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A gust of wind blows against the house, causing it to creak. We all pause as the power of winter passes over us. Jasper cocks his head back and lets out a short howl, but not mournful, more like a celebration. Like he, too, knows that everything is going to be okay.
“Fi, I don’t know how to thank you,” Sadie goes on. “I thought this might be the end of us. I had a whole freaking speech prepared and everything.”
“Well, we’ve got to hear it now,” Fiona says teasingly. “I wouldn’t want you to have wasted all that effort.”
“Nah uh,” Sadie says, her smile causing my own lips to tic upward.
“No, I agree,” I say, leaning forward with a cocky smirk.
Sadie mock pouts at me, a sight that sends another surge of lust straight to the beast within. I have to keep him tamed, though, at least for this evening. My body is still sore from all the times I’ve had the absolutely fucking heavenly privilege of exploring the curvaceous landscape of her body these past couple of days.
“You two are pretty evil, you know that?” she says.
Fiona leans back, folding her arms in an exaggerated I’m-waiting gesture.
“Fine,” Sadie says, but her cheeks are glowing fire red and her smile is inexorable, a gorgeous sight that captivates me afresh each time I look at her. “I was just going to say that ever since Mom and Dad, I never felt like I belonged. Maybe even before that—no, not maybe. Definitely, before that, I’ve always felt like I was on the sidelines of life, watching things happen to other people and wondering why they weren’t happening to me.
“That changed a little the day we met, Fi. When I’m with you, I feel seen. But when I met Saul, when we sank into all this craziness, it really hit me. It hit me hard. It was like a freaking truck just barreled right into me. When I’m with you…”
She turns to me and I cough back a ball of emotion, almost striding across the room and taking her crimson cheeks in my hands.
“When I’m with you,” she goes on, clearing her throat of her own emotion, “I don’t just feel seen. I feel like I’m the only person in the world. I feel like I can do anything. I feel sexy and brave and intelligent and just—oh, just acknowledged. It’s like you see all the things I wished I was.”
“I see you for who you really are,” I growl passionately. “I see how amazing you are. And I’m glad, Sadie, because if somebody had seen it earlier maybe I wouldn’t be the lucky bastard who gets to call you mine.”
We hold our gazes, Sadie’s eyes beginning to sparkle with budding tears.
“Okay,” Fiona yells, giggling, as she leaps to her feet. “You’ve convinced me. You two are the biggest lovebirds in the history of lovebirds.”
She walks over to the table and picks up her cocoa, taking a long sip.
“Yep, thought so,” she says.
“What?” I laugh.
“Even this isn’t as sweet as what you two have got going on.”
“You really don’t mind, Fi?” Sadie murmurs. “You can be honest with us.”
“I am being honest with you, I swear,” she says. “I think it’s awesome, really.”
She carries Sadie’s hot cocoa to her and they sit together, side by side, my daughter and the woman of my dreams.
I feel like hammering my fists against my chest in a sign of animal victory, the sense of relief is so powerful.
“Alright, then, as long as you two aren’t going to tear chunks out of each other, I’ve got some business to handle,” I say, standing up.
“Work, now?” Fiona murmurs, glancing at the clock.
“Yeah, what’s going on?” Sadie asks, eyeing me perceptively.
“No goddamn way. Just because you two are best friends again—”
“We never stopped being best friends,” Fiona corrects.
“Okay, but it doesn’t mean you get to gang up on me. I’m just a defenseless old man.”
“Number one,” Sadie says, “you’re not even remotely old. You’re distinguished. You’re handsome. You’re a freaking silver fox. And number two, I think everybody here knows you’re anything but defenseless, Flame.”
“Flame?” Fiona leaps in. “Now what does that mean?”
“I’ll leave you to explain,” I grin, waving at Sadie as I stride from the room, Jasper walking at my heels.
“What business could you possibly have to handle at midnight?” Fiona calls after me.
It’s not midnight everywhere.
Jasper and I walk through the house, Jasper’s tail wagging when he senses the happiness flurrying through me, the happiness I didn’t dare let myself anticipate after the fight in the parking lot.
She knows.
And she’s happy for us.
“Life’s looking up, eh, boy?” I say, stroking him under the chin as his tail goes into overdrive.
I walk into my office and sit behind my desk, and I guess I shouldn’t be surprised when the big hulk climbs into my lap and attempts to curl up despite his size.
