focus on something other than the blinding lights and the sea of people and turned my focus to Anya. She waved me over and I walked to her, letting her pull me into her embrace.

“I think we’ve finally stunned Magenta, folks! You’d think she hadn’t one a few of these already,” she joked and the audience whistled and laughed along.

Anya was right, I shouldn’t have been surprised, but this time I was. There were some really great artists with creative new techniques on the stage with me, and I didn’t think I stood a chance. “Thanks, guys.”

Anya hugged me and whispered a sweet, “You kicked ass today, doll,” in my ear before handing me a check for thirty grand. “Don’t spend it all in one place.”

I gave her a strange look. “I don’t think I know those kinds of places.” I would put a few grand in the bank and invest the rest the way I did with most of my competition winnings.

“Well find them so you can make that big hunk who can’t take his eyes off you, buy you whatever your weird little heart wants.”

I laughed and took my spot back on stage while they crowned a newbie the winner. Trey X was a good artist, and he was only twenty years old. I knew our paths would cross again in the future, so I didn’t bother to wait with the hordes to offer congratulations. I had big strong firefighter waiting for me.

Making my way down off the stage, I took the long route to get my nerves and my thoughts under control. Davis was here, in Toronto. For me. To say it fell in line with my own recently updated plans would be an understatement, which is why I needed a few moments on my own.

“Hey.” His big body stopped my forward momentum until I nearly ran right into him, spanning my hands across his chest to avoid bouncing backwards.

“Hey. Let’s go to my room?” Davis stepped back and gestured that he would follow me, sending my heart into a rat-a-tat-tat beat that made it impossible to hear any of the sounds around me. Inside the elevator, Davis was behind me, too close with his hands on my hips. His touch was light but the heat imprint singed my flesh as the elevator climbed up. We were both silent, lost in thought and wondering how in the hell this day would end.

I walked in with Davis following close behind me, all I could feel was his heat and the charged atmosphere his presence always caused. He let out a low whistle. “Nice room. The conference sprang for this?”

I nodded. “They did. I’m a bit of a draw, I guess you could say.” And now we were reduced to small talk. I hated small talk. It was worse than cold, awkward silence. “So. You’re here.”

He grinned, and his shoulders relaxed now that he realized I wasn’t going to kick him out. Yet. “I am.”

“Why?”

He blinked and confusion settled on his beautiful face. “I told you I came here for you. So we could talk.” A long frustrated breath escaped out of him as both hands ran through his thick hair. “I’m here because I love you, and I’m not letting you get away.” His blue eyes held a challenge. A dare.

Run or stay.

The options stared me down like some big bully, daring me to go with the easy option, the one I inevitably chose when shit became too complicated. Too messy. “I guess that means you don’t want to divorce me?”

His lips curled up into a lopsided smile and he shook his head, one stray wave falling across his forehead. “No Magenta, I don’t want to divorce you. Not ever. Haven’t you been listening, I’m trying to keep you.”

“Keep me?” That sounded nice, hell it sounded a lot better than nice. It sounded near perfect to me.

“That’s right, tough girl. I love you and I plan to keep you.” He walked to me, one hand and then the other cupping my face, thumbs brushing gently against my skin like I was precious. Delicate.

God it felt so good to be held by Davis again, but my panties were already soaked and if I didn’t step back, we’d be naked and humping before anymore words were spoken.

“Davis.” His name came out tortured and anguished because stepping away from his touch was hard. “We have to talk.”

“Right.” Hiding a grimace, he adjusted that rock hard snake in his pants and took a step back, hands up in the air and a smile on his face. “This will sound like an excuse, but it was my Mom’s fault. She told me this story about the guy she’s dating and how she wasn’t sure she was ready to move on from my dad even though she had, so I did what Harris did to her.”

Was he drunk, or was I having a stroke? “Explain.”

“He walked away and told her to call him when she started to miss him. And she did miss him so I thought if I gave you the divorce you thought you wanted, you’d see that we would be miserable without each other. It was stupid and I’m sorry, Magenta.”

It took an extra minute to process what he just said, but when I did, I had to laugh. “That was the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. Seriously, Davis.”

“Clearly.” He wasn’t as amused.

“But you were also right.”

“I was?” That shocked look that crossed his face was priceless.

“Yeah, you were. I did miss you.” I sucked in a deep breath and let it out as I worked up the courage to say the words on the tip of my tongue. “I didn’t like waking up without your arms around me, or your morning wood poking me.” His deep laugh eased some of the tension in my chest. “But your timing really sucked. I wanted you to come here with me so we could have a few days together and I could tell you that I wanted us too.”

“Wanted?”

“I want you too, Davis and I want us. And I don’t want a divorce.” There, it was now, out there in the universe and Davis knew how I felt.

“Good because all the information on the paperwork was wrong, and I’m pretty sure we’d go to jail if you tried to file them.” His smile surprised a laugh out of me.

“Good to know. So you never planned to divorce me?”

“Not unless you really wanted it, but I needed you to make a choice.”

“You had it all figured out, didn’t you?” I walked around him and went to my bag, yanking clothes out of my suitcase like I was angry and searching for something.

“I was hopeful, that’s all.”

“So was I.” I found what I was looking for and turned slowly, heart in my stomach and a box in my hand. I stopped when my toes met his and grinned. “This is for you.” I held out the black velvet box and he took it, opening it so damn slow, I thought maybe I got knocked on the head, and this was all some slow motion fantasy.

“Shit, Mags.” I knew exactly what he meant. It was a black titanium steel band with one diamond in the center. “This is, incredible.” He slipped it on his finger and his gaze met mine, happy and hopeful.

“Then it’s official. You and I are married.”

“Officially,” he said, lips twitching with laughter.

“I love you, Davis.” I didn’t feel shy about saying it either because I loved him with my whole heart and I was determined to make it work.

“Good, because I love you too Magenta Sullivan-Crawford.”

I let out a shaky breath that turned into nervous laughter. “God that felt good to hear.”

“Yeah?”

“Hell yeah,” I grinned and brushed a kiss on the corner of his mouth.

“Then I’ll make sure to tell you I love you every day.” His smile was big and so bright I swear I had to shield my eyes from it. His blue eyes shimmered with love and amusement, something I hoped we never lost in our life together.

“Careful, Davis, a girl could get used to that.”

He faked an evil laugh. “It’s all part of my evil plan, Mags.”

“Evil plan?”

He nodded, blue eyes as dark as the deepest part of the ocean, and wrapped is arms around me, yanking me flush up against him. “To make you never want to leave.”

“Well I’ve got news for you Davis. I already never want to leave.” I grabbed his face and pulled him down until our lips smashed together and our mouths attacked each other, tongues tangled and teeth knocked together in our desire to come together. To be together and to get started on the rest of our lives together. “Now that we’ve got all that mushy stuff out the way, what do you say we get to the dirty stuff?”

His smile brightened, and my heart swelled ten times its normal size before his mouth came crashing down on mine, and we came together so hot and so fast we could have burned the whole hotel down.

It was a great start to a whole new life.