Page 65 of Chasing Amber

He hangs his head. “From the day I met you, I knew you were more than a job…”

I don’t move. I can’t breathe. This is obviously going to be a long story. I don’t know what the hell to think.

He pulls in a breath and meets my gaze. “You’ve been my heart and soul for a very long time, Amber. You know I retired from the Army before I started doing private security work.”

I nod.

“Well, I saved a lot of money during those years. It’s not that the Army pays well. It’s that I didn’t have many needs. I often didn’t even need to pay for housing. I invested it for the future, and the future hit me in the face when I met you.”

“I don’t understand,” I murmur.

“I couldn’t take money from your brother to be with you. It never felt right. I didn’t want to think of myself as your paid employee.” He winces. “I wanted to be something else to you. I wanted to be your man, not just your bodyguard.”

I frown. I don’t know what he’s saying.

“I let every paycheck go into an account. Your brother put them there. He didn’t know until the other day that I’ve never touched the money. I had no way of explaining to him that I was in love with his sister and didn’t want to be paid to be her bodyguard. I was sort of stuck. I couldn’t tell Spence how I felt about you because I never toldyou, and I never toldyoubecause you weren’t ready. So, the moment I knew we were going to move this relationship into new territory, for better or for worse, I finally called Spence and told him to transfer all the money to you.”

I stare at him. I’m too shocked to respond. I don’t know if I’m angry or what.

Isaac sighs. “I’m sorry you found out like this. I didn’t mean to keep it as some giant secret or anything. I just wanted to transfer it before I told you so you couldn’t stop me.”

“Why? That’s two years of employment. Why wouldn’t you get paid?”

“Because I don’t want to be your employee. I want to be your man, your Daddy, your husband. That money never felt right. It’s weird taking it. It makes me feel strange.”

He’s giving me every dime he earned while working for me because it makes him feel weird…?

I release my knees, crawl across the floor, grab the paper from where it fell near his legs, and rip it in half. I rip it again and again and again until all that’s left is tiny, shredded confetti littered all over the floor.

When I’m done, I’m huffing and puffing. I’m on my knees a few inches from Daddy, and I stick my tongue out at him because I can’t think of what else to do.

He lurches out, grabs me around the waist, and pulls me onto his lap. He rocks me back and forth, nuzzling his nose in my neck.

I’m not going to cry this time. I’m all cried out for today, so I swallow back the emotion and simply let him rock me for a long time. The sun goes down while we sit on the floor in the middle of the living room, surrounded by a pile of papers and confetti.

I spend a lot of that time thinking about what the hell we are and where this is going. I conclude that we have a lot to figure out, but we’ll do so together. I never ever want to be apart from Isaac for a day in my life. I’m never sleeping in my bed anymore—mostly because I won’t be able to let my guard down, knowing he’s taping us while we fuck.

I finally uncurl from his lap and tip my head back to meet his gaze.

He strokes one of my pigtails. “There’s only one way to fix this.” His words surprise me after all this silence.

I tip my head to the side, confused. “How?”

“Marry me.”

My breath hitches. I blink.

He nods. “Marry me. Then it won’t matter. The money will just be ours in a joint account.”

I’m startled and find myself focusing on that last bit. “Do you realize how much money I have?”

“Yep.”

“I don’t think your salary for two years is very important in the grand scheme of things.”

“It is to me.”

I scramble to kneel in front of him, wrap my arms around his neck, and kiss him.

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