Page 31 of Fierce-Dane

“Yes to all of that. But you can’t make someone feel something they don’t. You can’t make them believe something they refuse to. I let her go because there was no way to keep her. I couldn’t and wouldn’t give up the career that I just started.”

“And you shouldn’t have had to,” she said.

“I felt that way.”

He also had the guilt, wondering if he loved Mel enough to give it up and the answer was he just couldn’t do it. It’d taken him a long time to come to terms with the fact that they just weren’t meant and he’d hold onto the good times and have to be content with that.

“And now you co-parent,” she said. “Which is commendable because a lot of people can’t do that successfully, but it feels as if you do.”

“I think we do. We get along. No reason not to. She’s happy and needs to be for the kids to see that.”

“What about your happiness?” she asked.

“That’s been asked of me a lot lately,” he said. “I don’t think I’m unhappy. I can say my body is really happy right now though.”

She laughed and patted his hand. “That’s a good start then.”

9

THE FEAR WAS LESS

Sloane listened to what Dane was saying and she’d have to say her heart just broke for the guy.

Talk about nice guys finishing last.

She never wanted to believe that before and didn’t want to now.

Here was this great guy doing everything he could and yet it wasn’t enough.

And though many might think this was too much drama to have in their life, there was something about him that tugged at her heart just a little bit.

The whole adoption she wasn’t expecting.

Not that she’d judge either, but she liked that he felt that way.

Maybe he wouldn’t shun her so much for her background and she had to decide if she wanted to even tell him.

She didn’t tell many because of that fear.

But with Dane, the fear was less.

Her employees knew, but not everything. She’d been a private person for years and they learned that, but she would never outright lie either.

There was time yet to figure out what to say before the night was over. Or maybe there could be another night too.

She liked that she wasn’t shocked that she was thinking it.

“I tell my kids you’ve got to start somewhere. Not sure what this is other than dinner and conversation. If it ends up only being that, it’s fine too. I don’t want to make it awkward to come to you on a professional level.”

“Thank you for that,” she said. “I appreciate it. Can I ask a few more questions before I decide what more I want to say?”

“Sure,” he said agreeably.

She was debating if that was a good or bad trait that he gave in. Though he did say he didn’t give in to his kids that often and in divorce situations that didn’t always happen.

“How often do you date since you’ve been divorced?”

He let out a not-so-funny laugh. “Embarrassingly enough, I’ve had a big four dates since my divorce.”

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