Balance

Nando added. “Instead I got a very cute young lady. I’m happy to say she complimented me on a very well-equipped and neatly run shop.” A teasing smile spread over Cooper’s face. “Maybe you would have preferred her that first time as well?”
    “Not exactly,” Nando answered, moving closer to Cooper.
    “She was nice. A lot nicer than you were, Mr. Inspector, but I’m still glad I got you. I just expected you to do the repeat as well.”
    “I can’t,” Cooper replied, avoiding Nando’s gaze. “It would be a conflict of interest.”
    “Oh?”

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    “Move in with me,” Cooper asked abruptly, still looking at an imaginary speck of dust on the floor of the shop instead of at Nando.
    “Coop.” Nando sighed. In the beginning of their relationship they’d discussed not rushing into things, and Nando had to admit that Cooper hadn’t mentioned it again after that, but now something had sparked him to ask again, and Nando didn’t know if he was ready after only six weeks.
    Admittedly they hadn’t spent a single night apart in the last month, and just the thought of being separated from Cooper made Nando break out in a sweat, so maybe he was ready to move their relationship to the next level.
    “We’re always at my place anyway, and it has plenty of space so we won’t crowd each other. With all your money going into the shop, it doesn’t make sense to keep paying rent on an apartment you never use.” Nando didn’t answer Cooper right away. He needed time to think about it, something he knew Cooper understood.
    Nando had to admit Cooper made a good case, though.
    “It’s not that I don’t want to, Coop,” Nando finally said.
    “I know this is a big step, Nando, but so is chucking the condoms, and we’ve already had the tests done, so that’s a matter of a few days, right?”
    Nando nodded. “Okay.”
    “You take the bus to work every morning, and that works well, right? And we pay for groceries together anyway, and… you just said yes?”
    Nando nodded again, trying not to chuckle too much.

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    Cooper grabbed Nando and lifted him up in the air, turning him around as he buried his face in Nando’s shoulder.
    “Put me down, you big lug.”
    “Why the change of heart?” Cooper asked.
    “It makes sense, although you know I’m scared shitless.”
    Cooper got down on one knee and took Nando’s hand.
    Nando’s eyes grew to the size of saucers, and he felt exposed all of a sudden, wondering if half the boulevard was staring through the windows of his shop at what Cooper was doing.
    At the same time, he was feeling butterflies in his stomach.
    “Fernando Arenas, will you be mine?” This time Nando couldn’t keep from chuckling.
    “Seriously?” Nando asked. “I’m yours already, you fool. I was yours that morning you inspected my shop and tried so hard not to look at me.”
    “I was that transparent?”
    “Not really,” Nando admitted. “You were very persuasive the following weeks, though.”
    “I know a good thing when I see it. We make a good pair.
    We balance each other out.”
    Nando nodded and kissed his Prince Charming. “That we do.”

    ZAHRA OWENS was born in Europe just before Woodstock and the moon landing and was given a much less pronounceable name by her non-English-speaking parents.
    Being an Aquarian meant she would never quite conform, and people learned to expect the unexpected.
    She started writing fairy tales in first grade; the same year she came into contact with her first group of English-speaking friends, a group which would eventually grow to include people from all over the world. On the outside she was a typical only child, accustomed to being with adults most of the time. On the inside, she sought ways to channel her wild imagination.
    During the daytime she earns a living as a computer specialist, but it’s her former career as an intensive care nurse that tends to seep into her fiction. Maybe this has to do with her weak spot for flawed characters and imperfect bodies, or maybe it’s just her sadistic streak coming through. You be the judge.
    Visit her web site at http://www.zahraowens.com/ and blog at http://zahra-owens.livejournal.com/.

    Also by ZAHRA OWENS

    http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com

    Also by ZAHRA OWENS

    http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com

    Balance ©Copyright Zahra Owens, 2010

    Published by
    Dreamspinner Press
    4760 Preston Road
    Suite 244-149
    Frisco, TX