“What do you know?”
“I know your parents weren’t the great humanitarians they pretended to be.”
“No, they weren’t. They’re sick fuckers. Did you know this when I told you how my sister died?”
“Yes. Why did you lie to me? I’ve wanted you to tell me, and you never did.”
“I can’t.”
“Because Evangeline is still alive.”
This time, it was her hands that gripped his arms. “If anyone finds out…” T.A. shook at the thought. “No one can find out she’s still alive.”
He pulled her to his chest. “No one will figure it out. I only did when you were so adamant about staying in Jamestown. At first, I thought it was because you didn’t want to leave your friends, but that wouldn’t have made you cut me off so quickly. The only thing I could think of was that you must love someone else more than me, and there was only one answer: Evangeline.”
“Do you know who she is?”
“No, and I don’t want to know. That’s between her and you. Until you want me to know or you need my help.”
“Thank you. So, you don’t hate me?”
“No, I don’t hate you.” He tenderly glided his lips along her jawline, stopping at her ear. “I love you.”
“You do? A moment ago, you were saying I was driving you insane,” she reminded him.
“I can take losing my mind over you. What I can’t take is being without you.”
Pouting, she started unbuttoning his dress shirt. “You didn’t miss me enough to fly into Jamestown to beg me to take you back. You missed the biggest snow in a—”
“I know, in a hundred years. You never listened to your voicemails, did you? Where’s your phone?”
T.A. reached down between her breasts to take out her phone.
“That’s handy.”
“Isn’t it?” Gloating, she looked at the dozens of missed voicemails. “Which one?”
“Take your pick. They all say the same thing.”
Picking one, she put it on speaker phone.
“Trudy, call me. If you want to live in Jamestown or Treepoint, I don’t care. We can live anywhere you want. I love you. Call me back.”
Picking another message, she pressed the arrow.
“Trudy, call me. I’m trying to give you the time you need, but I miss you. I think I found the house you wanted me to buy. I already placed an offer on it. If Viper’s aunt’s house isn’t the one you wanted, I’m going to be stuck in that big house alone. I love you. Please call me back.”
She was about to play the last voicemail when her phone rang. She raised her eyes to Dalton and saw his phone in his hand. She pressed the Accept button, her eyes misty as she listened to his voice on her phone as well as a few inches away as he spoke in his phone.
“Trudy, I love you. Will you marry me?”
“Yes. I’ll marry you,” she spoke as she moved closer to him. “Dalton, hang up. It’s almost midnight.”
He didn’t move the phone away from his ear. “What happens at midnight?”
She took his phone away from him and put both down on the chair with his tie before sliding the vest off his shoulder and to the floor.
“You said you wanted to have sex twice a day. If we’re lucky, we can get two in before it turns midnight. You know what the best part is?”
“No.”
T.A. grinned at him mischievously when she saw his Adam’s apple bobble in his throat.
“After twelve, it’s a brand-new day.”
“There’s something I should tell you.”
Her hands went behind her to unzip the back of her bodysuit. Unashamedly, she tugged the front down to expose her braless breasts. Swept off her feet, she rested her head on his shoulders as he carried her to the bedroom, sure she was mistaken at the words she barely heard him mutter under his breath before laying her on the bed.
“Sometimes, a man just has to do what a man has to do.”
“Are you being rude?” she asked huffily.
“No, I’m praying.”
Epilogue
Dalton lifted his glass of ice-cold juice to his lips as he stood in the double doorway of the house he had purchased to watch T.A. jump off the diving board. Prepared to save her if she didn’t come up for air.
The early February weather was too cold to have a pool party with her friends, but T.A. was determined and he had given in when she agreed that he didn’t have to participate. The pool may be heated but the chilly air wasn’t.
Dalton turned to see the progress the movers were making and saw Shade coming to the open door. Motioning him inside he returned his attention to T.A. who had pulled her slick body out of the water to have another go at the diving board. Her laughter ringing out as Killyama called out she was going to drown her ass.
“Looks like the moving is coming along,” Shade stated from his side.