“I don’t know. Anything with a view outdoors. Preferably a brewery with a patio.”
He smirks, handsome and smug. “I rushed to build the patio when I first bought the house, right at the beginning of fall. I wanted you to have it on the first sunny day next year.”
“What?” I rasp. My breathing turns shallow and my eyes prickle. “You are not making sense, Dex. Why would you do that?”
He opens the folder and shows me a document dated in October, weeks after my surgery and around the time he?—
“You bought the house around the time we talked about . . . about getting married. You came to Buffalo and spent two days convincing me and my parents that marrying you was the only solution.”
He nods. “After my first visit in the hospital, a few days after the accident, I called a realtor to help me find a place. Nothing was fully planned in my head, but I knew that if you gave me a chance to take care of you, I couldn’t do it in a high-rise building. You’d fucking hate not having a backyard.”
“Dex.” It’s the only sound I can make as I choke on emotion and awe.
“The second I saw this place, I saw us here together.”
I’m shaking my head. It’s too much to take in. He got this place for us? Even before there was an us?
“I can’t wrap my mind around what you’re saying. We said one year. I’d get the necessary medical care and then we would split up.” Even as those last two words leave my mouth, they sound so wrong.
He shrugs. “I never said that, Sabrina. You did. For some reason, you required an end date, so I went with it. If I couldn’t convince you to stay after one freaking year, I didn’t deserve you.”
My body moves before my mind catches up. I throw myself at him to kiss his perfect mouth. “Don’t you ever say that, Dexter Whitby. Don’t you ever say you don’t deserve something or someone. You deserve the world.”
He buries his nose in my hair before planting a kiss on my forehead. “You always do that.”
“Excuse me, I don’t think so!” I exclaim, suddenly self-conscious. “I never threw myself at you. Well, till recently.”
A chuckle, low and sexy, accompanies his words. “I mean whenever I doubted myself, all these years, you always said some version of that. Jumped at every chance to provide confidence when I needed it. Made me feel seen as a person and not only as a hockey player. You’ve always been there for me, Baby Brie.”
My heart is in a vise and my nose is prickling. I can’t decide if I want to cry or swoon or jump up and down. Maybe all three at once.
This man has always been the most amazing person. It turns out—I can now admit wholeheartedly—he’s also the person I love the most.
“You are my everything,” he says with searing blue eyes. “When I thought I was going to lose you to that accident, I realized how much you’ve always meant to me. More than a friend. More than anyone. All that mattered was keeping you near. I knew in my heart I didn’t want this life if you’re not in it.”
“But Dex, why didn’t you just say that?”
“Would you have heard me? You were too busy worrying about everyone else and too shaken by the situation,” he explains. “I was willing to be whatever you needed. At the time, you needed a fake husband.”
“Instead of telling me how you feel, you married me. That’s some strategy.” I chuckle at the delightful weirdness of it. “Was last night part of the plan?”
“I’ll remind you I wasn’t the one wearing a red fuck-me outfit.”
“Excuse me, it’s called a teddy! Or maybe a babydoll? I can’t remember.”
His features soften with affection. “I honestly didn’t expect anything last night. Just wanted to take care of you, Sabrina. Figured everything would fall into place once we spent time together. Because it’s always been you.”
I swoon without restraint. “I’m glad it didn’t take us all year to figure things out. Last night wasn’t planned, but it was perfect.”
He hauls me over his lap so I’m straddling him, my hips rubbing against his thick erection. Large hands grab my ass and squeeze hard. “I’m a patient man, but no saint. There’s no way you were going to keep flashing this fine ass and expect me to stay away.”
“I’m happy you didn’t stay away.”
The guests enter the house, making a ruckus so as not to catch us by surprise. I scramble to go downstairs.
However, Dex holds my hand and prevents me from turning away. He puts a blue box in my palm. The Cartier logo at the top is partially hidden by a small bow.
“I never got you a typical diamond engagement ring. I’m hoping this will make up for it.”
