“What?”
“I wanted to have a man-to-man with him. He doesn’t know anything about me, and I’m going to be taking his daughter and grandson away for a while. I needed him to be able to ask whatever questions he needed.”
“Eli?”
He chuckles and shakes his head once. “We’re good, sunshine. Really good.”
“A while?” I ask, stuck on those two words.
He presses his lips together, trying and failing to fight the smile on his lips. “Yeah, until I can get a transfer to the team in Texas if they’ll take me.”
“What?” I breathe.
Eli lowers his head. His lips touch mine with a brief brush before he lifts his head. His gaze searches mine for a long moment, the silence swirling around us. I want to ask him a million questions. I don’t. Instead, I wait.
“I want to transfer to the Fort Worth Stampede. Your dad is here, and I looked it up. My parents are almost the exact same distance from Ohio as they are from here, plus that’s only a plane ride.”
“Eli, I couldn’t ask you to do that.”
He snorts before I feel his mouth against mine again, his hands gripping my hips as he holds on to me. “Sunshine, you haven’t asked me for shit. I want to do this for our family.”
And my whole body swoons.
I love this man.
Every inch of him.
I can’t wait to start this new adventure with him at my side.
EPILOGUE
PUT A RING ON IT
ELI
SIX MONTHS LATER
Walking through the door, I close my eyes for a moment, stopping in the foyer. The scent of lasagna hits my senses. I love these days, the ones where Wrenly has the day off, and she spends it doing homemaker things around the house.
Sure, I enjoy the fact that she works and does her own thing, too. But I wouldn’t be mad if she wanted to be a stay-at-home mother and wife. In fact, I would be more than happy to facilitate that for her if it’s what she wanted—not only for selfish reasons like lasagna.
Kicking off my shoes, I close the front door behind me, locking it before I continue to move into the living room. That’s when I see Ryan sitting on the floor, a pile ofLegoblocks in front of him.
He lifts his head, his toothy grin meeting mine. “Dad,” he calls out. He's only six months older, not even two years old, and he’s grown so much since I first met him. I’m glad I haven’t missed even a minute of it.
Crouching down, I open my arms. He stands and runs toward me, his whole body slamming into mine. Wrapping my arms around him, I pick him up off the ground, spinning him in a single circle. He squeals with his delight as his face lights up, his smile consuming all of him.
He’s the happiest kid I’ve ever seen, not that I’ve seen a lot of kids in my life, aside from Luke and Clara’s daughter Sloane. But still, I know that he’s special and likely a genius, mainly because he’s Wrenly’s. All the good he got is definitely from her.
I hitch Ryan up against my chest, and he wraps his little arms around my neck as I turn and head toward the kitchen. Ryan presses his wet lips on my cheek before he lays his head against my shoulder.
I’m sure he’s tired. No doubt, having given his mother a run for her money all day long. Standing at the doorway, I don’t make a sound, watching my woman move around the kitchen.
She works around the room. I don’t know what she’s doing, mainly because I can’t focus on anything but her—anywhere but her. She turns her head and looks over her shoulder at me, her eyes finding mine, and a smile appears on her face before she spins around to face me.
“My boys,” she cries.
I can tell that something is wrong. Her tone, her voice, she’s shaky. “Sunshine?” I ask, taking a tentative step toward her.
