I really did have the best family a man could ever ask for. “All right then. If you’ll do anything, I need you to get your ass out of my apartment. I need to get a shower and wash this goddamn hangover off so I don’t reek of whiskey when I try to get my girl back.”
She shot to her feet. “That, I can do, baby brother.” She stepped closer and bent to press a kiss to the top of my head. “I’ll expect you to have a plus-one at the next family dinner,” she announced as she headed for the door. “Call me when it’s done and you finally have your happy ending. And give her my love.”
Best. Sister. Ever.
It wasn’tthe booze from the night before that had my stomach twisted into knots as I pulled my truck up in front of Lennix’s house. The hangover had mostly subsided by then. It was nerves that had the coffee I’d forced down earlier threatening to make a reappearance.
Despite the wrenching in my gut, I killed the engine and climbed out, straightening my shoulders with determination as I marched up the stairs to her front door. I wasn’t going to knock and risk her refusing to answer, so instead, I pulled out the key she’d given me when we first started seeing each other, and let myself in. The alarm system chirped, and I made quick work of punching in the code on the keypad by the door so it didn’t go off and scare the hell out of her.
Ziggy and Havoc were on the dog bed by the fireplace, both their heads popping up as I walked in. The fact that Daisy was stretched out on the couch led me to believe my Chaos was still in bed.
I cast the mini-cow a baleful look. “You know better.” I lifted my hand and pointed toward the back door. “Go on, now. If you don’t give me any trouble, I’ll sneak you an extra apple.”
I was shutting the door on the pain-in-the-ass cow when Lennix came around the corner from the hallway, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. The instant she saw me, she skidded to a stop on her bare feet, her eyes going wide and her mouth forming a tiny O.
“Oh! I... I didn’t realize you were here.” Christ, she was so fucking beautiful, especially as she was in that moment, with her hair sleep-mussed, her cheeks warm and pink, and my flannel wrapped around her pajamas. Her brows pinched together as she looked toward the front door. “Did you let yourself in?”
I lifted the key I still held in my hand. “I did. I didn’t wake you, did I?”
“Uh, no...” She suddenly dropped her gaze to the floor, looking unsure, and I hated that I’d done that to her. “Are you here to drop off your key?”
I took a step closer, drawn by the natural magnetism that always pulled us together. I’d fought that draw for longer than I cared to remember, but I was done. After what she said last night and what my sister said this morning, I was done fighting my feelings for this woman. I was done hiding. I didn’t necessarily agree that I deserved her, but I was determined to try and become the kind of man who did.
“It’smykey. How would I get into my home without it?”
Her head shot up, the green in her eyes sparkling with something that looked a hell of a lot like hope. For the first timesince she walked out of my apartment, I felt like I was able to take a full breath. That hope meant she hadn’t given up yet.
“Your home?”
“Well, you’re here, aren’t you? And wherever you are is my home.” I took her face in my hands, tilting it toward me so I could rest my forehead against hers and breathe her in. That spicy warmth was the smell of home. The feel of her soft skin was my solace. This beautiful, incredible woman was my saving grace. I loved that wildness in her that her grandfather had spoken. That chaos. Trying to control her was like trying to stop a river from flowing with just your arms, and I couldn’t get enough. “I know I’ve hurt you, and I’ve made you question how I really feel about you. I’ll spend the rest of my life doing everything in my power to make that up to you, because you were right.” She blinked up at me with confusion, so I explained. “Last night when you said I loved you too, you were right. I’ve been in love with you for a long time, Chaos. I’m sorry it took me so long to admit it, but I’m done lying to myself. And I’m done hiding how I feel about you.” Her delicate fingers wrapped around my wrists as she sniffled, a single tear breaking free and slipping down her cheek. “Baby, no. Please don’t cry,” I pleaded, desperation to make her feel better swamping me.
“They’re happy tears,” she said with a watery giggle. “You really mean it? You love me?”
I returned her smile with one of my own, the dimple in my cheek pressing inward. “I’m so in love with you it actually hurts when you aren’t around,” I confessed. “You own my heart. If you aren’t willing to forgive me for being the stupidest man on the planet, I’ll have to walk around for the rest of my life without it, because as long as I live, it will belong to you.”
“Wow,” she said, a teasing glint filling her eyes. “That sounds like it would be terrible.”
“Oh, it would be,” I said solemnly. “But I’d have no one to blame but myself.”
“And if I do forgive you?”
My heart began beating harder against my ribs, my own hope blooming to life for the very first time. “Then I’d get the privilege of spending every day from here on out trying to make you as happy as you make me.”
She pulled back on a hum, tapping her chin in mock thought. “Hmm. You make me sound pretty amazing. What happened to all those times you accused me of being a stubborn pain in the ass?”
I chuckled, feeling lighter than I had in years. “Oh, you’re still very much a stubborn pain in my ass?—”
“Pot, meet kettle,” she shot back with that fiery look that was all her.
“But you’remystubborn pain in the ass. And you give as good as you take anyway.”
“Hey, you’re the one who gets off on pushing my buttons,” she accused teasingly.
“That I do. And you love pushing mine. Only now, I’ll get to fuck the sass out of you whenever you do it.”
The cheeky smile she gave me lit up my entire world. She let out a snort and rolled her eyes good-naturedly. “Good luck with that. My sass is encoded into my DNA. No amount of fucking will get rid of it.”
Christ, I was already getting hard just imagining it. “Challenge accepted.” I dove for her mouth, needing her kiss like I needed oxygen, and as soon as my lips fused with hers, I was whole again. “So what do you say, baby? Will you be my home?”
