Chapter Thirty-one

Chapter Thirty-One

Danielle

Logan puts his lips to mine again, and I wrap my arms around his shoulders. I love this man so much. He is the best friend I could ask for, and the best relationships are built on a foundation of respect and friendship. We just fit together, and I know I’ll never find another person in the whole world who gets me better than Logan Dawson.

Things feel the same between us, and yet everything has changed.

“Do you need to go to the lawyer now?” he asks between kisses.

“I should.”

“Want me to come with you?”

“You’ll be bored.” His lips go to my neck, and I start to melt against him. “Hell, I’ll be bored. But it would be nice to have you with me.”

Logan pulls me into a tight embrace, and I rest my head against his chest and listen to his heart beating. My eyes fall shut, and for the first time since we left Hawaii, I don’t feel like I’m spiraling out of control.

Things are still messy. Things are still going to hurt for a while. But that’s life, isn’t it? It’s not about going through it and having everything fall perfectly into place. It’s about the people you have on the ride with you.

The ones who hold your hand.

Who help you up when you fall.

Who love you.

Chapter Thirty-Two

Logan

“I think that’s the last of it.” I set a box down in the foyer and run my hand over my forehead, wiping away beads of sweat. We picked the hottest day yet this summer to move in together.

Smiling, Danielle looks around the farmhouse. “Now the fun begins, and we get to organize everything.”

“That does not sound like fun.”

She laughs and grabs my hand, pulling me into the kitchen for something to drink before we go back to figuring out what to do with everything. For now, we’ve been sleeping in Danielle’s bed in the room she’s always stayed in. Eventually, we plan on taking over the master bedroom, but Danielle isn’t ready for that yet.

It’s been pretty much untouched since her grandpa passed only a month ago, and I’m in no rush to have her go through his things before we totally redecorate it. Moving in together only a few weeks after we made things official might seem too soon to some people, but it made sense to us. We’ve been friends for so long. We know each other.

We love each other, and we don’t want to wait any longer.

Dexter runs up the stairs, chasing one of the cats. He’s been at it all day and has gotten his nose scratched more than once already. You’d think he’d learn…

Danielle fills two glasses with ice water and grabs a folder from the kitchen table, looking at applications. We’re hiring new help at the bar and need to start the interview process this week. And then next week we’re expanding our hours again.

“No work,” I tell her and close the folder. “It’s our day off.”

Danielle has been in charge of the expansion and is having way more fun with it than she should.

“Fine. You’re all sweaty and need to shower. I should probably go up and help you.”

“You should. Make sure I’ve washed all the hard-to-reach places.” I take a big drink of water and then take Danielle in my arms. She pushes me away laughing, telling me I stink and am getting sweat on her. Of course I just hold her tighter. She slips out of my arms and tries to run away.

I dodge around the counter and pick her up and toss her over my shoulder. She laughs and protests, and I carry her into the living room and playfully toss her on the couch and move on top of her.

“Shower, now!” she laughs, grabbing the hem of my shirt and pulling it up over my head. “We have to leave soon to be at your parents on time anyway.”

“Right.” I kiss her neck and get up, pulling her to her feet. We’re having dinner with my family tonight, and I have something important to ask Danielle before we leave. Dexter tears through the house again, and Tabby Cat jumps up onto the couch to try and get away from him. Dex launches himself at the cat, knocking over a lamp in the process.

“They have claws, buddy,” I tell him, pulling him off the couch. “I really hope this is just a phase.”

“Let’s hope so. Dex hasn’t been around the cats that much.”

Before officially moving in, I started bringing Dexter over to try and ease him into moving, but he’s such a doofus most the time nothing seems to faze him. I pet him for a minute before Danielle and I go upstairs to shower.

I pull a small box out of my drawer while she’s drying her hair and put it in my back pocket. It’s too big and is obvious. Wearing a jacket would be even more obvious since it’s hot as hell outside tonight. I wrap my fingers over the box and go downstairs, impatiently watching TV until Danielle is ready to go.

We go into the barn before leaving, checking to make sure the animals have enough water on this hot ass day. Danielle stops next to the pasture gate, taking a few seconds to look around.

“It’s so pretty out today.”

“And hot.”

She makes a face. “I kind of like the heat. Mostly because I don’t have to do any sort of physical labor in it and can just lie out and tan.”

“I do like looking out and seeing you tan.”

She wiggles her eyebrows. “That’s because I tan topless.”

“It’s not bad in the shade,” I tell her, motioning to a large oak tree near the barn. Taking her hand, I start toward it, hoping she won’t question anything. We have to go this way to get to the car anyway.

“I do like this spot.”

We pause under the tree, and I dig the little box out of my pocket, holding it down at my side so Danielle doesn’t notice.

“I love you,” I tell her.

“I love you, too.” She smiles up at me. “So much.” She steps close.

“Enough to spend the rest of your life with me?” I wrap one arm around her, and she rests her hands on my shoulders.

“Hmmm…let me think about it. Yes.”

“Good.” I bend my head down and kiss her. “Because if not, that would make this a little awkward.”

“Make what?”

I pull out of her arms and get down on one knee, holding up the little box. “I have loved you since the day I met you. I waited nearly a year to tell you how I felt, and I don’t want to wait anymore. Will you be my real fiancée this time around and marry me?”

Danielle brings her hands to her face and nods. “Yes! So much yes!”

I stand back up and slip the ring on her finger. “This one is real, I promise.”

Danielle laughs and brings her hand to her face. “It’s gorgeous!”

She’s still looking at the ring as I envelop my arms around her. “Oh my God, we’re actually engaged!” She makes a little squeaking noise. “For real!”

“I love you so fucking much, Danielle.” I grab her ass and kiss her neck. “I can’t wait until you’re my wife.”

“Danielle Dawson has nice alliteration. I’ll sound fancy.” She looks at the ring again and the sunlight sparkles off of it. “Does anyone else know?”

“Owen went with me to pick out the ring,” I tell her. “But I didn’t tell him when I was asking. I didn’t want him to blow it.”

“That was probably a good idea.” Danielle’s eyes get all teary as she smiles. “Let’s go. I want to show this off to your family.”

I take her right hand, and she holds her left hand up again, turning her fingers so the ring sparkles in the sunlight.

“Are you going to call your parents?” I ask her when we get into the car.

“Maybe not tonight, but I will.” After finding out that her parents were hoping to sell the farm behind her back, Danielle confronted them. They were on the phone, and I could hear the back-and-forth yelling from the other room.

Her father thinks she’s throwing her life away. Her mother seems more concerned with having to tell people her youngest daughter is a bartender. Neither were happy when Danielle told them she was staying here for good, and there were a few days there when it seemed like she’d never talk to her parents again.

And then they showed up, wanting to smooth things over. Life is too short to be angry with each other like that. You really don’t know what day will be your last.

Everyone but Owen is at my parents’ already. He’s usually the last to arrive. Everyone is gathered in the kitchen like usual. Archer is holding Emma, and Jackson comes running to give me a hug.

“Something weird happened today,” I start when Jackson goes back to his toys. That gets everyone’s attention.

“Yeah,” Danielle says, nodding her head. “It was really strange.” She holds up her hand. “This ring just appeared on my finger.”

Quinn almost drops her food. “You’re serious this time?”

“Yes,” Danielle and I say at the same time.

“Oh my God, congrats!” Quinn jumps up and gives us both a hug.

“Look at you!” Danielle looks down at Quinn’s stomach. “You popped overnight!”

Quinn puts her hand on her baby bump. “It’s part baby and part food.” She gives me a hug next and then grabs Danielle’s hand. She, Scarlet, and Mom gush over the ring.

“You’re finally crossing over to the dark side.” Dean pats my back. “I mean the married-life side.”

“It’s about time,” Archer laughs. “I’m happy for you two.”

Weston’s phone rings and he steps aside to answer it. “Sheriff Dawson,” he says, sounding serious.

“Remember when you and Owen called him Lord Fart Face for an entire year?” Dean asks.

I laugh. “And you were Captain Shart Pants. You got so pissed every time we called you that. So naturally we said it as often as possible.”

“Because I never sharted.”

“We were driving home from visiting Aunt Mary. We all smelled it for the two-hour car ride,” Dad says, and we all laugh.

I look out the kitchen window, seeing Owen pull in the driveway. I’m able to sense him, as weird as that sounds. We can’t really explain it, other than saying it’s a twin thing. He comes into the house, already smiling. He didn’t know I was asking Danielle to marry me, but he’s able to sense it too.

“Glad you finally manned up,” Owen says, pulling me into a hug.

“Me too,” Danielle laughs, and I go back to her, wrapping her in my embrace. “Though if anything was worth waiting for, this was it.”