Ever since Mia had told her staff that she was pregnant, there was a new buzz of curiosity at their Friday morning meetings, as if they couldn’t wait to see what other bombshells she dropped. So everyone was avidly listening when Mia told her techs she was officially looking for another veterinarian. “Let me know if you’re friends with anyone who wants to switch practices,” she encouraged them. “I’m not trying to poach, but I definitely want someone in place before my third trimester. There are a lot of changes coming, and I thank you all in advance for your patience. One change is, starting today, we close an hour earlier on Fridays.”
A cheer went up, but it was bittersweet in Mia’s ears. She knew she had to cut back her hours, but it felt like backwards progress.
She palmed her stomach. You’re worth it, kiddo.
“On to new business,” she said, trying to sound enthusiastic. “I appreciate everyone who’s already chipped in to help us get ready for the Heritage Festival, but we still have room for anyone who wants to volunteer for a shift at the booth. And if any of our clients ask about submitting a picture for the Pet Wall of Fame, please direct them to Amanda, who is putting the display together.”
Once the meeting ended, she retreated to her office to put her feet up for a few minutes before her first appointment. Having taken Dr. Bakshi’s warnings to heart, she closed her eyes and did some deep breathing exercises, doing her best to think calming, oceanic thoughts. The clinic had been her number one priority for so long, but she had to accept that she would be facing a few limitations as a brand-new mom. Temporarily. Yes, it would take her longer than she’d planned to pay off the building, and the expansion she’d dreamed of would have to wait. But there would still be cats and dogs and horses and pigs who needed her after her maternity leave.
As long as my competitors don’t grow so fast that my little clinic becomes obsolete.
Crap, that was not a calming thought.
Determined to shake off her funk, she pulled out her phone and texted Jace. We still on for movie night?
His response was almost immediate. Absolutely. The private theater is the big building behind the barn. I’ll send the ushers to help you find it.
Ha ha.
It was funny how quickly a person’s normal could shift. Most of her Friday nights over the past year had been spent at the nearby animal hospital or eating takeout from Shari’s restaurant, and tonight she would be hanging out with a few billionaires on a ranch that had been featured in numerous magazines and apparently even an HGTV segment.
Still, while that thought might have once intimidated her, she was becoming more and more comfortable at the Triple Pine. When she crossed through the black iron front gate that evening, she found herself humming, the happiest she’d been all day.
One of the house staff let her in, and Reed greeted her in the foyer, Brooke on his hip. “Jace had to take a call, but he’ll make it quick. Come on in.”
She nodded to the baby. It was the first time she’d seen her awake. “She’s beautiful. Do you mind if I hold her, or is she shy with strangers?”
“Not shy, but you might want to lose the earrings. She’s in an extremely grabby phase.”
Mia laughed. “Thanks for the warning.” She slipped the earrings into her pocket and took the infant, inhaling the sweet scent of lavender shampoo and baby powder. Her stomach gave an odd little flip-flop, and she swallowed back a lump of emotion. “The only baby I was really ever around was my niece, but she’s thirteen now, so it’s been a while.”
“Well, if it makes you feel any better,” Reed said, “Jace has never been around a baby until Brooke, so you’re on even footing. But between you and me, I think he’s going to be a great dad. I recently realized I don’t give him enough credit.”
She arched an eyebrow. “I could have told you that.”
“Mia!” Jace came over to hug her, including baby Brooke in the embrace. “Sorry, I had to talk to the pilot about next week’s trip.”
Most people making travel plans would talk to an airline’s customer service team, but no, he was chatting with the actual pilot. Of their private jet. Would that, too, eventually seem normal?
She poked him lightly in the ribs. “We can have popcorn with the movie, right? Not, like, foie gras?”
He laughed. “Air-popped, and no butter or salt, per Kevin’s orders. Harry is fit to be tied.”
“Actually, the lack of salt would make my OB happy, too. You can tell him he’s making the sacrifice for me.” She handed Brooke back to her dad.
“We’ll be there in a minute,” Jace told Reed. “But can I show Mia Brooke’s nursery? Maybe get some ideas for the baby registry?”
“Of course. I think I still have the decorator’s card if you want it,” Reed offered.
An interior decorator? Mia had been thinking more in terms of a long afternoon of assembling a crib with Shari and asking Jace to paint the walls. Shaking her head, she followed Jace up the stairs.
“I wanted to mention a few things before we start the movie,” he told her. “First, my trip next week is going to be a little longer than I realized. Feel free to send me indecent texts while I’m gone.” He wagged his eyebrows at her. “Secondly, your brothers came to my office.”
She almost missed a step. “Oh, God. I’m so sorry. Did you have security boot them from the building?”
He laughed. “It wasn’t like that. They apologized. We bonded.”
“Really?”
At the top of the landing, he turned to study her. “How come you never told me about Andrew? I mean, you did, but not everything. He stole from you?”
She bit her lip, briefly envying only children who didn’t have siblings to give up their secrets.
“Dylan might have let a few details slip,” Jace said. “I’m pretty sure he thought I already knew.”
“Please don’t take it personally that I didn’t tell you. It’s not really relevant to us.” She sighed. “And, if I’m being honest, it’s embarrassing as hell. Trusting the wrong person made me feel like a fool. That’s not how I want you to see me.”
“Never,” he said softly. He tipped up her chin, and she saw the sincerity in his eyes. “You’re a smart, capable, very sexy woman. And your ex is a conniving rat bastard. That’s not on you.”
“I appreciate that. But I don’t want to focus on what he did. I want to look ahead, keep moving forward.”
“Good. Because that’s the other thing I wanted to talk about.” Jace led her into the nursery and switched on the light. The room was weather-themed, with a puffy rainbow mobile over a crib with sunny yellow bedding. The walls were painted sky blue, and one was stenciled with smiling raindrops. “I was tucking her in recently and looking at the nursery, thinking about our baby. And it raised some questions.”
“Like what kind of monitors are the best?”
“Like whether I should move out. And I decided the answer is yes.”
She blinked. He was leaving the Triple Pine? He’d talked about his years away and how important reconciliation with his family was. And it wasn’t as if they were cramped here—he practically had his own wing. “Are you sure?”
“I am. And I wanted you to be the first to know.”
“Before Harry and your brothers?” Poor Harry. “Your grandfather will be sorry to see you go.”
“Maybe, but he’ll support the decision. It’s the right thing for us, Doc. I don’t know exactly what our co-parenting is going to look like, but finding my own space allows me to make all the accommodations that I—that we—might need.”
“You’re doing this for me?” It was as unnerving as it was flattering. “The timing is ironic. Because on the drive in, I realized how at home I’m starting to feel.”
“At the Triple Pine?”
Yes. But also, with him. “Have you ever been on a bad vacation?”
He frowned, but she wasn’t sure whether his confusion was at her non sequitur or at the idea of a subpar holiday. Billionaires probably didn’t stay in motels with lumpy beds and tepid swimming pools.
“The whole point of a vacation is to get away,” she said, “but sometimes they lose your luggage and the resort doesn’t look at all like it did in the brochure and the people in the next room are too loud and you realize all you want is to be home, sleeping in your own bed. Motherhood, a relationship—they weren’t things I wanted for myself right now. At least, I didn’t think they were. But I’m more excited about this baby every day, and being with you... Being with you feels like coming home.”
His eyes shone. “That’s one of the nicest things anyone’s ever said to me.”
She swallowed. “Well, I mean it.”
“Mia, I—”
“Are you two joining us anytime soon?” Reed hollered from the bottom of the stairs. “At this rate, they’ll have a sequel made before we get the movie started.”
“There in a second,” Jace called back.
“Slowpokes!”
“Slow?” Mia couldn’t help laughing at the irony. “Hardly. Everything’s changing so fast.”
“Isn’t it great?” Jace beamed at her.
“Um...” Parts of it were. But just because change was exhilarating didn’t mean it was easy. Jace, however, seemed downright giddy.
“I moved back to Colorado actively seeking change,” he reminded her. “And I got even more than I could have hoped. Moving out is an extension of that. It’s celebrating the possibility of the future, celebrating all the changes still to come.”
“It sounds more exciting when you describe it. I wish you’d been at our staff meeting this morning. I could have used you as a hype man. My view of change wasn’t quite as enthusiastic. I did announce that we were cutting back hours. That went over well,” she said sourly.
His gaze turned sympathetic. “It’s only temporary.”
“Right, I know.” There was no reason for it to feel like she was failing. She tried to shake it off. “I was promised a movie and some flavorless popcorn?”
He laughed. “Coming right up.” But he paused at the doorway, sliding his hands down over her baby bump. “Mia, just think. This time next year we’ll be having conversations like these in the middle of our kid’s nursery.”
Their gazes locked, and the sweetness of the moment washed over her. Jace was right. Some changes were beautiful.
If anyone had told Mia that she could listen to the procedural details of a corporate certification process as raptly as she could a symposium on equine theriogenology, she wouldn’t have believed them. But Jace was so passionate in his nightly updates that she looked forward to their phone calls all day.
Plus, it probably helped that she was wild about him.
As if to prove that point, her phone chirped, and her heart leaped. “Hi.”
“Sorry I couldn’t call sooner,” he said. “Dinner ran late. You weren’t asleep yet, were you?”
“Nope. Just got into bed.”
“Wish I were there.”
She chuckled. “No, you don’t. This is too important to you. It’s a major factor in why you came back to Colorado.”
“True. But when I came back, I didn’t know you yet. You are also major.”
“Aw. You should write greeting cards.”
“Smart-ass. How was work?”
“Good. Everyone’s excited for the festival tomorrow.”
He made a noise. She knew that he was caught between wanting to be supportive and worrying that she was overextending herself.
“I’ll be sitting most of the day,” she assured him. “I have plenty of help, and I’m not doing any of the heavy lifting.”
“I know, I know. But I’d still feel better if I was there to lend a hand. When I get home Sunday, I plan to pamper you. You won’t need to lift a finger.”
She sighed happily, not because she particularly needed pampering but just because she was eager to see him. She hadn’t expected to miss him so much this week. It had really brought into focus how big a part of her life Jace had become. When he got back, she wanted to discuss their relationship, their future. Childbirth classes started in a month and a half. When everyone went around and introduced themselves, it would be nice if she had a better response than, “And this is Jace, my uh...? I don’t really know.”
They chatted about how his day had gone and the steps Malone Energy was taking to meet the certification criteria. There were a number of positives in what Jace was attempting to do, but one of them was that it seemed to be bringing him and his brothers closer together. She was glad. As irksome as her own brothers could occasionally be, family was important.
“I should let you get some sleep,” he said as he wound down. “I keep forgetting it’s an hour later there, and you have a big day tomorrow.”
“I hope I can sleep. We’re having a heat wave, and it’s miserable.” Last night she’d been restless and prickly, kicking away her sheets and getting up several times throughout the night to splash water on her face.
“Now I’m really sorry I’m not there. I bet I could help you unwind.”
She smiled, a different kind of warmth suffusing her. “That was certainly the case the last time you spent the night.”
“I miss the way you taste. The way you move against my mouth.”
Damn. No wonder she was wild about him. “And if I wanted to return the favor?” The thought of taking him in her mouth, being able to wring the same kind of shattering bliss he’d given her, had powerful appeal.
On the other end of the phone, there was a sharp intake of breath. “I’ll wake the pilot. We can be there in an hour.”
She laughed. “I’ll see you Sunday.”
“Well, thank you for the sweet dreams I know I’ll be having.”
She hoped he was right. If it were within her power, she would definitely replace his periodic nightmares with pleasurable fantasies. “Good night, Jace.” I love you. The words were on the tip of her tongue, a surprise and yet not a surprise. She repeated it in her head, giving herself a moment to process. It was true. She did love him. “I...”
“Doc?” he prompted. “Did I lose you?”
Quite the opposite. But she wanted the first time she told him to be in person. “Sorry, forgot what I was going to say. Pregnancy brain. See you in a couple of days,” she reiterated.
“Counting the minutes.”
Laughter and the sounds of varying midway games surrounded the booth. It was clear that festival attendees were enjoying themselves despite nearly record-setting heat. Mia was grateful for the ever-present misting fans posted throughout the fairground, but she was still sweating copiously.
Shari fanned herself with one of the sample restaurant menus on display. “Think condo management would let me fill the swimming pool with ice cubes when I get home?”
“Sounds entirely reasonable to me,” Mia said. They’d talked to a lot of people today, and she thought that their promotional efforts had been worth the time, but she would also be glad when the day was over. “I’m surprised Amanda isn’t back with our drinks yet.” They’d started the day with a small cooler of beverages, but the three of them had finished those before lunch, and Mia’s refillable water bottle had been empty for the last hour.
Shari snorted. “I’m not. She has a huge crush on that cutie volunteering with concessions. Brad? Brent? Haven’t you noticed her trips have been getting longer and longer?”
Mia laughed. “I hadn’t realized. Far be it from me to begrudge her a happy love life.”
“You mean like the one you have?” Shari asked slyly. “You’re glowing. And I don’t think it’s because you’re pregnant.”
“I...love him, Shar. I haven’t told him yet, but I do.”
Her friend smiled. “Lucky for you, he feels exactly the same way.”
Mia’s toes curled. “I hope so. I think so.”
“Pfft. I’ve seen how that man looks at you.”
Mia wondered what the next step was for them. She knew he wanted to move out of the Triple Pine. Would it be folly to suggest they try living together? She didn’t know if it was too soon, but it would certainly make co-parenting easier. More than that, though, she wanted to be around him. Pure and simple. She wanted to start her mornings and end her days with him.
“Speaking of love lives...” Mia nudged her friend in the side, tilting her head toward the handsome man approaching their booth.
“Hello, beautiful.” Adwin grinned at Shari. “Is it hot out here, or is it just you?”
Shari groaned. “Hacky lines like that will be why I block your number.”
He leaned on the table. “Nah, you aren’t petty enough to ghost a guy over terrible lines. You care about the big issues. Like crunchy peanut butter versus smooth.”
“So true.” She popped out of her seat long enough to give him a quick kiss hello.
He looked from her to Mia. “Seriously, it is hot out here. Are you ladies surviving okay? I can get you a couple of sodas or ice-cream bars if you want. It will take a few minutes, though. The lines for drinks are long.”
“Thanks,” Shari said, “but our assistant should be back any minute with some. What I really need is intel. What are the best restaurant booths you’ve visited? I like to keep tabs on my competition.”
As they discussed a nearby barbecue vendor—and whether sauced barbecue was equal to dry rub—a little girl with pigtails and a superhero cape pinned to her T-shirt approached Mia. “Are you the vet lady?”
Mia nodded. “I am indeed.”
The girl held up a photo of a guinea pig. “This is Freckles. Mommy said he could go on the Famous Wall.”
Mia chuckled. “I’d be happy to put him on our Wall of Fame, and if you’d like, my friend Shari here has some mini cupcakes.” Mia stood to add Freckles to the display, and an unpleasant whoosh went through her, as if she were trying to stand on a rocking boat.
Her vision dimmed, and her pulse pounded so hard that it blocked out the noise of the festival. Then she heard Shari call her name, although it sounded really far away, and Adwin had his arms around her, trying to help her up.
Mia hadn’t even realized she was on the ground. But when she tried to stand, the pounding got worse. Everything went gray and silent.
As Jace thanked the driver who’d brought him to the private airport, he thought about the lectures Reed used to give him on work ethic. His brother just hadn’t used the right motivation. There had never been a beautiful redhead involved. Since Jace had finished all of the training modules early, there was no reason for him to stay for additional sessions tomorrow, which meant he could get home early and surprise Mia.
If that didn’t motivate a man to work faster, he didn’t know what would.
As he boarded the plane, he wondered if Dr. Bakshi would okay Mia taking a short flight. He’d love to sweep her away somewhere for a long weekend. Lord knew the woman could use a vacation. Maybe once she’d finished the interview process and had another vet established at the clinic, she’d agree to going away. And after the baby was born, it would be amazing to travel together. For the three of them to visit new places, for Jace to see the world through his son’s or daughter’s eyes.
Although...making plans to travel the globe as a family might be skipping ahead a few steps. Jace should figure out where he was going to live before he started making plans to travel the globe.
He was settling in his seat when his phone vibrated. He pulled it out of his pocket, surprised to see Shari’s number. “Hello?”
“Jace, I’m so glad I caught you. I didn’t want to leave a voice mail.”
“Is everything okay? Is Mia okay?”
“I think so. But she collapsed at the festival. It was sweltering out there, so it’s probably nothing more serious than heat exhaustion. The on-scene paramedics were concerned about her heart rate, though, so they took her to the hospital.”
Hospital. The word reverberated in his ears. Mia was in the hospital? Adrenaline surged through him, the need to reach her clawing at him.
“I’m headed there now,” Shari said. “I’ll call you as soon as I have an update. I debated whether I should wait until later to let you know, but you care about her as much as I do, and if our positions were reversed...”
“You did the right thing. We’re about to be wheels up. I’ll be there in two hours.” And he already knew they’d be some of the longest, most grueling minutes of his life.
The ER nurse had suggested Mia rest, but with the beep of machines monitoring both her heart and the baby’s, not to mention the IV in her arm, Mia hadn’t thought she would be able to fall asleep. She must have been wrong, though, because when she opened her eyes, it was dark outside, and Shari was sitting on a nearby chair.
“You’re awake!” The unexpected male voice was thick with relief.
Mia whipped her head around and found Jace standing on the other side of the bed. “Shari, do you see him too, or did I hit my head when I fell?”
Jace tried to laugh, but it sounded strangled. “I’m here.”
“Is it tomorrow already? How long was I out?”
“Still festival day.” Shari joined them on the side of Mia’s hospital bed. “You scared the hell out of me, hon. If your plan was a big dramatic moment to draw a crowd to our booth, I wish you’d clued me in first.”
“How are you feeling?” Jace asked. “The doctor said you’re okay, that the baby’s fine, but your pulse was so fast they’re keeping you for observation.”
Mia had been told the palpitations were probably due to dehydration, but she was going to Dr. Bakshi’s office to follow up on Monday. “It was scary—it was just so sudden—but I’m okay.” The concern in Jace’s eyes melted her heart. “Really.”
He squeezed her hand, his eyes overbright, and then blinked hard, looking away.
Following Shari’s lead, Mia tried to make a joke of it. “If I’d known it would get you back sooner, I would have fainted two days ago. Missed you.”
“You say that now, but wait until I don’t leave your side for the rest of the pregnancy. You’ll get pretty sick of me.”
“Your dad wanted to be here, too,” Shari said, “but he and Dylan were camping, and it took me a while to reach them. He said they could come in the morning, but you’ll probably be discharged by then. And Amanda sent those.” She pointed across the room to a ludicrously large flower arrangement that Mia had somehow not yet noticed.
“Good Lord.” Mia stared incredulously. “She could have brought me an entire rosebush, and it would have been smaller.”
“When she heard ‘dehydration,’ she freaked out that it took her so long to bring drinks back.”
“Oh, no. Please make sure she knows it wasn’t her fault. It was a combination of things. Pregnant bodies don’t regulate temperature well.”
“Knock knock.” The nurse said it out loud instead of actually knocking against the partially opened door. “I’m afraid visiting hours are technically over, although for our pregnant patients, we do allow the father to stay if you’d like.”
“You don’t have to,” Mia told Jace. “I’ll probably be asleep again as soon as she’s done, and that bench thing in the corner makes my college futon look like the height of luxury.”
“Nice try, but I already warned you. You won’t be getting rid of me anytime soon.”
She exhaled in relief. It had been a harrowing day, and what she really wanted was to scoot over in the narrow bed and let him hold her. For now, she’d settle for knowing he was close by as she slept. “Good. When I said you didn’t have to stay, I was just being polite.”
He kissed her forehead. “I’m not going anywhere, Doc.”
Headlights sliced through the windshield at the wrong angle, and Jace knew impact was inevitable. He spun the wheel, but there was no response. In the passenger seat, Mia screamed as metal scraped metal, and glass shattered.
“Mia!”
Jace was already upright before he realized he was in a dim hospital room and not a car spinning out of control. His breath came in ragged pants, and he reached for the nearest wall to steady himself, adrenaline pounding through his veins. The nightmare about his parents. He’d never had it about anyone else before.
Miraculously, he hadn’t woken Mia. She was still, her breathing reassuringly deep and even, the beep of her monitors reminding him that it had only been a dream. Still, he needed to see her face, needed to reach out and touch her warm skin and know that she was alive and well and here with him.
He tiptoed closer to her bedside, taking in her familiar features and the graceful sweep of her lashes above her cheeks. I love her. As terrified as he’d been for both her and the baby earlier today, this was no longer just about the fact that he and Mia were having a child together. Mia challenged him and made him laugh and listened to him. She turned him on so much he could barely remember his own name, but hers would be engraved on his heart for the rest of his life.
The flip side of love, though, was loss. He was vulnerable now in a way he hadn’t thought possible again. If anything happened to her, it would be like having a hole punched through him.
She’s worth the risk. He wouldn’t willingly give up what they shared. Hell, no. He’d fight for it, doing everything in his power to protect their relationship. To protect her.
He stared at the clock on the wall. It was only about an hour before sunset, and he definitely wouldn’t be going back to sleep, so he began to plan, mapping out what needed to be done. Heath was an early riser, and there was no one Jace trusted more for financial advice. He’d call his brother soon.
Later, he’d talk to Grandpa Harry. He needed to share his plans to move out. And it was time to ask for that wedding ring.
“Morning!” the nurse chirped. She rolled the cart with the blood pressure cuff toward Mia. “And how are we feeling?”
“We” are feeling like “we” could have used a lot more sleep before someone came to check vitals. But with a thermometer in her mouth, Mia limited her response to a thin smile. Had Jace managed any sleep? She glanced around the room.
“That tall drink of water who was with you said he’d be right back,” the nurse said. “He hated to leave your side. So romantic.”
Nothing about hospitals was romantic, but Mia’s heart warmed anyway.
Sure enough, Jace returned a few minutes later, just missing the nurse, who assured Mia all her vitals were strong and within healthy ranges. Even her blood pressure.
“Did you bring me a file baked into a cake?” she asked him. “I need you to spring me from this joint.”
He laughed. “I saw some plastic spoons in the cafeteria. Maybe we can tunnel our way out.”
Blessedly, they didn’t have to wait long for the doctor on rounds to come by and confirm her discharge. In under two hours, she was climbing into Jace’s car, ready to put this entire misadventure behind her.
“When was the last time you ate anything besides hospital food?” Jace asked as she buckled her seat belt. “Want me to pick up somewhere along the way?”
She shook her head. “I’d rather get straight home and take a bath as soon as possible.”
“All right. I can cook for us while you do that.”
“Deal.”
Once she’d had a bath and “the Jace specialty” (scrambled eggs and mildly burned toast), she felt completely restored. But she was unsurprised that Jace still insisted she take it easy.
He put his arm around her, snuggling her close on the couch. “We can binge that fashion competition you pretend you’re not addicted to.”
She laughed. “If you had to wear scrubs all the time, you’d get excited about alternate wardrobes, too.”
“Speaking of things to wear...” He scooted away from her and slid off the sofa, kneeling in front of her. “I know I didn’t come through on the cake with a file. But what I do have to offer you is my heart. And this.” He held up a blue box. “I love you, Mia.”
“I love you, too.” The words practically leaped out of her, and she was surprised she’d been able to keep them in this long.
“Will you marry me?” He opened the box to reveal a diamond ring that twinkled at her, dazzling through the blur of her sudden tears.
“Oh my God.” Happiness flooded her, but she was almost too overwhelmed to process what was happening. Here she’d been wondering if moving in together was too big a leap, and he’d upped the ante. It was a big step, but it felt strangely right. Far more so than the previous time she’d gotten engaged, to a man she’d known far longer. I’ve never loved anyone like this before. And Jace loved her. She closed her eyes, savoring the moment.
He must have read her silence as uncertainty because he shifted, an undertone of nervousness beneath his bravado. “If you need me to sweeten the deal, I have the perfect engagement gift.”
She opened her eyes, taking in the sight of the man she loved, eager to share a future with her. “It doesn’t get much more perfect than this.”
Rejoining her on the couch, he pulled her close for a sweet, searching kiss full of promise and possibility. Their kisses became deeper, fervent, and she was practically in his lap before they came up for air.
“I don’t suppose,” she asked hopefully, “that the gift you mentioned is spending the day in bed together?”
“You’re supposed to be taking it easy.” His tone was heavy with regret. He kissed her once more, chastely this time, and then angled away from her as if trying to remove himself from temptation. “But we could sit in bed and discuss plans for the nursery. Or plans for the clinic.” He paused, then grinned at her with endearingly boyish enthusiasm. “It’s yours.”
“You mean it’s my choice?”
“No, I mean the clinic is yours. That’s the gift. I paid off the loan.”
“You did what?” No no no no no. Was that even legal? She’d heard of anonymous donors paying off student loans and residential mortgages. Hell, maybe he’d bought the bank. “I can’t believe you.”
“You aren’t happy.” He was staring at her as if she’d sprouted a second head. Like she was the oddity in the room.
“No shit.” Had he learned nothing from the car incident? This was so much worse.
“But now you can stop worrying about it. You can take the time off for your maternity leave without stressing over—”
“It’s my stress!” She shot to her feet. “My life. Not yours to play god with.”
“That isn’t fair,” he objected. “I’m not trying to control anything. I was only trying to help.”
“Then you should have asked me what kind of help I needed.” After all the extra hours she’d worked, after all the contingency plans she’d lain awake at night devising... “You’ve busted your ass trying to get Malone Energy certified. How would you feel if you walked into work one morning and found that Reed or Heath had taken over the project without talking to you, completed it without your input?”
He flinched. “It’s not the same, though. Your health’s on the line. I was in a position to look after you.”
“Goddamn it. As I have told my father and brothers repeatedly, I do not need a man to look out for me.”
“Mia.” His placating tone set her teeth on edge. If his next words were to tell her to calm down, she feared for his safety.
“What I want in life is a partner,” she told him. “Not someone who thinks throwing money at everything magically solves problems.” If that was Jace’s approach to all of their conflicts, she would always be at a disadvantage in their relationship. They’d never be equal.
“I know better than anyone that money’s not magic.” His expression darkened. “Being rich didn’t stop my parents from dying. I can’t buy back their lives, which will haunt me for the rest of mine. They’re dead because of me.”
She blinked, still pissed off, but responding on some level to the pain in his voice. “That’s not true.”
He waved a hand. “I didn’t cause the accident, but I’m why we were in the car. At that intersection. They’d come to clean up one of my messes because I was a selfish fuckup. But I’m not anymore. So I won’t apologize for doing everything in my power to protect the ones I love. I genuinely thought you’d be happy about the loan, but I’d do it again anyway.”
His bald statement knocked the wind out of her. “You had no right.”
“I disagree.”
She sat back down. The diamond ring winked up at her from the floor, where it had been dropped while they were kissing. With Jace’s mouth on hers, their bodies and desires in sync, she’d felt in total harmony with him. But that bubble had popped, nothing more than a fragile illusion. “You should go. And you should take this with you.” She scooped up the ring and held it out to him.
He jerked away from her, stricken. “Wait, no. I understand you’re upset, but—”
“You understand that I’m upset, but not why. Which means you don’t understand me.” Worse, he’d already said he would do the same thing over again, in spite of her express wishes. It was a violation, and she didn’t know how to make him see that.
“Keep the ring for now.” He refused to take it. “You don’t have to make a decision right this minute.”
“That’s rich, coming from you.” He could have talked to her about the loan before taking decisive action, offered to help without taking the choice away from her.
He clenched his jaw but didn’t respond. Finally he said, “Are you sure you’re okay to be alone?”
Frankly, she was more worried about her state of mind if he didn’t leave. “I’m sure.”
He nodded stiffly and was gone a moment later, his absence echoing through the house. And in the sudden emptiness in her chest.
She set the ring on the table, wishing Jace had taken it. She didn’t want to touch it. She could barely bring herself to look at it. So she grabbed the quilt she kept folded on the back of the couch and covered up the reminder of that brief, shining second when she’d truly thought she’d found the man of her dreams.
Well, that’s the thing about dreams. Sooner or later, you always had to wake up.