Total pages in book: 119
Estimated words: 114284 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 571(@200wpm)___ 457(@250wpm)___ 381(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 114284 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 571(@200wpm)___ 457(@250wpm)___ 381(@300wpm)
“Goddammit, Walker,” he croaked, then threw his arms around me. I exhaled a laugh and blinked past the burn in my eyes. “I love you so much. You don’t even know.”
I screwed my eyes shut and hugged him tightly. “I think I know.”
He was my world.
He sniffled again.
Sensing he needed for me to just hold him for a bit, I reached over to lower the heat on the stove and set aside the pan, and then I squeezed him for all I was worth. I told him he was everything to me. How much I loved him. That I wanted him to come home the day I left my damn hotel room, and he just nodded and nodded and nodded. He wanted that too.
“We’re gonna make it, baby.”
He nodded again. “I think that’s why I can’t fucking stop crying now. I’m so relieved—I don’t think I’ve ever believed in us as much as I do these days. And now. With this. I just—fuck. It’s you and me.”
Damn right. I was a bit emotional myself, so it was my turn to sniffle, and I gathered his face in my hands and kissed him. “You and me.”
He smiled and wiped at his face, only to brush his thumbs under my eyes next. “I knew you had my ring,” he admitted with a chuckle. I grinned. “I was waiting for you to maybe ask me out to dinner or something, but this was so much better.”
Good. I hugged him to me again and pressed my lips to his temple.
“Wait—you gotta put on your ring too,” he urged. “I’ve waited too damn long to see it back on your finger.”
Well, I better obey quickly, then. I didn’t want him to suffer another minute. I slipped my ring back on while he watched, and I was admittedly a bit relieved it still fit. It’d been a long year since I’d last caved and tried it on for a night of reminiscing and drinking myself into oblivion.
Never again. The ring wasn’t coming off.
“Perfect.”
He picked the right word.
That evening, another weight lifted off my shoulders.
The three of us sat at Macklin’s kitchen table for hours, ate a bit too much, shared more laughs than I could count, and made promises about the future. Macklin was gonna fuss over his brother-in-law once more. I’d get to see my brother every day.
The family taking shape between Ty, Lane, Macklin, and me meant more to me than I could describe. But I needed my core too. My big brother and my husband. I needed our late-night debates over books Dean and I read, I needed our spontaneous dinners when Macklin brought home leftovers from the restaurant, and I needed our Trivial Pursuit nights that always pissed off my boy. Kind of like right now.
“We’re never playing this stupid fucking game again!” He shot up from his chair and snatched up another empty wine bottle to, presumably, replace it with another. We’d gone through three already. A fourth wouldn’t hurt.
“You came fairly close this time, dear,” Dean offered. “Back in the day, you’d storm out halfway through the game.”
I chuckled and finished the last sip in my wineglass.
“You came fairly close,” Macklin mocked. “Yeah, right. Go up against a professor and another nerd and see what happens. Good job, Mack.”
I coughed around a laugh.
Dean grinned and shook his head.
I was intoxicated enough to stare a little extra. It just felt so damn good to have the three of us close again, and Dean was a gorgeous man. Something I could freely admit now. He looked so distinguished and…lethally handsome, even though I still saw the young man I’d grown up with. The one who’d been itching to explore the world in the Navy. The one who’d come straight to my place whenever he had time off.
He caught me looking, and the corners of his eyes crinkled.
I smiled.
“Okay, last bottle of wine.” Macklin came back and slumped down next to me. “Fucking Trivial Pursuit.”
Dean checked his watch and winced. “Jesus—it’s almost two in the mornin’.”
Wait, what? How the fuck—
“Oh my God—and I have an early shift tomorrow,” Macklin complained.
Dean chuckled and ran a hand through his hair. “I need to get goin’, you two. I have an early start as well. I have to figure out a way to keep a student as far away from me as possible.”
I frowned. “Uh, why?”
He huffed, which was uncharacteristic of him. “Most bizarre coincidence—I think a student of mine is a member of Mclean House.”
I felt my eyebrows shoot up.
“Yeah, it is getting late…” Macklin pivoted in his seat and began to rise, but I wasn’t drunk enough to miss out on certain cues. Before I’d even made the decision, my arm was there to push him right back into his seat.
Then I faced him. “Dean says he thinks one of our kinksters is in his class, and you change the subject and leave?”