Page 189 of Damaged Protector

“I haven’t even asked you yet.” An amused smile tilted his perfect lips.

I waved my free hand impatiently at him. “Oh, go ahead then.”

“Well, now it just seems anticlimactic,” he pouted.

“Would you hurry up? I’m ready to be engaged.” I leaned forward and kissed his lips. “And now you don’t have to be nervous because you know I’m a sure thing.”

He wrapped those big arms around me and bound us together. “Mallori Fitz, will you please marry me?”

“Even though you proposed to me with your nipple ring, I’m going to say yes.”

He laughed happily and rolled me off him, deftly untying the ribbon and slipping the ring onto my left hand. “I promise I’m going to make you the happiest woman in the world, Little Bee.”

I stared at my gorgeous engagement ring before moving my eyes to his.

“You already have, Tate. You already have.”

Epilogue 2

Four-and-a-Half Years Later

I pulled up in front of the three-story building in downtown Dallas and smiled. The structure was made of rectangular tan—or taupe, as Mallori always corrected me—sandstone blocks, and wrought-iron rails lined the balconies on the upper two floors, reminding me of the trip Mal and I had taken to New Orleans a year ago.

A couple women sat on one of the second-floor balconies in fluffy pink robes and sipped on something in tall glasses, no doubt some concoction Bristol had come up with for her spa guests. She’d had her cosmetology license for years, but she went back to school to obtain her aesthetician license and now ran a very successful high-end spa. She shared the second floor with a dermatology office.

The second and third floors catered almost exclusively to women. A breast center resided on the top floor, including a mammography clinic and a plastic surgeon who specialized in breast removal and reconstruction.

A familiar figure appeared on one of the third-floor balconies, and I opened the sunroof of my jet-black Denali and stuck my hand through it to wave. My sister waved back before heading through the door behind her.

Jennifer had come here for a visit a few months after her surgery, and soon after that, she decided to move to Texas. I liked to think it was because she wanted to be near her charming, handsome brother, but… well, I think my friend Mike, who owned the boxing gym, had a little something to do with her decision.

Jenn was now the manager of the mammography clinic, and she’d even started a chapter of The Hair Queens here in Dallas. I’d never seen her happier.

A text message came through from her.

Jenn: I’m on my way down. I’ll stop and get Mal.

Hawk: Okay, gorgeous. See you in a few.

Mallori and her friend Megan from PT school had opened a clinic on the first floor this building. The other part of that floor was occupied by Blaire’s orthopedic clinic and Shiloh’s optometry office. I loved that almost all the ladies in our little group were housed in the same building.

The exceptions were Charli, who ran her preschool; Landree, whose safari was still going strong; and Taz, who was my coworker at DFW Security Force.

I got out of my vehicle and walked around to lean against the side of it, my legs crossed at the ankles as I waited on my two favorite women. My eyes drifted up to the letters above the glass doors.

BROXTON BUILDING

Dr. Blaire Broxton had bought this building a few years ago, and I couldn’t have been prouder of what she’d built. The woman had been family to me since the first time Shark had introduced us all to his little sister around… let’s see… it would have been nineteen years ago. Wow.

When the doors to the building opened, I straightened and walked swiftly toward my wife, who was dressed in black pants, a magenta button-down maternity top, and sensible black Nikes.

Taking her face in my hands, I asked, “How are you feeling, Bee?”

“Fat and horny,” she replied without pause, and my sister, who had exited behind her, groaned.

“Seriously? Can you tone down the horny talk, please? My man is out of town.”

“Okay,” Mal said with a wicked grin. “I’m fat and need anal ASAP.”

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