“No, he didn’t get to come back. He was waiting in the office. He heard the parents complaining while they waited for me to regain control.” Annika sighed. “They pretty much blamed me for everything.”
Daniel knew that Annika wanted nothing more than to impress her parents. Which was part of the reason she was afraid to tell them about him. He pushed that thought aside for now.
A sob escaped her, and Daniel found himself angry at her father for not believing in her. “So now he’s confident that I’m a failure.” She sniffled.
“You’re not a failure. You’re a great teacher.”
“You don’t know that.” She burrowed deeper into his chest. He wrapped his arms around her, trying to protect her. But her pain came from within.
“Well, not firsthand, but you’re good at everything.”
She pulled back to give him a withering look.
“Fine.” He pulled her close again. “I don’tactuallyknow, but...” He paused, holding her tight. Why shouldn’t he actually know? He could go to the school, as an observer, or for Career Day. He knew she was great, but maybe she would believe him if he actually saw her teach.
“Fine, I’ll come for Career Day. Talk about how awesome it is to be an NP.” He spoke quickly, before he changed his mind. How was he going to walk into that building?
Annika tensed and pulled back. “No. You don’t want to do that.”
“Why not?”
“You do remember where I work?” She stared at him. “I never should have told you Sajan was coming—”
“This has nothing to do with Sajan.” Well, mostly nothing. His stomach was in knots, but at the moment he didn’t care. He placed his hand on the side of her head. “I would do anything for you.” It was completely true. It didn’t matter about the building. He would do anything to make her happy. “I love you.”
“But Daniel, you don’t have to—wait, what did you say?” Her nose and eyes were swollen and red rimmed, her cheeks were flushed, but she smiled and looked at him with such pure love that he wanted to freeze that moment in time.
Heat rose to his face. “I said I would come to Career—”
“No, not that.”
A silly, dopey grin took over his face. “I said that I love you.”
She gave him her crooked smile. “This was the most romantic way you could think of to tell me you loved me?” She looked around. “Standing in the back of a bar while I cry?”
“It’s perfect.” Daniel leaned down and kissed her. “Don’t complain. I said I would come to your class.”
She pulled back. “You don’t have to...just the offer is enough...”
“I’ll be fine.” Of course he would. The building haunted his nightmares, but for her, for the woman he loved, he’d figure out a way to walk into it. “Besides, little boys should know that nurse practitioner is an option, don’t you think?”Not just surgeon.Jealousy did not look good on him, and he needed to let that go.
“Well, sure, of course. But I don’t want you to do anything you aren’t ready for.”
“I’m ready.” He ignored the panic that streaked through his body at just thethoughtof entering that school.
She pulled back from him and studied his face, no doubt looking for anything that would tell her he wasn’t ready to go back into the building where he had last seen his daughter alive. He simply focused on how much he loved her. On how it broke his heart to see her unhappy. On how he didn’t even really care that she didn’t tell her parents about him, because he was willing to take any part of her she was willing to give.
“Daniel...”
“I got customers here, Anni,” Phil bellowed from out front.
Daniel pursed his mouth in amusement and tilted his head toward the front. “You better go. You may need this job after that fiasco today.”
She lightly smacked his arm as she narrowed her eyes at him, her grin poking through despite her efforts to hide it. “Ha ha. And you say you love me.”
“But I do.” He stroked her cheek with his thumb, getting lost once again in those brown eyes. He slowly drew his thumb over her bottom lip, before leaning down to gently suck it into his mouth. Her hiss of breath was all the encouragement he needed to open her mouth and deepen their kiss. She moved closer to him, whispering his name, and for a moment he forgot where they were.
“Anni, let’s go!” Even Phil’s bellow did not have the power to shake them from each other, though Annika did pull back.
