Page 118 of For the Promise

I clear my throat. “First of all, I never invited you to my house because I don’t care about my house. It’s a place I sleep. It’s not my home.”

“Good. Because I’ve driven by a few times and I am not a lover of split levels.”

“And, secondly, I asked for an annulment because we agreed to get our marriage annulled after Alan dropped the lawsuit. We never discussed changing the agreement.”

“Except we had sex and started dating and fell in love.”

I frown. “I didn’t want to assume.”

“Let’s make a deal.”

“What kind of deal?” I ask with my heart in my throat. Is she going to break up with me? She said she loved me.

“Neither one of us will make assumptions about what the other is thinking or feeling from now on.”

“I will agree to this deal if you’ll put my ring back on your finger.”

“You don’t want an annulment?”

“Nope. I want you. I want to be married to the woman I love.”

“We did things backward. We got married and then we fell in love.”

I press a kiss to her lips. “I don’t care.”

She smiles and it warms my heart. I have her back, my Petal. She tugs her hand from mine and wiggles it at me.

“Ring, please. And then we can make out.”

“I’m not having sex on this beach.”

She smirks. “Famous last words.”

Chapter 37

Harper – a woman who has no time or patience for a man-child

Harper

Irub my back as I stretch forward to touch my toes. Saturday nights, when there isn’t a festival in Smuggler’s Hideaway, are usually quiet. Not quiet, as in dead. But quiet as in I normally don’t have to kick anyone out.

But I’m sorely tempted to kick Jaxon Raider out. I don’t know what he did but any man who gets a bottle of moonshine poured over his head by a woman probably deserves it.

And once news spread of the fight between Jaxon and his wife, Blossom, the nosy Nancies of Smuggler’s Hideaway began appearing. At least they’re ordering beer and food while they watch the show unfold.

Dakota and Paisley emerge from the rear hallway without Blossom. But Jaxon doesn’t appear. I make my way to them.

“Please tell me Blossom and Jaxon used the secret exit and aren’t making out in my storage room. I don’t have time to get the ladder out to save a bra from the ceiling fan again.”

Dakota giggles. “I want to hear that story.”

“Trust me. The whole bar heard.”

She grimaces. “Ew.”

“Exactly.”

“There’s no need to worry,” Paisley says. “They left through the secret exit.”

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