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I pull her into me, taking a chance, and she has no problem with snuggling into my side.
All the tension I had of losing her releases.
She’s mine, and I’ll hand her every damn secret, every thought in my head, every move I make if it means keeping her.
* * *
I made her hot wings.
Correction: I went down to the kitchen and asked the cook to make her hot wings.
They’re her favorite, and she deserves as many of her favorites I can give her for making me so goddamn happy.
I set the basket in front of her, and a thought hits me.
“So, are we made up?” I ask with an eager smile. “I gave you the truth, orgasms,andhot wings. There’s no way you can turn a man down after that.”
She swallows her bite and cleans her hand with a napkin before answering, “If we do this, it needs to be complete honesty going forward.” She grabs another wing, dips it in ranch, and takes a bite.
“Complete honesty,” I agree with a nod. “I owe you an apology. I should’ve never kept secrets from you, especially one of that magnitude. Hiding that from you and hanging out with Jessa behind your back was fucking stupid.” I blow out a breath. “I was scared to tell you, for fear of losing you. I needed the right plan. It needed to be at the right time, and whenever I tried to convince myself it was, I would chicken the fuck out.”
“You really were planning to drop the bomb on the dinner date?”
I nod. “I figured if I wined and dined you, you’d surely accept it. Plus, I’d give you orgasms.” I wink.
“Had you revealed you were hanging out with Jessa behind my back, I would’ve thrown that wine at you.” She wipes the sauce off her mouth. “You know I wasn’t upset about you having a daughter, right? It was the whole secrecy and Jessa part that hurt me.”
She’s not lying. Sierra has too much heart to do that. I only said that to cast the blame on someone else even though I was in the wrong.
“I want you there with me,” I say. “In Molly’s and my life.”
She grins. “She’s such a cute girl. When I babysat with Ellie, she was so sweet.”
I smile at her words. “She is. Jessa is worried about her starting school in a new town. We enrolled her in dance, so hopefully, she’ll meet some friends before the year starts.”
“Call someone who has a daughter her age.” She stops to think. “What about Dallas Barnes? His daughter is a total sweetheart and looks to be around Molly’s age. She’s always at events with her grandparents, given they’re so involved. Maybe we can schedule a playdate. I’ll ask my brother to see if we can set something up.”
“I don’t know why I waited to tell you for so long. You’re already perfect at helping me with this.”
* * *
A self-satisfied smileis on Sierra’s face as she kicks her feet against the floor. “I told you this flooring would be amazing.Plus,the maintenance is child’s play compared to hardwood.”
I was reluctant on switching over to tile. Tile can make a room appear cold. The pub isn’t cold. It’s a relaxing experience. Sierra, the determined woman she is, found tile that looks exactly like wood. I wasn’t even able to tell when she first showed me. No more constant worrying about spills causing damage.
I do a once-over of the bar. It looks so damn good. I’ve lost count of the number of times I tried calling her to tell her that when we weren’t talking. She did a kick-ass job—from the flooring to the paint scheme and the furniture. She had the brick walls behind the bar painted, changing from red to a subtle gray. That same color brick is wrapped around the outside of the bar, and she left the tops untouched to keep the authenticity. The new kitchen appliances were installed a few days ago as well as the kegs. The new taps are coming tomorrow, and I can’t fucking wait.
“And the paint matchesperfectly,” she sings out. “Wearemissing the furnitureyousaid you’d assemble.”
“I didn’t think it’d be that complicated. I opened the boxes and found five thousand pieces. How the hell do they think that’s cool?”
She settles her gaze on me, attempting to put off a serious look but it fails when a smile cracks along her lips. “I told you so.”
I wrap my arm around her shoulders. “Care to help a man assemble furniture?”
She dramatically groans. “I guess.”
I smack her ass. “I love you.”
