Page 16 of Silver Sanctuary
“There can’t possibly be more!”
“Just one more thing. It’s not actually here, it’s in my apartment, and at Montgomery Defense, The Trident, and it will be at your store…”
“What did you do?”
“I made sure EpiPens would be available to you to use in an emergency.”
“Nash! No! That must have cost a fortune!”
His hand came up to brush her curls over her shoulder. Embrie was already seated at the table, setting up one of the board games he’d brought up. “You’re worth it—a million times over. Sebastian agreed it was a huge oversight for Stone to carry it in his med bag, but for us not to have at least two doses on hand at the office and the training facility. I had Jake walk us all through how to use them. Even Lily and Sloane were trained. Gage has the expiration dates all written down and set up an alert to notify all of us when they need to be changed out. Since Jake wrote the prescription for Sebastian’s equities company, which Petals is operated under, I was able to get two doses for you at work. And I’d like to be able to speak with Jake about getting you a prescription of your own, so we can keep an injector in your purse.”
Her mouth opened just long enough for her tongue todart out and moisten her lips. He couldn’t wait to kiss her. “I can’t… I don’t know what to say.”
“How about you say you’ll talk to Jake with me one day at the clinic? That you'll let me make sure you’re safe in this way?”
Lacy nodded, her lips pressing back together.
“Good. Now, come sit down and try this Mediterranean chicken dish I worked on this afternoon. Lily may have passed me the recipe, and I swapped out the tahini for sunflower butter, but I think it’s still going to be really good.”
“It sounds incredible, and I can’t wait to try it, but we can’t just gloss over the fact that you spent what sounds like hundreds, if not thousands of dollars to get medicine for me that I might never need.”
Nash just shrugged, his hand gently pressing against the small of her back as he tried to get her to walk over to the table. “It was an easy decision. I’d rather have you here, safe and healthy. The money will come back.Youare irreplaceable.”
He watched the war dance across her face. Maybe he overstepped. Maybe it was too presumptuous. She’d had a hard time accepting Embrie’s gear; he should have known the medication would be a tough sell. Just as he was getting ready to defend his decision again, Lacy wrapped her arms around his waist before standing on her tiptoes to press a kiss just below his jaw. Fuck. The gesture had his chest warming and growing tight all at the same time.
“Thank you, Nash.”
He winked, tucking her into his side. “Anything for my girl.”
“So, what are we watching tonight?” Lacy tipped her head toward the screen. The chicken had been incredible—maybeone of the best things she’d ever eaten. Granted, she had started making her own meals by the age of five, living off bread with butter spread on it and stale cereal when her mother could remember to get groceries. Lacy shook the unpleasant memories away.
Not only had dinner been delicious, but Nash had brought up board games for them to play while they ate. Embrie absolutely crushed him in Battleship, much to his outspoken dismay. There certainly were some jabs about a SEAL losing to a nine-year-old, but he laughed it off like a true champ. And Lacy took the time to watch him, truly watch him, while he was lost in dueling coordinates.
He was incredibly handsome, a fact she’d noticed the first time he walked into the shop. But beyond the salt-and-pepper hair, and tattoos that made her legs feel a little weak every time he rolled up his sleeves around her, there was such genuine kindness in his eyes. Each time he looked at Lacy or Embrie, little smile lines popped out along his cheekbones. She wanted to reach out and touch them. They were precious, and special. It felt like a reward to see them forming when he looked at her.
“Well, in that cooler over there, I have a little cheese spread. Figured it was time to make good on my promise to young Monteray Jack here… so I got a selection of the cheeses she guessed right for us to try.”
“Yay! Does that mean I won this too?!” Embrie jumped up from the table and started wiggling her body back and forth in a celebratory dance.
“The first round, for sure. But just get ready. I’ve been doing some research; I don’t think you stand a chance in round two.”
Lacy laughed as Embrie took off toward the cooler, her hand drifting to rest on Nash’s back.
“You didn’t answer me,” she whispered.
“Huh?”
“About the movie…”
“Oh! Well, we’ve got a double feature—both cheese themed, of course. And also, weirdly, a mouse stars as the main character in them.”
“Sounds interesting.”
“Which movie do we want to watch first?” His question seemed to stun Lacy, so he continued, unable to hold back his smile. “We can go animated, withRatatouille? Or live action, withMouse Hunt?”
“How do you know these movies?”
“Sage lovesRatatouille.” He laughed, looking down at the DVD like he was thinking of a fond memory with Gunner and Lily’s daughter. “We get roped into watching it with her all the time. And my Nanny is a big Christopher Walken fan. We watchedMouse Huntprobably a million times as kids.”
