Page 112 of Even if It Hurts

Passing my hand over Kaia’s head, I turned to the woman at my side and took in her unshed tears and soft gasp as I removed the ring from the box.

“Before you and Kaia, my life made sense to me,” I began and took her left hand in mine. “Then the two of you crashed into my life, and now nothing makes sense without you.” I placed the ring on the tip of her third finger, then met her joy-filled eyes. “Raise her with me. Spend your life with me. Marry me.”

“Yes,” she said on a slightly delirious breath before her lips were on mine again. “Yes to everything.”

Once I had the ring fully seated on her finger, I drove my hands into her curls and tipped her head back. Coaxing her mouth open and deepening the kiss until the world started falling away around us...only for Kaia’s giggle to bring us crashing right back to the reality of where we were.

I stilled, but Lainey just breathed out an embarrassed laugh as her forehead dropped to my chest.

“Right,” I murmured before pressing a kiss to the top of her head. “We should finish putting Kaia to bed.”

“Honestly, Mr. Briggs?” Lainey began as she lifted her head enough for me to see her bright smile and the way her eyes danced. “You should ask me to marry you more often.”

“Why?” Gray yelled from across the parking lot, drawing my attention that way.

From the irritation in his voice, I’d expected him to be talking to literally anyone other than me, but there he was, standing just outside the driver’s side of his truck, glaring at me.

“Can I help you?” I asked as I bit into a donut since I had no control whenever they were around. At least I’d saved the other eleven for everyone else...for now.

“Every time,” he snapped as he leaned into his truck and came back out with a box of donuts. A sharp laugh left me as he repeated, “Every time.”

“Not my fault.”

“You can’t let me have just one time where I’m the one bringing them?”

I lifted my box meaningfully. “It’s more donuts. Who cares? And if you wanna blame someone, blame yourself.” I gave him a look daring him to argue with me on this. “If you hadn’t choked, the cases wouldn’t be called Donuts. If they weren’t called Donuts, I wouldn’t crave them whenever we do one.”

“It was one time,” he said, enunciating each word as he reached me.

“And it was enough.” I glanced at the box in his hand, displaying the company’s name, and made a face. “Mine are better.”

“Absolutely not,” he began just as an irritated voice ground out, “They’re donuts. They’re all the same.”

I looked to the side at where Briggs was stalking across the parking lot, coffee in hand.

“He’s joking,” Gray said, even though he sounded like he wasn’t at all sure.

“Who hurt you?” I asked because no donut or donut place was the same. Obviously.

Briggs glared at me as he continued past us, heading for the fully repaired office of Shadow Industries. “Morning meeting in fifteen,” he called over his shoulder, then came to an abrupt stop and turned back to us. “Lainey asked if y’all are coming to Kaia’s birthday.”

I had nothing against kids. I’d been surrounded by little gremlins my entire life, having grown up in one of those families where there were always so many siblings and cousins around, you could never separate them or remember how many there were. But kids’ birthday parties were the worst.

However, I would do absolutely anything for Briggs’ niece. We all would.

Suffering through a one-year-old’s birthday party included.

“She shouldn’t have to ask,” I said as I took another bite of my donut. “I’m an automaticyesto anything for that kid.”

“I’m still stuck on the all-donuts-are-the-same thing,” Gray muttered, his head shaking a little before he gave a nod. “But, yeah. I’m in.”

Briggs dipped his head as he turned back for the building with us trailing behind him.

Gray shifted closer to ask, “How have we known him for over a dozen years, and we’re just finding out that he doesn’t appreciate donuts?”

“I can hear you,” Briggs snapped as he swung open the door, turning his dark glare on us.

“Fair question,” I asked around another bite, giving him a cheesy smile as I stepped into the office and into someone else, nearly knocking her over. A muffled curse left me as I tried steadying the girl between the glazed donut in one hand and the large box filled with more of the same in the other.

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