Page 114 of Dreaming of Dawson

“Are you talking about getting married, because if you are, we can’t do that,” she says, surprising me.

“Why not? Because it’s too soon?”

I get my arguments ready to contradict her, but she surprises me with a firm, “No.”

“Why then?”

“Because of your past, Dawson. I know how hard it would be for you to get married again after everything that happened, and I’m okay with that.”

“Are you? Because I’m not. Besides, when I say I wanna make things more permanent, I’m not just talking about getting married. This is about so much more than that.”

“Like having kids?” she says. “Because we don’t have to be married to do that.”

“I know. This isn’t about that, either.”

“Then what…?” she stares up at me, confusion etched on her face, worry shadowing her eyes and I hold her tight against me.

“I wanna show the world you’re mine, Mace. And I want everyone to know I’m yours, too. Not just by kissing you in public every chance I get, or by giving you my last name, or by having kids with you… but by doing something I never even contemplated with anyone else.”

“What’s that?” she asks.

“Signing half the bar over to you.”

“Excuse me?”

“I’ve been thinking about it for a while, and it’s the best solution.”

“The best solution to what?”

“To the fact that I hate treating you like an employee.”

“But I am an employee.”

“Not for much longer. We’re gonna be business partners, and I’ve already made an appointment to see Ezra on Monday morning to talk it through.”

“Who’s Ezra?”

“A lawyer. He’ll deal with all the paperwork.”

“But you can’t do that. This place is yours. It always was. Even Stevie didn’t have a part of it, and she helped you create it.”

“I know. But it’s like Tanner said earlier, you brought me back to life. I told you once that I started drinking because of Stevie, and I carried on because I felt inadequate and lonely, and because I wanted to forget. What I didn’t tell you was why I stopped.” I brush my fingers gently down her cheek. “It was because of you, Mace. I wanted to be better… for you. And now, I want to do this for you, too.”

She stares up at me, blinking hard. “But… But you told me it was called Dawson’s for a reason.”

“It was. And I thought we could change it to MD’s… for a reason. Because it’s ours. It’s not just mine anymore.”

“MD’s?” she says.

“Yeah. Our initials.”

“In that order? Mine first?”

“Yeah. To be honest, I toyed with the idea of calling it Macy’s, but that’s been done before.”

She giggles, and I can’t ignore the bells this time. I stare down at her, closing the gap between us, and kissing her deeply, her arms coming up around my neck, as I flex my hips into her, our tongues flicking and fluttering until we’re breathless with need.

I could easily take her to bed right now, but there’s one more thing I need to say and I pull back, keeping hold of her.

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