Page 140 of Dirty Pucker

“Are you okay?” she asks, her voice shaky.

I close my eyes and sink into her embrace. I hug her tight, savoring the comfort of this moment. I inhale deeply and breathe in her perfume.

“I am now,” I say. “You’re here.”

She leans back and cups my face in her hands as she gazes at me. Her eyes shine with worry. “Of course I’m here, Del. I’m always here for you. Always.”

“Are you sure? Are you sure I’m the guy you want to be with? I just got arrested for beating up my dad. It’s probably already all over social media and the news…” My voice shakes. “I don’t want you to get caught up in all this, Ingrid. It could get ugly.”

She kisses me, catching me off guard. When she breaks the kiss, she holds my face and looks me in the eye. “I’m positive. You did an incredible thing protecting your mom. I don’t care what anyone says. I’m proud of what you did. And I’ll stand by you always.”

My heart rattles in my chest. This woman. She is beyond amazing.

I kiss her, then lean my forehead against hers and close my eyes. “I love you. So, so much.”

“I love you too.”

We break apart. My mom and Dakota walk up to hug me.

“Are you okay?” I ask my mom.

She flashes a tired smile, but that frightened look in her eyes is gone. “I’m doing fine, honey.”

“What happened with Dad?”

“After the officer took you away, I explained to the other officer what happened. I explained how he’s been harassing and threatening me for months and trying to break into my house, how he was trying to run me off the road, how I have a restraining order against him.” She lets out a shaky breath. Dakota holds her hand.

“They arrested him,” my mom says. “He’ll be going away for a long time.”

I let out the breath I’ve been holding. I hug her and kiss her forehead.

I turn to Dakota. “I’m sorry you got woken up for all this,” I say to her.

She hugs me. “Don’t be sorry. Thank you for protecting Mom.”

I glance over and spot Xander, Theo, and Blomdahl talking quietly on the other side of the room.

I step away from my mom and sister and walk over to them.

“Hey.” They all look at me. “Thanks again for everything you guys did tonight. Things would have been a million times worse if you hadn’t been with me.”

“Of course, man,” Blomdahl says.

Theo nods. Xander pats my shoulder.

“Just let me know how much bail was and I’ll pay you back,” I tell them.

The three of them exchange a look. “You don’t need to do that,” Blomdahl says to me.

“What do you mean?”

Blomdahl looks past me to where the rest of our team is. “We all pitched in for your bail.”

I spin around. “Are you serious? The whole team?”

My teammates nod. I open my mouth to speak, but I’m too shocked at first. “You guys didn’t need to do that.”

Blomdahl claps my shoulder. “We know we didn’t need to. We wanted to. We support you, man.”

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