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Kettle chuckled low under his breath.
“Do you think I would’ve left you with her over the last couple of weeks had I not trusted you?” he asked. “I knew that the pool house was just a temporary thing. I could see how y’all looked at each other. I’m not blind.”
No, he wasn’t.
“I didn’t see it yet,” I admitted. “I just knew that I wanted—no, needed—her to stay.”
“You have it,” he suddenly said. “But I swear to God, kid.” His eyes lifted up to meet mine, sparkling black in the near darkness. “If you hurt her? There’s not a single place on this Earth that you can hide,” he promised. “I’ll find you, and I’ll shred the meat from your bones with my bare hands.”
I had no doubt in my mind that he would.
Maybe not all the way, but he’d find a way to fuck me up if I ever hurt his kid.
I could read the promise in his eyes.
He wasn’t kidding.
And I respected him for that, because I loved his daughter, and I loved that she had someone like that in her court.
“I won’t hurt her,” I promised.
He snorted. “You will. We always do. But just don’t make that hurt big enough that she ever comes crying to me about it. Because I can and will act on it.”
My lips tipped up at one corner in a smirk.
“Thank you,” I said, standing up and offering the man my hand.
Kettle took it, squeezing harder than necessary, before letting me go.
“And you may be sleeping in her room with her,” he said. “But if I hear any goddamn thing at all, I’ll shoot your dick off. No exaggeration.”
I left him laughing on the front porch and knew that he wasn’t kidding.
Thoughts of my dick being shot off aside, I liked Kettle.
I liked it even more that he was a fairly good man to have at my back.
Pushing through the door to Saylor’s room, I found her sitting cross-legged on the bed, staring at me.
I glanced at the open blinds that were allowing moonlight to pour in, then back at her.
“Can I see it now?” she asked into the darkness.
I blinked.
“See what?” I asked, hoping that she wasn’t asking about what I thought she was asking about.
“Don’t play dumb, Lachlan Downy, Junior,” she ordered. “I’m talking about that ring in your shorts that is so close to your cock head that I can’t decide which one I want to look at.”
I closed my eyes and shook my head, then took the ring out of my pocket.
Before I could even take it out of the bag, she’d snatched it out of my hand and was dumping it out onto the bed.
She gasped when the light caught the diamonds and made them twinkle.
She put the ring onto her finger, then moaned.
Pointing to the ground beside the bed, she said, “Okay, now ask me.”
I laughed.
“You’re already wearing it,” I pointed out. “Why would I ask you? It’s obvious what you would say.”
She narrowed her eyes at me.
“Ask. Me.”
I pulled her up until she was kneeling on the bed, then put one knee into the bed beside her.
“The ground is hard,” I pointed out. “And I’m sorry, but if I get down there right now, I won’t get back up. The mileage we did earlier wrecked me.”
She snickered.
“That’s funny,” she said. “Kneel on the bed then.”
I did as she asked.
“Now what?” I teased.
She smacked me on the leg, and I couldn’t suppress a moan.
“Owww,” I whined. “I told you those hurt.”
She narrowed her eyes.
“This is my proposal, Lock.” She growled so cutely that I couldn’t stop myself from pressing a kiss to her nose. “Now, do it.”
So, I did it.
I gave her both barrels.
“I’m not good with words,” I said, trailing my fingers down her chin. “I never have been. I’m not the most well-versed of men…so I can only put this simply,” I told her. “I love you. Have loved you for a while.” I tipped her chin up and pressed a kiss to her lips. “Expressing emotion has never really been something that came easy to me…not until there was you. Now, every single day that I wake up next to you, I want to tell you that you changed my life. That you made me want to live it instead of just experience it. Every single day, I wake up and I smile.”
Her smile was shaky.
“I promise to make you smile every single day right back,” I told her. “I promise that I’ll never stop trying. I’ll always love you. And that if you ever try to leave me, I’m going to lose my shit.”
She burst out laughing, then threw her arms around my shoulders and started peppering my face with kisses.
When she would’ve escalated them into something else, I wrapped my hand around her hair and pulled.
