He’d once assumed he would ruin a child’s life. Now he thought he could actually make it better.
Jase drove Brook Lynn and Sparkles to his house. The moment they were inside, the little guy started barking, on the lookout for Steve.
“Come on,” he said to Brook Lynn. He picked her up and carried her out the back door, to the entrance of the shed, which was closed.
She laughed. “What are you doing?”
“Close your eyes,” he commanded.
“Why? What’s going on?”
“Close.”
With another laugh, she finally complied.
He shouldered his way inside and set her on her feet. He’d been working on this in his spare time, waiting for the right moment to show her.
Her gaze widened as she spun. “It’s...” She gaped at him. “Oh, my gosh, Jase. It’s a bunker to see us through the zombie apocalypse.”
“Yes,” he said, knocking on one of the walls. “I reinforced the perimeter with steel. I built shelves and stocked them with food and weapons. I researched everything you might possibly want or need and made sure you had two of each.”
Tears brimmed in her eyes. “Jase.” She pressed a hand over her heart. “This is the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me.”
“I want to be the guy you rely on, always. I don’t just want to live with you—I want to be a part of you. I want to prove every minute of every day just how special you are to me.”
“Jase,” she said again. Then she launched herself into his arms. “I love you,” she said, kissing his face. “I love you, and I can’t believe you did this for me.”
“For you, I will do anything.”
She grinned up at him, and for that split second of time, he could almost believe they’d finally achieved their happily-ever-after, that nothing bad could ever happen to them again. Almost.
That old sense of foreboding swept through him, both taking him by surprise and yet feeling all too familiar. In the past, anytime he’d experienced even the slightest glimmer of happiness, something terrible had happened to push him back into the pit of despair.
Brook Lynn’s smile faded, and she brushed her fingertips over his frowning mouth. “Is something wrong?”
A cold sweat broke out on the back of his neck, but he forced himself to shake his head. “Things have never been better.”
*
BROOK LYNN DECIDED to cross another item off her fun list. Be another person for a day. No Worries Girl. That’s right. She wasn’t going to worry about the dark look that had come over Jase’s face earlier today or his refusal to share the reason behind it.
He was such an amazing man, but he carried too much on his shoulders and had for the whole of his life. He had a heart capable of giving what it had never known but had always craved: love. He possessed an innate sophistication, yet it was coupled with a sharpness he’d honed through rejection and pain. He was urbane, polished, yet still so rough around the edges. A warrior determined to protect. A seducer determined to possess. Powerful. Compelling.
And he’s mine.
Fingers snapped in front of her face. “Again?” her sister said on a sigh.
She blinked into focus. The dinner! Here she was, No Worries Girl, at a fancy restaurant with Kenna, Jessie Kay and Daphne, and she kept spacing out.
“Sorry,” she muttered.
Laughter broadcasted at her right, and she glanced over to ground herself in the here and now. A spacious room with dim lighting, the only illumination coming from what seemed to be a thousand candles flickering here, there, chasing away shadows. The vaulted ceiling cascaded downward, giving way to lower tiers, and elaborate murals decorated the walls. Re-creations of famous artwork. The Mona Lisa. A Monet: Nimphee. Starry Night by Van Gogh.
Kenna—well, Dane—had procured a private room for the bachelorette dinner, but its double doors were open to the rest of the restaurant, where couples and families enjoyed food that Jessie Kay said was “almost as good as Brook Lynn’s.”