Page 70 of Married to My Master

“I thought that you were barking up the wrong tree about Hymalete. I'd accepted the blame, shouldered it entirely. But, you, Dane, you little brother, you kept pushing and pushing and pushing and finally did it.”

Dane set his beer aside. “I didn't know, man.”

“I was ready to die in there,” Benton said, nodding, licking his lips free of beer as he set his own bottle on the counter. “Ready to just give it up entirely and accept full responsibility. But, then, you came along with actual proof of the damage those bastards caused. You know how that makes a man feel? To be told he's not entirely to blame, that there really wasn't anything he could do?”

He shook his head at Benton's words. “I don't know what to say.”

“You set me free, man. I mean, we're still the only family we have, and now the settlement's almost entirely gone.”

The settlement was almost gone? There had been enough in there to pay for his legal fund twice over. What had he wasted it on? “Wait,” Dane said, his voice rising. “What did you just say about the settlement? What the fuck did you do with your money?”

“Relax,” Benton said, smiling as he took another drink of beer. “Invested it.”

“Invested it?” he repeated back, his voice still just below a shout. “In what, Benton?”

“A business. Demolition work. Bishop & Bishop Demolitions.”

“You . . . both of us?”

“Yep,” Benton replied, grinning. “Partner. Just look at it as a way for us to build something together. We're both starting off from scratch, right? What better way to honor someone than to create something new? Especially when we put a portion of the money to helping vets and first responders with PTSD?”

Dane grinned and lifted his beer back to his lips, tilting it back as he took a swallow. “Believe it or not, that actually sounds nice.”

“I mean, it won't fill the holes left by anyone. But, it might help. Besides, we probably need some work to take our minds off things. That was the best part about the service, right? Always having something to do.”

Yeah, Dane thought. His brother was right. Idle hands, and all that. Something like this, a business he needed to build up from scratch, was perfect for two military vets, and two ex-cons, like them. Hell, he'd helped to take down a multinational drug company, hadn't he? If he could do that, he could manage whatever he put his mind to.

Dane raised his beer in a toast to his brother. “To better days,” he said.

Benton toasted him back, and they clinked their bottles together. “To better days.”

Chapter Thirty-Three

Dane

“I know the way we met was a little unorthodox,” Dane said, as he bent his knee in front of Emily. “And I'm sorry for turning your world upside down. But, people like us, we need each other. We're too different and too strong for anyone else to handle us. We'd just chew them up and spit them out.”

Emily stared down at her hand as Dane took hold of it. She watched as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a ring box. “What are you . . .?”

“Let me finish,” Dane said, filling in where she trailed off. “I'm nervous here, and I'll lose track.”

She laughed as she wiped a tear from her eye. “Okay, finish.”

“People like us, Em, we need other people like us. We need them because we're like tornadoes with other people, walking disasters. You're the only woman that's ever meant anything to me, the only woman I've ever met who could be stronger than me and put me in my place. I love you, Emily. I have since our first screwed up week together, and I will until the day I die. I guess I'm just trying to say . . . will you marry me, Emily West? Will you become Mrs. Emily Bishop, and make me the happiest man alive?”

She smiled and nodded, the tears coming down her cheeks like rain on a spring day. “Yes, Dane. I'd love to.”

Dane stood up from his bended knee and swept her into his arms, just like he had the day he'd gotten out. Her arms around his neck, they kissed, their smiles barely contained as he spun her around and around.

Later, Benton and Dane divvied up the steaks and seasoned them before slapping them on the platter. The coals were hot and ready on the grill outside and they didn't have time to waste. Laughing and talking about their plans for the company, they both headed outside with them.

On the way, Emily came in and distracted Dane, baby in arms. “She wants to see Daddy,” Emily explained to Benton, and he just rolled his eyes and headed towards the backyard.

“I'll get 'em started. You guys worry about Aunt's Charlene's favorite niece.”

Dane laughed as he pulled the mother of his children into his arms, kissing the top of her head. Their daughter, Paula, had gotten the blonde hair from Emily's side of the family, along with her smile. He knew she'd gotten his strength, though, from the way he grabbed his finger and tugged at it.

“She's so feisty,” Emily said, smiling so widely that it didn't seem like her face could contain all her joy.

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