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“I love you, too.” All I’d told him was fling, fling, fling. I needed him to know how I really felt.
He kissed me again. And again. When we stopped, I was on my back on the couch and he loomed over me.
“Your ring? Mallory helped me pick it out in Denver that day,” he said.
I blinked up at him. “What?”
“I told my brothers I was going to marry you. Ask them. Ask Mallory.”
“I… I believe you.” I did, especially looking back at everything he did. He’d asked me out, been sexy and silly, protected me and stood by me with the tree mess. Helped me, made my problems his. The list went on and on. He hadn’t been on vacation in Montana. He’d been there for me.
“I wanted you before the OutdoorNow deal. Before the photos of us at the rink spread. Or the wedding one I posted. I was so fucking proud that you were mine that I wanted to share you and show you off. That I got to put up the truth for once before anyone else had the chance to fuck it all up. You’re not a publicity stunt or a way to close a deal.”
“You carried the ring around?”
“Just in case.”
Just in case. God, he was more romantic than me.
Tears slid down my temples. “I know. Not about the ring. Mallory didn’t say a word, which is ridiculous because sometimes you can’t get her to shut up.”
He grinned.
“She was on Team Dex all along,” he told me.
“Team Dex?”
He nodded. “Instead of the dentist.”
I had to laugh. “I sat there and listened to him talk about gum bacteria and all I could think of was our first kiss.”
“Even if you move in with me, I still have to travel,” I warned. “I’ll be gone. A lot. That hasn’t changed.”
I nodded. “I know. But I hear you have lots of money. I figure you can buy me a plane ticket to join you sometimes. Besides, you might not be old now, but you’ll get there.”
“And work? You just quit?”
I called Claudia and told her. She laughed and said she expected it, especially after she saw the wedding photo online. And, she said if I didn’t quit, she’d have fired me. “I can’t put my dream on the side any longer. I’ll sell the house and–”
“No,” he said firmly.
“No?”
“No, you’re not selling that house. That’s where we’re going to settle. Off season. Holidays. After I retire. I want our kids to grow up there just like you and Bridget did.”
I couldn’t help but blink. “Really? Kids? Isn’t that moving really fast?”
“We’re already married, sugar. We do this together. Your dream and mine.”
I swallowed hard and couldn’t help but smile.
“Fuck, you’re beautiful.” His hand slid through my hair. I should have added reverent to the toaster list.
“How does your story end?” he wondered.
“They tell each other how in love they are.”
“Done.”
