“Is that why you’re here?” she asked, sounding wary. “To make up?”
He grinned. “I sure as hell hope so.”
She rolled her eyes as she tried to hide her smile. “So what was the big crisis that couldn’t wait ‘til morning?”
“Ethan’s fiancée cheated on him. He walked in on them.”
She bit her lip. “I’m sorry. That sucks. Ethan seems like a nice guy.”
“He’s the best. That’s why I had to go and make sure he was okay. He’s been there for me the past few years. It only seemed right I be there for him.”
“I can understand that. But you could have woken me up and told me you were leaving. When I found that damn note, I didn’t know what to think.”
He grabbed her hand. “I hope you didn’t think for a second that I’d stopped loving you or was having second thoughts about us, ‘cause nothing could be further from the truth.”
“Really? It sure sounded like you were having doubts last night when you let me have it about Jessie.”
“I can be a jealous ass sometimes.” He kissed the back of her hand as he pulled her chair between his legs. “Forgive me?”
She seemed to consider her options before she said, “I’m going to go on being his friend, you know.”
“I know.” A woman who bent to his will, even when he was being irrational, wouldn’t have been the woman for him.
“But there will never ever be anything between me and Jessie. Even if you weren’t in the picture, I could never be with him.”
“Why not?”
“Because I’d be settling, trying not to compare him to you, and that wouldn’t be fair to him. He deserves someone who can love him with her whole heart.”
“Agreed.”
“So no more temper tantrums about Jessie?”
“Done.” He pulled her up, so she was standing between his legs. “I really am sorry. But you know how impatient I can be. I love you. And I want us to be a family again. Rationally, I know it makes sense to wait, to be sure—”
“I am sure.”
“What?”
Her smile stretched across her beautiful face as her hands curled around his jaw. “I said I am sure. I knew as soon as you left that I didn’t want you to go. That’s when I started to imagine what it would be like to let you go for good. I can’t.” She shook her head emphatically. “I won’t.”
He leaned in to kiss her, but before his lips closed over hers, he whispered, “You mean it?”
“Without a doubt.”
“But what about your father and brother and—”
“My brother is a grown man. He can clean up his own messes from now on. And as for my father, I’d love for him to come with us, but that has to be his decision. Whatever makes him happy makes me happy.”
“I love you so much.” He kissed her, trying to show his gratitude for the sacrifice she was making, uprooting her life so he could live his dream. “And whatever you want to do, whatever makes you happy, I’m going to see to it you get a chance to do it.”
She curled her arms around his neck and smiled. “For the first time in forever, I feel like I don’t have the weight of the world on my shoulders. And I have you to thank for that. I didn’t appreciate it before, the sense of freedom that comes from the perks of your job. But I do now.”
He never thought she’d see his job or all the money he made as a blessing, but he was glad she finally seemed to be coming around. “I’m glad. Everything will be different this time,” he whispered, kissing a path along her jaw. “You can do anything you want.”
“Including have a baby?”
“How could I not, knowing the man I love wants to marry me again?” She kissed him soft and slow. “Of course I want to have another baby with you. The sooner, the better.” She grinned. “I’m not getting any younger, and neither are you, Miller.”
He chuckled. “I’m not busy right now.”
“Oh no, you don’t,” she said, poking his chest. “You’re putting a ring on this finger”—she wiggled her digits in his face—“before I even think about going off the pill.”
The thought of seeing his ring on her finger again made him happier than he’d been in a long time. “When can you take a lunch break, beautiful?” He pulled her to him, closing his arms around her tiny waist. “I wanna take you ring shopping.”
“Uh, I think I’ll leave that to you,” she said, patting his shoulder. “I trust you.”
He pulled back to look her in the eye. “Do you? Trust me?”
“With the most important thing in the world,” she whispered as tears filled her eyes. “Our baby girl.”
About the Author
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Burn Out
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