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She raced up the stairs once she was out of her parents’ line of sight. She tapped on the door right next to her bedroom. When her nanny opened, Jillian bounced on the balls of her feet. “Frieda, can I please have a bath with extra bubbles?”
The older woman smiled, cracking the lines etching her weathered face. “Of course, little princess. Run and get your pajamas and I’ll have so many bubbles waiting for you that you’ll need to swim through them.”
Jillian lost herself in the long minutes she spent playing in the garden tub, blowing bubbles into the air, and splashing the rapidly cooling water. Finally the chill caused her to shiver and she grabbed the fluffy white towel Frieda had left behind, stepping over the ceramic side and rubbing herself mostly dry before pulling on her underwear and thin pajamas.
As always Frieda was waiting in the chair beside Jillian’s bed with their latest book sitting in her lap. Jillian buried herself under the covers, holding the fluffy bunny Henry and Frieda had gifted her with at her last birthday—the only real toy she’d ever received. Her eyes drifted closed as Frieda described the misadventures of a very naughty rabbit and his siblings.
Chapter Three
Dean
Present Day
The soft snore from the seat beside him pulled Dean’s focus from the road to the woman slumbering next to him. A grin spread across his face, accompanied by a firm squeeze of his heart. How was it possible that he’d never been able to see that the girl who had been the one constant in his life was this beautiful?
And had somehow managed to make him fall in love when he absolutely wasn’t paying attention. A small detail he’d only just realized and plotted to confess. A million scenarios had played out in his mind, but he wanted it to be perfect, and perfect took a little time.
He turned down the well-worn path leading to the lake that sat on the border between his family’s property and hers. The place they met nearly twenty years ago. The place that was the spot of more than one soul-connecting conversation. Their sanctuary. Their secret place.
The corner of his mouth kicked up one notch higher as the large, flat rock that sat at the edge of the water came into view. Seven-year-old Jillian had dubbed it Fredrock and he’d never thought to question her once on why. Not then and sure as hell not now.
His fingertips itched to reach out and brush the lock of auburn hair back from her face. Once again, as it had so often over the past several weeks following the revelation that he was in love with his best friend, his stomach clenched as the one remaining logical brain cell reminded him of the risk he would be taking.
Aside from Connor, and maybe even a little more than his closest brother, Jillian was Dean’s confidante. His secret keeper. The one person who managed to still believe in him when he was trying to find his place in the world. And…in his family.
Dean threw the truck into park and propped an elbow on the doorframe, stroking the two days’ worth of growth along his jawline. Tanner was born with one foot in the boardroom and practically thrived with the weight of the world on his shoulders. Wyatt knew what he wanted to do with his life since he was in kindergarten and he’d worked and sacrificed to make it a reality, all without taking off the damn hat Dean planned to steal and burn one day. And Connor, next to the youngest of the four, but the voice of reason and the peacemaker since childhood, had taken his natural artistic flair and turned it into a brilliant career designing homes and offices.
Hell, even Jillian had known since grade school that she wanted to live a life that positively impacted others. She’d had a passion and a determination that Dean once thought he’d never needed and certainly would never find for himself.
It had taken far longer, and included far more failures, for Dean to finally recognize his purpose. The only regret he still held was that Jillian hadn’t been there when the final piece of the puzzle slid into place. She’d been his biggest cheerleader while delivering painful levels of honesty that still echoed in his mind. And the example she’d set for him had been a massive driving force to the career he’d forged with his cousin Mat and a healthy amount of trust from Wyatt.
A major part in his confession of love would be detailing exactly how she’d impacted the path his life eventually took. So as much as it killed him, he hid the details of his work and just let her believe he helped Wyatt on the ranch.
Yeah, this was going to take a long time to plan.
He couldn’t wait to take her to Wyatt’s ranch and show her what her influence and encouragement had created.
He turned his head and squinted over at her still sleeping form. All of that would happen right after he got a little clarification on that whole marriage thing.
His hand hung in midair just before landing on her shoulder to gently shake her awake. Never before had touching Jillian caused a second thought, but the feel of her in his arms at the airport, an act now laced with unspoken affection far deeper than they’d ever had, had Dean steeling himself against the tidal wave of emotion he now knew she could create.
Jillian stirred slightly, rotating her head, and blinking slowly several times before finally fully opening green eyes that added an extra beat to his heart rate. “Mmm, did I fall asleep?”
Her husky tone widened the smile on his face. Dean chuckled and shook his head. “Naw, Jillybean, you were just silently solving the climate issues and it required a lot of concentration.”
“How have I possibly managed to crisscross the globe without your uncanny insight guiding me, Sparky?” Her responding sleepy grin teased his rapidly fraying nerves.
If he could find a glimmer of light in the darkness and sometimes outright stupid actions of his brothers that resulted in Dean being roped into helping with their sometimes outlandish schemes to win back the relationships once in jeopardy, it was that he’d learned a thing or two. But having Jillian back in the flesh, doing all the things she’d always done, things he now saw through a very different filter, was testing his every resolve to at least attempt romance.
He might not be able to offer a candlelight evening at the base of a waterfall or rent out an art gallery and create a beautiful painting, but he sure as hell could wait until Jillian somewhat recovered from more than twenty-six hours of traveling before making such a lofty declaration. Or at the very least had a shower.
And possibly clarify what the hell the completely unemotional, unexpected airport proposal was all about.
He hopped out of the cab and rounded the front of the truck, pulling the passenger door open and offering Jillian a handout. She tightened her grip and practically drug him with her to the large rock that played a leading role throughout their friendship.
She didn’t release her grip until they sat side by side, Jillian on the left and Dean on the right, exactly as they had a million times before. A dazzling smile spread across her face and Dean wondered how he’d never found it irresistibly beautiful before.
And once again he mentally kicked his own ass for being so damn blind.
