Page 85 of Guarded from Sabotage

“Or I could just watch you practice. That would work, too.”

“Whatever you want, Sarah.” Affection softens his gaze. “All you have to do is ask.”

Aww.

I’ll never not love it when he says stuff like that.

“I love you.” Resting my hands on his shoulders, I stretch up to kiss him again. “I still can’t believe how lucky I am to have you.”

His voice dips, going rough with emotion. “I’mthe lucky one, Sarah.”

Oh. My heart just melted.

“Actually,” I tell him, “I know exactly where I want to go.”

“Where?”

My lips curve into a teasing smile. “It’s a surprise. You’ll have to wait and see.”

“You and your surprises.” Dante shakes his head, chuckling.

“You liked the other ones, didn’t you?”

“Of course I did. How could I not? The Cowboys game, and the Alamo, and Rambo… I love your surprises. They’re all incredible.”

Slipping my hand into his, I tug him back down the sidewalk. As we walk, I ask, “Do you think Rambo misses us? We’ve never left him before.”

“I’m sure he does, but Erik’s keeping him busy. Plus, you know everyone at B and A is spoiling him like crazy.”

“True.” Everyone at Blade and Arrow loves Rambo, especially Erik. When Dante told his team that we were taking two weeks off to visit his family and the Sleepy Hollow team, Erik was the first to volunteer to take care of Rambo. “Is Erik taking Rambo to the community center today? I can’t remember.”

Dante pulls out his phone and taps the screen a few times. After a second of scrolling, he says, “Yes. He’s going over at four, so he and Rambo can spend some time with the kids after they get out of school.”

“Oh, good.” My heart lifts. “The kids always love seeing Rambo. And Erik, of course.”

Over the last couple of months, the community center in Seguin has become an important place for everyone in the Blade and Arrow family, including our dog.

While I was recovering, I did some serious thinking about what I wanted to do about work. I felt sick at the idea of searching for a new job and going for interviews, and I honestly wasn’t too thrilled about working in a strange office by myself, either. Dante offered to support me until I felt ready, but that’s not me. My work is important to me, and I didn’t want to let Tamara ruin it.

After some long conversations, Dante helped come up with a great solution. I still do my remote counseling, but I also go to the community center a few times a week to volunteer—working with the kids who go there.

And since Dante wasn’t crazy about me going alone, particularly not in the beginning, he decided to volunteer, too. So while I’m meeting with the kids, he helps out in the gym, running weightlifting trainings and basketball games or just being around to talk.

Me and Dante aren’t the only ones who go there. Everyone on the team volunteers, even Rambo. We discovered during training classes that he’d be a great therapy dog, so we got him certified and now he comes to the community center with us. It’s great—Rambo gets plenty of attention, and the kids get to see that having some scars is okay.

“So, where are we going?” Dante puts on a wheedling voice. “Just a hint? Please?”

“We’re almost there,” I tell him, gesturing at a store half a block down. “The one with the striped awning.”

“Another gift shop?” His brows pull into a little V as he looks at me. “Do you want to buy everyonemoresouvenirs?”

“Not exactly.” Grinning, I squeeze his hand. “You’ll see.”

He looks even more confused when we walk into the tiny gift shop and I head directly to the counter, asking to see the owner. As the teenaged employee goes into the back room to find Pete, the owner of Terrific Tees, Dante peers at me quizzically. “Do you know the owner? Is he someone you went to school with?”

“Not quite. Hanna knows him from when she was a bartender in the village. He was a regular, but the nice kind. Not like that other one.”

“Okay… So is he giving us a deal on T-shirts or something?”

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