Page 46 of Keep

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Curtis

I drove straight home after I left Dalton and I’d been waiting for her ever since.

Eventually the patio door slid open and she stepped outside.

“What are you doing out here?” Cassie asked.

I reached for her. “Waiting for you to get home.”

She settled against my chest and I inhaled the sweet scent of her skin as I held her close.

“Is Breck in his room?” she asked.

“Yeah, he got home a little while ago.”

Cassie raised her head. The light filtered out from the apartment and I could see the curiosity in her eyes.

“What did you mean by your text earlier?” she asked. “You said Dalton needed you.”

I kissed her forehead. “He just needed a friend.”

“With everything that’s been going on I was worried.”

“No need to worry.”

“Does it have something to do with that shady character you saw at his office? Or was it about Hale?”

“Both.”

Her eyes widened. “Tell me.”

“I swear to god everything’s good,” I assured her. “Dalton’s fine. Cami’s fine. The bad guys are gone. And Hale…”

I tried to think of a way to sum up what I’d learned about Hale Tremaine tonight.

“Dalton’s brother was actually a much better guy than anyone ever guessed,” I said.

“What do you mean?” Now she was really interested. “What happened?”

A breeze lifted a strand of long blonde hair and it fell across her face. I smoothed it back.

“I’ll tell you every single detail another time,” I said.

“Why not now?”

“Because now I want to do something else.”

She probably thought I was leading the conversation somewhere dirty. It was the kind of thing I would usually say before sliding my hand up her skirt.

But instead I knelt at her feet and looked up into her angelic face, a face I wanted to look at every day for the rest of my life.

“Cassidy Gentry, will you marry me?”

The heartbeat filled with shocked silence was the longest second of my life. Then she bent down to throw her arms around me.

“Yes!” she squealed. “You know I will, Curtis. I’d marry you tomorrow.”

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