SADIE

I paced the front porch while I waited for Dane to pull up. I was going to kill Ethan.

First, he showed up and talked to me at the studio when I made it clear he needed to just leave, and then he started a fight with Dane.

When I saw the headlights of Dane’s truck coming down the driveway, I stopped pacing and headed out to meet him.

I had ice and a cool washcloth.

He parked, shut off his truck, and got out. He leaned against his truck and gave me a small smile or tried.

I stood on my tiptoes to wipe the blood from his forehead.

I handed him the ice and he put it to his jaw.

“I’m gonna kill him.”

“I almost lost control on his ass. He’s lucky I snapped out of it. I’m still concerned I broke his jaw.”

“I don’t care about his jaw. Are you okay?”

“Sore, but I’ll live.” I didn’t realize I was rubbing my gut until Sadie lifted my shirt some.

“I’m fine. I just hate that the kids are going to see me like this.”

“The kids are already asleep. They fell asleep waiting on you to get here.”

He sighed sadly. “I hate working late.”

“It’s part of being CEO of a successful company.” I moved the washcloth off his head. “Come in and take some Advil before you get another migraine.”

He wrapped an arm around my waist as we went inside. He sat down on the couch and laid his head back.

I lifted his shirt to get a better look. I turned on the lamp next to the couch.

“It’s not too bad.” I ran my fingers through his hair. “I told Cooper to go check on Ethan.”

“Good. And my stomach is fine. He only kneed me there once. My head is what he hit three times before I snapped.” He grabbed my hand and kissed the back of it. “Can you get me the Advil and something to drink, please?”

I nodded, kissed him, and went into the kitchen. I got the meds and a glass of water. When I walked into the living room, I froze when I saw Alice. I never even heard a car pull up or the front door open.

“Ethan is at the ER. He’s fine, but Cooper wanted to be sure.” Alice looked apologetically at Dane. “I’m so sorry. We tried to stop him from leaving the hotel. We thought it’d be a good idea to take him down to the bar and let him calm down, but it just made things worse.”

I gave Dane the Advil and water. He swallowed the pills and downed about half of the glass of water before turning to Alice.

“He’s lucky I was able to get control, Alice. I could have done some serious damage to him.”

She nodded and sat down in the recliner. She looked at me. “I told him not to go to the studio, either. He’s just confused and hurting. I’m not taking sides, I’m just saying.”

I sat beside Dane. “I know, but you know how he is, Alice. He doesn’t listen to me if I’m saying something he doesn’t want to hear. He disregards it and pushes me until I lose my cool. And now he messed with Dane.”

Dane grabbed my hand in his. He gave it a small squeeze. “I’m going to go kiss the kids’ heads. I’ll be right back.” He stood slowly, and it hurt my heart when I saw him wince.

“You guys were supposed to leave, Alice.”

“We wanted to, but Ethan already paid for our flight back and to change it would’ve cost more.”

I rolled my eyes. “He has the money.”

“And he’s a tightwad.” She chuckled.

I ran my fingers through my hair and sighed. “I know I hurt him. I know I hurt you and Cooper by not being fully honest about who I am. Living a double life was hard. I didn’t mean to hurt anyone, that wasn’t my intentions.”

It wasn’t long before Dane was coming back down the stairs.

I smiled at him when he sat down. “Were they still sleeping?”

“Sadly, yes. I almost woke them back up, but I was good. Sassy and Boy about licked me to death before laying back down next to Millie and Tate, though.”

I laughed and snuggled next to him. I looked at Alice. “You guys fly out tomorrow?”

She nodded. “Yeah. We were supposed to fly out today, but then Ethan acted like a damn fool after he came and talked to you. We missed the flight, which pissed him off more. Then he went to find Dane. Cooper was trying to get another rental to go find him since Ethan took off with the one we had.”

I sighed. “So, he had to pay more anyway for a flight then.”

Juno-Bear and Scout came over to us on the couch and put their paws up to try and climb up. They were already huge but so uncoordinated that they were having trouble. They both started whining at us.

“Yeah, he did. It’s his own stupid fault. Anyway, I just wanted to stop by while I was out. I better go back to the ER and see if they are ready to leave yet.” She stood and came over to the couch. She bent down to hug me. She then hugged Dane. “I’m happy to know she’s happy here. One day, we’ll get to visit and it not be drama filled. I swear Cooper and I are awesome people.”

“You took care of my Daisy while she was in New York so you already have my devotion. And I was impressed with both of you when I saw you two dance.”

She stood up straight and eyes widened. “What? When?”

“The past four years I’ve come to every winter performance.” He shrugged. “I would have come to the others, but I was either overseas or on duty.”

Alice gave me a huge smile. “Keep him.”

I laughed and nodded. “Trust me, I am this time.”

She told us bye and left the house.

I turned so I was facing Dane and kissed him. “Why don’t you go get comfortable? We can go be lazy. I’ll stay here tonight to keep an eye on you.” I touched his jean pocket when I saw something sticking out. “What’s that?” Before I could reach in to see what it was, he grabbed my hand to stop me.

I raised a brow. “Dane? What is it?”

“It’s nothing,” he said way too quickly. “I’ll go get in some pj’s.” He kissed me and stood. I looked up at his face.

“Dane Shaw.” I stood and reached for his pocket but he moved.

“Sadie, it’s nothing for you to see. It’s nothing bad, I promise.”

I reached for his pocket again and laughed when he dodged me “I will tackle you if you don’t show me.”

“Daisy, be good. It’s not for you to see.”

I stuck out my bottom lip.

“That’s not going to work this time.” He hurried toward his room.

I chased after him. When I made it to his room and grabbed his jeans as soon as they hit the floor. I took off toward the bathroom, but before I could lock myself in, he grabbed me around my waist from behind. He tickled me until I dropped them.

He picked up the jeans and held onto them. “Be good.” He walked over and put the jeans in the hamper. I couldn’t see if he grabbed whatever it was out of his pocket or not.

“Fine if I can’t see what you’re hiding then you can’t see any of this,” I said, motioning to my breasts. I laughed when he frowned a little. I left the bathroom and went into his room. I dug around in his drawer to find a t-shirt.

“That’s so unfair.” He laid down in only his boxers and absentmindedly rubbed his jaw. “You like to shop, right?”

I found a shirt. “Mmm-hmm.” I kept my back to him and slipped off my shirt and bra and put on his t-shirt. I slipped off my jeans and then picked up my clothes and put them in a pile next to the dresser.

“I need a suit for when Trevor and Jason go to Houston. I’ll have to handle all the business meetings.”

I climbed into bed with him. I traced the bullet scars on his chest. “When do you want to go?”

“I guess sometime this upcoming weekend. If you don’t mind.” He put his arm under his pillow behind his head and that’s when I knew where whatever it was that had been in his pocket was under there.

I moved until I was sitting on top of him. I quickly slid my hand under the pillow and grabbed his hand. “Open it,” I growled, making him laugh. He knew I wasn’t strong enough to pry his hand open, but dammit, I’d try.

He frowned at me but released his grip and opened his hand. I reached into his hand and froze when I felt a ring. I let go of it and let it fall back into his palm.

“It’s a ring,” I said quietly, keeping my eyes on his. “Is it the ring?”

“Yes.”

“Why were you keeping it in your pocket?”

“I took it to get it cleaned. And to talk to Trevor about it.” He pulled his hand out from under his pillow and placed both of his on my thighs.

“And what did you say to Trevor?” I was cheesing.

He sighed dramatically. “Do you want the full truth?”

I nodded.

“I told him I wanted to ask you to marry me again, but I was scared shitless that you’d tell me no all over again. I, also, told him that before I would ever ask you I would have a talk with Millie and Tate first.”

“Then I suggest you go have that talk with Millie and Tate as soon as possible.”

He smiled at me. “Oh really?”

I leaned down and kissed him. “Yup.”

He moved his hand up and under my shirt. “So, since I let you see what was in my pocket do I get to see now?”

“Only if you promise me something.”

“And what’s that?”

“You’ll talk to Millie and Tate tomorrow. Because I so badly want to say yes.”

“I promise. I’ll talk to them as soon as I can tomorrow.”

I squealed and kissed him. I laughed when he moved us until I was on my back and he was hovering over me.

“Oh, and one more thing,” I said with a mischievous grin. He cocked an eyebrow at me and waited. “There better be daisies when you ask me.”

He burst out laughing. “Have I ever forgotten to give you daisies when it was something important?”

I smiled. “Not once.”