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“Then what were you doing?” she demanded, wanting to know what kind of bullshit reason he could come up with for the way that he was acting. He said that he hadn’t been pulling away from her, but-
“I was planning your abduction,” he said, blinking innocently down at her.
She opened her mouth, but couldn’t quite find the words to respond to that declaration.
“I had to make a few phone calls and call in some favors to get the ban temporarily lifted from Vegas just long enough for me to drag you off and marry you before you got a chance to run away,” he explained calmly as she continued to lay there, staring dumbly up at him.
“I’m sorry, what?” she finally managed to get out.
“We’re getting married,” he said, shrugging like what he’d just said was no big deal.
“I told you that I didn’t want to get married,” she reminded him.
Another shrug. “I chose to ignore that.”
“Okay…….,” she said, because really, what else was she supposed to say to that?
“As soon as they release me, we’re going to get married,” he announced and yeah, now she was wondering if they’d missed a head injury when they’d examined him.
“And why exactly are you so determined to marry me all of a sudden?”
“Because I love you,” he said with another shrug as he nodded towards the cup of water. “Can I have another drink?”
“D-did you just tell me that you love me?” she asked, staring at him and unable to help herself, because now she was pretty sure that he was suffering from a brain injury. It was either that, or the drugs in his system making him say this.
“Yes,” he said, closing his eyes. “Figured it out the day at the reptile zoo. It pissed me off that you didn’t love me back, but I figured in ten years or so with enough mind blowing sex, you’ll end up falling head over heels in love with me so it’s okay.”
She chuckled, she couldn’t help it. “You’re planning on using sex to make me fall in love with you?”
“Mmmhmmm,” he mumbled sleepily. “I’m willing to make that sacrifice.”
“Wow, you’re a giver,” she said, smiling down at the man that she loved.
“That I am,” he said, smiling that sexy grin that drove her crazy. “And you’re marrying me. Soon,” he said, firmly even as he started to nod off.
“I am,” she said, nodding her head solemnly in agreement, sniffling as tears started to roll down her face, “because I love you.”
He stilled for a minute, that sexy grin of his turning into a frown. “What about all the mind blowing sex?”
Smiling, she leaned down and kissed him. “I’m still willing to have all the mind blowing sex.”
“That’s very big of you,” he said, grinning against her lips.
“It really is.”
*-*-*-*
“She finally fell asleep, huh?” his father asked softly as he glanced down at Tinkerbelle, who was snuggled up by his side.
“Yes,” he said, smiling down at the woman who loved him.
Not that he was surprised, he was a fucking catch after all.
“Looks like we finally found the right combination of pills,” his father said, picking up a blanket off the other bed and carefully placed it over them both.
Frowning, he looked down at the woman softly snoring in his arms. “You drugged her?”
“Put it in her apple juice,” his father said with a shrug. “She was in pain and refused to take anything for it so I drugged her.”
“I see,” he mumbled and just like that, the silence became awkward.
That is until his father decided to pick up where they’d left off.
“I’d raised you to face your mistakes, Danny.”
“Don’t start this shit again,” he said, grinding his jaw as he looked up to face his father.
“You ran off, Danny,” his father said, rubbing the back of his neck as he shook his head, looking a little lost. “You just ran.”
“You didn’t give me much of a choice,” he said evenly.
His father met his gaze as he said, “No, I didn’t. I kept pushing you when I should have just accepted the fact that you weren’t perfect, Danny.”
“I never said that I was.”
“No,” his father said softly, “you didn’t, but in my eyes you were. You were a smart kid, a great brother, a wonderful son, a cocky little bastard, but to me you were perfect. When you proved me wrong, I lost it. I’ve never been so scared in my life as I was that morning, Danny. I thought I was going to lose you and when you pulled through and I thought about how easily I could have lost you over something so stupid,” he paused, shaking his head, “I just lost it.”
“Things worked out,” he said, surprised by just how much it hurt him to hear his father admit that he’d fucked up. For years he’d imagined this moment, imagined his father taking the blame, but right now, for the first time since he’d come out of that coma, he wished that his father would stop talking.
His father nodded. “For the most part, they did. The Marines did for you what I never could, but at a cost.”
“Why did you stop talking to me?” he forced himself to ask.
“Because I didn’t know what to say to you without pushing you away again, Danny. I just…..,” he shook his head, looking away, “I just didn’t know what to say that would make what I did to you okay.”
“You didn’t do anything to me,” he said, sighing, because his father wasn’t to blame for how his life had turned out. “You were right. I was cocky and when I fucked up I acted like a spoiled brat and ran off, thinking that I was taking the easy way out with the Marines. They taught me a great deal and helped me grow up.”
“I still pushed you away,” his father said, looking tormented. “I never should have done that. I never should have done that…”
“Yes, you did, but so did I. We both fucked this up.”
His father raised his hand and laid it over his where it rested on Jodi’s hip. “I won’t make that mistake again,” his father promised, giving his hand a squeeze.
He opened his mouth to promise his father the same when the small woman in his arms cut him off.
“If you girls are done talking, I could really use a double chocolate donut.”
He looked up at his father just in time to catch the panicked expression on his face. “Oh, shit…….,” his father mumbled, swallowing nervously as he released his hand and stumbled back away from the bed as Danny sighed, resigning himself to the next twelve hours of hell with the woman that he loved.
