Linda stands from her desk as we emerge from my office. We exchange brief farewell formalities and she walks them back up to the lobby for me. Now that the only meeting I had scheduled for the day is over, I have another appointment outside of the office. It’s more important than this meeting I just had, will take much longer, but the results will be worth it. Looking at my watch, I see I have just enough time to check my emails before I have to leave, and also put in a call to Dennis. I want to know if he knows what JT is up to. He might still be watching him for all I know, and I don’t have time to figure out what my partner is up to this week. I would just like some assurances that he’s not going off the deep end before we can attempt to get him out of The Sugar Bowl.

—

It’s later than I had hoped when I get to the condo. I’d sent Sela a text to go ahead and eat without me since my appointment ran over, but it couldn’t be helped.

After closing the door behind me and setting my keys on the foyer table, I call out, “Sela?”

“Back here,” I hear from our bedroom.

Smiling, I make my way to her, eager to reveal the results of my appointment today. When I step into our bedroom, I’m momentarily stunned when I see a blond woman standing there, facing me with a tentative smile on her face. For a second, I think Sela must have a friend visiting, but then I instantly recognize those blue eyes. I immediately recognize that body that belongs to me.

All at once, my soul recognizes its mate.

“Surprise,” she says softly with a flick of her hands to her hair.

It’s still long and styled in loose waves, but it’s now golden blond with subtle lighter streaks mixed in. It’s so different, and yet…it’s absolutely Sela.

It’s Sela in all of her natural beauty, and I’m dazzled.

I walk to her slowly, my eyes roving over her hair that she obviously had lightened today. After I found out about JT, Sela had told me that she colored her hair dark hoping JT wouldn’t recognize her. Back then, I couldn’t imagine her as a blonde, since I’d only known her as a brunette, but now that I see it…it’s the way she’s supposed to be.

“It’s not my exact natural shade of blond,” she says softly, her eyes looking at me with undisguised need for approval. “But it’s close enough.”

I reach out, take a lock resting over her shoulders, and lift it for closer inspection. Then I slide my eyes to her and say, “I love it. You’re stunning.”

“I wanted to get back to being me, you know?”

“And now you are,” I assure her as my arms wrap around her waist to pull her in close.

“Do you like it?”

“I love it, Sela. But your hair could be bright orange and lime green, and I’d love that too on you.”

She laughs, pushing her face into my neck, where she kisses me lightly. I tighten my hold on her, enjoying the security and warmth of nothing more simple than a hug from her right now.

“I have something to show you too,” I tell her.

Sela relaxes her grip on me and tilts her head back to look at me questioningly. I release her and take a step back, my hands going down to the hem of my sweater. I grab it along with the T-shirt I’d been wearing underneath and pull them both up and over my head.

“If this is some ploy to get me in your bed, Mr. North,” she says playfully and with just enough heat in her eyes that I know she likes what she sees, “then all you had to do was ask.”

“I intend to have you in that bed,” I tell her ominously as I drop my clothes to the floor. “But I need to show you something first.”

She tilts her head curiously as I turn away from her, showing her my back. I hear a tiny gasp from her as she whispers, “Oh.”

“I’ll need you to peel off the bandage,” I tell her, eager to show her the new tattoo on the back of my right shoulder.

There’s no hesitation as her fingers gently tug at the adhesive tape around the edges. “You got the phoenix covered?” she whispers.

“Well, I started the process of getting it covered, but it will take a few sessions. Didn’t want you to see it anymore. Couldn’t stand the thought of it being on my body. Not after knowing what it means to you.”

I can feel the bandage pull free. She doesn’t touch the new artwork, but she must be peering at it closely, because I can feel her breath against my skin. She’s silent for a moment as she studies it, and I can’t imagine what’s going through her mind as she looks at the massive green and black dragon that will eventually obliterate the phoenix. There was no particular significance of that mythical animal other than I thought it looked fierce and protective, which seems to be my underlying motive these days for all my actions. And while it’s going to take a few sessions to complete the detail work on the tattoo, it’s blurring the phoenix nicely for the time being.

I wait for her to peruse it, because the detail of what has been done is amazing, and I can tell when she finally sees her name by her sharp intake of breath.

The tattoo artist worked mostly on the top of the dragon for this session, while outlining in the rest. Its neck is curved, the head rearing back and mouth open with a stream of red, yellow, and orange fire shooting forth. Within the flames, the artist wrote Sela’s name in delicate black script.

She doesn’t say anything, so I turn to face her. Her beautiful blue eyes are shimmering with tears and she hastily blinks them clear.

“You like?” I ask with a light smile, wanting to remove the heaviness surrounding us.

“I love it,” she says softly. “But you didn’t have to do that. That phoenix on your shoulder meant nothing to me.”

“Maybe not,” I tell her. “But it meant something to me. Something bad, and I wanted it gone.”

Sela’s lips curve upward and she presses in closer to me, face still tilted so our eyes don’t lose connection. “Don’t you find it interesting that both of us went out today in secret and made major changes in our appearance? And we did it in secret because we wanted it to be a surprise to the other person?”

“It just means great minds think alike,” I say with a laugh, my hands going to the bottom of her sweatshirt to pull it up and over her head. Once it clears, I tell her, “Now let’s get naked. I want to do dirty things to you.”

“Maybe I want to do dirty things to you,” she counters with a wink, her fingers working at the button and zipper to her jeans, even as she kicks her shoes off.