“You’re right, Darlin’. I wouldn’t, but Dustin would. He knows what he’s doing, and will fight to protect the legacy at any and all costs…”And I understood that all too well.
Once initiated into the secret society, we had no clear-cut rules, except to honor the brotherhood that bound us and to complete our assigned tasks when issued. Which is why I had to leave Dakota behind that morning, and it killed me to leave nothing more than a stupid fucking note for her to find.
The night I returned from my job, before she’d sent me that text, I spent hours with my face buried in her pillow; her scent was nothing more than a whisper on my sheets.
I knew she’d be upset, but I didn’t realize that I’d made her feel something for me that weekend. That I’d managed to make her fall for me, and the realization in her words cut like a thousand knives.
That she fell and thought I wasn’t already at the bottom waiting to catch her—
“I can’t keep secrets from Tiff. I’ve done it before, and it almost destroyed our relationship. There has to be another—”
“There isn’t, never hasbeen.”
“What if she married someone? Another member? All the Cowboys at Kerosene are members, right?” Dakota tried to find a loophole in hopes it would help her situation.
“It’s not that—”
“It is.Veryfucking simple.” She protested.
“Dakota…” Dragging a palm down my face with a long sigh, I attempted to work through this issue, rationalizing it from her point of view.
Marriage was irrevocable, not some stepping stone into the MUR that you could leave once accepted.
“Make it happen, and I’m yours.” The desperation in her tone set me on edge, my hands curling into firm fists as I lost my temper at the thought of her using herself, yet again, as a bargaining chip for her sister’s safety.
“I’m not like that piece of shit we just put six feet under. I’m not doing this to use or own you like some trophy wife or piece of fucking furniture.”
“I know!” She met my energy, raising her voice as she shot up from her seat, palms pressed firmly onto the table, eyes full of fire. “I know, Rhy… I fucking know…” Her voice cracked, gaze lowering from mine as she uttered the words, feeling each one as it passed her soft lips.
I reached up, gripping her chin and tilting her head back to look at me, finding swollen eyes glistening with unshed tears, ones that I’d caused, and it fucking pained me to see that.
“I’ll see what I can do, who I can persuade… but in the meantime, I need to know that you can follow through with your test once it’s been assigned; that you’ll move in with me…” I didn’t want to live without her anymore. I wanted to wake up to every sunrise with my wife, safe and sound, wrapped in my arms. I wanted the future I’d been endlessly dreaming of.
“What about Tiff?”
“She’ll be fine; it’s not like you’ll never see her. It’s just a new living arrangement. Nothing else needs to change.” She could still run her studio, see her sister, go out, have fun… Her life was still hers to control, with the added benefit of me.
“But what if—”
“If it makes the decision easier, I can move in here instead, then nothing changes at all.”
“But the ranch—”
“Means nothing to me without you there to share it. I don’t need luxury. I need my wife. I needyou, Wildcat.”
Dakota seemed taken aback by my second offer. As if that was the wildest thing she’d heard all evening, like she didn’t just watch me crack open the skull of a man who threatened the one thing that mattered most—my entire fucking world.
“You make it so hard to hate you…” I could hear the smile in her voice, even through the outward sarcasm.
“Because I never wanted you to hate me, Dakota. I wanted you tofall in lovewith me.” And that was the god-honest truth. It was all I’d ever wished for, and I knew she had after sending that text. She wouldn’t have cared if she didn’t love me.
“Then I suppose we’re both getting everything we’ve ever desired.” Her words were so sincere that they almost broke me. Icupped Dakota’s cheeks, bringing her face to mine with a long fucking sigh of relief that lifted me like a cloud.
“I’ll do whatever it takes to make you happy. I’m forever yours, darlin’.”
I may call her mine, but I was hers first and always will be, even if she never knew it until now.
Chapter 25
