Page 51 of Promised Secret
At the police academy, they taught you to trust your gut. Your instincts could be the only thing that kept you alive. The first time I met Dan as a kid, my instincts told me there was something special about him. And now, I’d finally realized what it was.
He was the person who carried my heart, and if that wasn’t special, I didn’t know what was.
Dan kissed me back hard. His firm hands cupped my cheeks firmly, like he couldn’t bearletting me go.
“Is this real?” he asked in between kisses. “Are you really going to be mine?”
“I’ve always been yours, Dan,” I told him truthfully. “It just took me till now to realize what that really meant.”
“Yeah?” His hands found mine, and our fingers intertwined, just like how our lives had threaded together the fateful day we met in the clinic. I gripped his hands tightly and wished I could make it so our lives merged together forever.
“I love you,” I told him. I’d repeat it over and over until it was an undeniable fact he couldn’t worry over.
Chapter Eighteen
DAN
Clay loved me?
Clay loved me!
I mean, sure, I kinda knew he loved me in one way or another. We’d been so close for so long, but he’d admitted that maybe, just maybe, he loved me andnotin the way one loved their brother.
Clay didn’t say those exact words, but he said he belonged only to me, which was basically the same thing, right?
I was going to have dreams about the way he pressed his body on top of mine in my minivan and kissed me until I couldn’t tell up from down.
I giggled and kicked my feet against my stool. Making out in broad daylightandon the side of the road had been risky as hell, but who could think that far when they had Clay’s lips on theirs?
“Frederick! Dan’s acting weird again,” Rosa rudely said from beside me, pulling me from my thoughts.
“Hey! Don’t forget I’m your boss,” I grumbled, kicking her chair.
She popped her gum at me, completely unfazed. “And I’m Rosa. What’s your point?”
My reply was an angry huff that had her smirking. It was all I could really do. Rosa basically ran the place, and she knew it.
Frederick strode in from the back. Mondays were usually slow, but it’d been extra slow today. I figured nobody wanted to do their annual right after the summer fair. The only patients who’d dropped by today were those who’d gotten sick to their stomach from all the fair food.
I was surprised Jones and Ryan hadn’t shown up after seeing pictures of all the funnel cake they’d eaten these past couple days. They must have controlled themselves for Karla’s sake.
“How are Captain and Hook doing?” Frederick asked about my pet rats.
“They’re settling in well,” I told him, and pulled out my phone. “Wanna see pics?”
He came around the reception desk and peered over my shoulder. Rosa leaned in, too, as I flipped through themanyphotos I’d taken of my babies. I hadn’t had them for long, but they already dominated my photo album.
Frederick chuckled when we came across a photo ofHook looking like he was wearing a dandelion flower as a hat. Clay had managed to time the photo at the exact moment Hook came up for a break from eating the stem.
“I never thought I’d say this aboutrats,of all things, but I have to admit, they’re pretty darn cute,” Rosa commented.
“Of course they are!” I replied. My babies were fucking adorable. The way their little hands would grip their treats or how they’d squint their eyes as they ate, or the high-pitched squeaks they made when they especially enjoyed their snack. Everything they did was cute.
“I brought some things for them. I figured I’d go over for a visit today if you’re free,” Frederick said.
I nodded immediately. Clay said he’d be home late tonight, anyway. “You wanna come too?” I turned to Rosa and asked.
“I’ll pass. I’m good with just seeing them through the safety of your phone,” she said with an exaggerated shiver.
