Page 103 of Fire in You

Placing my hands on his waist, I laughed. “I haven’t been gone that long.”

“Long enough.” He kissed my neck and then my jaw.

“You two are freaking adorable,” Steph said as Nick came up behind her.

“That we are.” Circling an arm around my waist, Brock drew me to him. I went, placing my hands on his chest as he lowered his head. His lips swept over mine and then he shifted his head, speaking directly in my ear. “You doing okay?”

“Yeah.” I slid my hand up to his shoulder. “I’m glad we decided to come.”

“I’m gladyoudecided to come.”

Tilting my head, I smiled a little as I rested my cheek against his chest. Colton was placing a new drink down in front of Abby as he kissed her upturned face before straightening. I found Reece and Roxy next. She was back behind the bar but had her arms across the top, gripping the edge as she stretched toward Reece. He met her halfway, kissing her.

Calla was smiling at something Jax was saying. They too were behind the bar, standing in the center. She started to turn, but Jax caught her around the waist and laid one on her. The guys around the bar hooted, and when he let go of Calla, her face was as red as a cherry.

Nick was back to rubbing Steph’s shoulders and she had this dreamy, peaceful look on her face. You almost couldn’t believe she was sitting in the middle of the bar. She reached up, placing her hand over one of his and squeezing.

They all had their own struggles and stories to tell and they all made it to this point, happy and in love.

I looked to the right, and found the bright blue eyes of Katie staring back at me. She raised an eyebrow and nodded. She didn’t have to speak. I knew what that look and nod meant, and I heard her words from earlier in the night.

Still going to be rough at times, but he’s worth it now.

I turned into Brock, wrapping an arm around his waist. I felt his chin graze the top of my head, and he held me tighter as Colton shouted over the music.

Sometimes, like now, I really believed Katie just might be psychic.

I let out a happy sigh.

Deciding to come here was a huge decision, but I had no idea until that moment how badly I needed to do this—to retrace my steps in a way, and I had no idea how much it would affect me.

My shoulders were lighter.

My thoughts a little less heavy.

My heart a whole lot fuller.

Two fingers pressed under my chin and tilted my head up. Warm brown eyes stared into mine.

“You here with me?” he asked.

“I’m always with you.”

Chapter 28

I woke in the middle of the night, surprised to find a hard, unmovable body pressed against mine. The cobwebs of sleep lifted as I turned slightly. “What are you doing?”

“I missed you.” Brock’s arm tightened around my waist. “Plus, I behaved last night and stayed out of this room.”

He had . . . much to my disappointment. I’d hope he’d sneak into my room, but when we came back from Mona’s we parted ways with what was a pretty chaste kiss.

Thanksgiving had been a chaotic crazy mess of awesomeness. My family behaved as expected. They were nosy and demanding and all around lovable as they asked one question after another.

Afterwards, Brock and I had talked with my father and my uncles about our proposal to convert the two rooms into a dance studio. My father and uncles didn’t immediately scoff at the idea, but Andre looked doubtful. We laid out all the pros and cons for them, comparing cost to potential profit, and by the time the conversation was done and we lost half of them to the football game, I was feeling pretty confident about it. Dad had been eyeing those papers with that gleam in his eye, the same one he got when he saw a new recruit he knew he could shape into a winner.

“If my parents caught you in here . . .” I stopped, rethinking where I was going with that. “Actually, my parents wouldn’t care. They’d probably applaud it.”

Laughing softly, Brock nuzzled my neck. “You’re right.”

---