“And if you do decide to leave—
“I’m not going anywhere, Lily.”
“But if you change your mind, if you go back to the army, or to Georgia, I’ll follow,” she continued, pushing on with a speech that he suspected she’d been preparing for the last ten hours while he’d taken an extended stay in dreamland.
“I’ll go wherever you go,” she said. “But not because you make me feel safe.”
He sat up a little straighter at those words.
“Dominic Fairmore, you’re everything I need.” She inhaled and he swore he saw tears brimming in her blue eyes, threatening to flood her cheeks.
“Don’t cry, Lil.”
“Shut up.” She wiped her eyes with her free hand. “I’m trying to tell you how I feel.”
He fell silent. Ask her if she loves you. And he would. He’d follow Noah’s advice if she didn’t say the words. But he knew her answer didn’t matter. Even if she wasn’t in love with him, he would still stand by her, watch over her, and take a bullet for her. He loved her too damn much to walk away ever again.
“I love you, Dominic.”
Fuck, yes.
Relief, joy, and yeah, in spite of the pain meds, desire surged through him. Lily Fairmore, his high school sweetheart, the only woman he’d ever wanted, ever loved or made love to, she loved him. Hell, he’d take another bullet right here, right now, just to hear her say those words again.
“I love you too, honey.” He reached his good hand up and cupped her cheek. “I always have and I always will.”
Epilogue
One year later. . .
“LILY? ARE YOU ready?” Dominic paced back and forth in front of the door to the Big Buck’s bathroom. “Noah will get suspicious if I don’t get back out there soon.”
“Almost,” the woman he loved called back.
Dominic paused by the door’s edge. He glanced over his shoulder but the bar’s back room remained blissfully empty. No sign of Caroline yet. They hadn’t even opened for business. But Noah had asked him to come in early and help add a fresh coat of polish to the bar top today. And how the hell was his best friend supposed to know that Lily would need him in the middle of a Wednesday? Dominic had started paying attention to the calendar and even he hadn’t realized that they’d hit their window.
Of course he wasn’t the one taking his temperature all the time, waiting and hoping the timing would be just right . . .
“Lily, honey, if you’re taking the time to paint your nails to match your panties,” he murmured through the closed door, “you can stop right now. I can perform on demand.”
And yeah, that was an understatement. He’d been hard since she called. Maybe not from that exact moment. At first, he’d worried that she was sitting in her car too afraid to go into her house—now their home. But it had been months since she’d been paralyzed with fear. Still, he knew that it would always linger. He couldn’t erase it. But he sure as hell could drop everything and help her deal with it.
But then she’d informed him that she would be swinging by the bar. Oh, and by the way, would he meet her in the staff bathroom . . . and please don’t tell Noah . . .
“I know you can perform when needed,” she whispered. She opened the door and let him slip inside. “But you shouldn’t have to. I want this to be special.”
Dominic stared at the gorgeous blonde in hot pink lace panties and nothing else. “It doesn’t get much better than this,” he murmured, looking her up and down. And yeah, her toenails matched her underwear. “But, Lil, you can seduce me another time. Right now, we need to make a baby.”
And then I need to get back to work before Noah realizes what we’re doing back here.
“But I want to seduce you now.” Lily reached for his waistline and began releasing his jeans. He raised his left hand to help as she lowered the zipper. She guided his pants over his hips, taking his underwear with them. Finally she freed the part of him that planned to take center stage in the baby making process—and love every minute of it.
But instead of resting her perfect backside on the vanity’s edge and spreading her legs wide to take him in, Lily bent at the waist and captured his eager erection in his mouth.
“Ah hell,” he groaned. “Lily—”
She pulled back. Her lips hovered over him as her hand ran up and down his hard length. “I believe I owe you a demonstration of my super-special oral skills. This time without interruption.”
“Here?” he rasped. “Now? Lily, Noah’s in the other room waiting.”