Page 130 of Reckless Harmony

“You weren’t kidding about the vegetables,” he said.

“I know, right? I’m not really that great of a cook, but this is an easy recipe, and I make it a lot.” Rayna studied Bea, who sat at Stark’s feet, staring eagerly at him. “You’ll need to give her a piece of every vegetable you cut. If you don’t, she’ll whine until your ears bleed.”

“Good to know,” he said before cutting off a slice of carrot and tossing it to Bea.

She caught it with a snap of her jaws, crunching it happily.

“How was your day?” he asked.

“Good. Busy at work, and then I did a few rescue related things afterward. Yours?”

“I spoke with my father today,” he said.

She stopped cutting the chicken and turned to face him. “How did it go?”

“I took your advice and gave the money to him as a gift,” he said.

“How do you feel about that?” she asked.

He loved the concern on her face and that she was worried about him.

“It was the right decision,” he said. “But I did have some conditions.”

“What do you mean?” Rayna added the chicken to the hot pan on the stove.

“I’ll give him the money as a gift, but he has to stay out of my life forever and fire Jasper.”

She paused in stirring the chicken, the sizzle and pop growing louder as she stared at him before suddenly smiling. “I’m so proud of you, Isaac.”

Warmth washed over him, and any lingering doubt he felt over his conversation with his father dropped away. “You are?”

“Yes,” she said before turning the heat down under the pan of chicken and nudging her way past Bea. She slid her arms around his waist. “You’re helping the employees at your father’s company and setting boundaries. Your father is toxic and doesn’t deserve to have you in his life.”

“Thank you, baby.” He pressed a kiss against her lips.

She squeezed his waist before giving him a hesitant look. “Hey, um, you wanted your dad to fire Jasper because he’s trashing the company, right?”

“Mostly,” he said.

“Isaac,” she chewed at her bottom lip, “I don’t -”

He stopped her with another kiss before resting his forehead against hers. “He deserves everything he’s got coming to him, baby.”

“Comeuppance,” she said.

He arched an eyebrow at her, and she reddened slightly. “Emma says terrible people get their comeuppance eventually, and she was right.”

He kissed her again before she returned to the stove to continue cooking the chicken. They worked in silence for a few minutes. He glanced at Rayna, love and an almost euphoric contentment rushing through him. He would tell her he loved her over dinner, tell her how much she meant to him and that he couldn’t live without her.

He dropped a piece of cauliflower into Bea’s open mouth, grinning at the excited way she chewed it. Stupid little daydreams were already running through his head… he and Rayna marrying, tearing down their houses and building the home of their dreams for them and their children. He’d have a kennel built on the third property, he decided. A large and heated kennel with all the latest technology that would allow Rayna to save even more dogs. She would love that.

“Can you pass me the oven mitts?” Rayna pointed to a pair of oven mitts sitting on the counter.

He grabbed them and handed them to her, then studied the backsplash. It was a truly horrendous beige and gold colour with orange and yellow flowers stamped on every third tile. The overwhelming eighties of it rivaled the pink, sparkling roses wallpaper in his house.

“This backsplash is something else,” he said.

She laughed. “It’s retro.”

---