Page 73 of Married to My Master

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“I know, Jas,” Emily said. “I know. And, by the way?”

“Yeah?” Jas asked as she was about to shut the door.

“Thank you.”

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Dane

“Got a minute?” Benton asked, as Dane swung his sledgehammer into the wall, blowing through a chunk of brick and the drywall behind it like he was wielding Thor's own hammer.

They were on their first job already. Dane was astonished at how fast they'd been able to pick up jobs. Surprisingly, a lot of them had come from first responders around the city, people who knew Dane by reputation alone, and wanted to give them the work to get started out. They knew about Benton, too, but to them, he was more a warning sign for them all. It was very much a, “there I go, but for the grace . . .” kind of thing, and both brothers knew it.

But, no matter where the work was coming from, they'd been raised to not look a gift horse in the mouth. These first few jobs were enough to get them going, but how well they performed them was going to determine their futures. And they both knew it.

“Sure, man,” Dane said, as he brought his hammer back under control and used his forearm to swipe some sweat from his forehead. “What's up?”

“I've been thinking about what we talked about a few weeks ago.”

“Remind me,” Dane said, grinning. Work had been a godsend for him. It was really the first time he had been able to clear his head since Benton had been put away. He came in, planned the job with Benton, then he and the guys got to swinging. Not surprisingly, blowing holes in walls was pretty cathartic and kept his brain occupied. Meaning he wasn’t thinking about Emily West.

“About Emily.”

Dane groaned and turned away. “Not this shit again, man. I told you, I'm getting over her. If she wants to be with this Ian guy, that's her deal. I know I've just gotta pick up my life and move on.”

Benton clapped a hand on his shoulder. “It's not that. It's just, me and Charlene, we're getting a little more serious. I've been giving it some thought, bro, and I think you should try again with her.”

Dane's shoulders slumped and he tossed the hammer away. He whirled on his brother. “Don't you think I did, man? I went and saw her before I saw you, remember? She didn't want me back!”

“What I don't understand,” Benton said, taking a step toward him and slapping both hands on his twin brother's shoulders. “Is why you only tried once! You literally took down a massive corporation almost single-handedly! But one try at her, and that's it?”

Dane brushed his brother's hands off his shoulders. “Just let me get back to work, Benton. Okay? I just care about Emily's happiness, and she seems like she'll be happy with this Ian guy. I can't make her love me, can I? What do you want me to do? Force her to leave him? It doesn't work that way.” He grabbed his sledgehammer up off the ground and went back to swinging. Every time it collided with the wall, every chunk it sent flying, he felt a little closer to a job well done.

Still, though, no matter how fast he swung the hammer, no matter how hard he made it strike, he couldn't get Emily Winter's out of his mind—the smell of her, the feel of her, the way she cried out his name, the way she called him, “sir.”

It just wouldn't leave him. And, deep down, he knew it never would.

Chapter Thirty-Five

Dane

“Hey Dane,” Charlene said, an obvious grin to her voice. “You got a minute?”

This was weird, to be getting a call from his brother's girlfriend on his cell phone. “Uh, sure,” Dane said as he grabbed a beer from the refrigerator. “What can I do for you?”

“Well, I've been thinking. Okay, honestly, Benton and I have been thinking.”

Oh shit, this was going to be about Emily again, wasn't it? He was getting pretty sick of it. She was getting married, and not to him. End of story. Dane braced for whatever bullshit was going to come next.

“I just wanted to say thank you. Formally.”

That was a surprise. He hadn't expected the conversation to take this kind of turn, especially because he'd never really thought about it that way. Charlene had been there, and was one of the only reasons he'd been able to accomplish what he had. He'd never expected a thank you from her.

“I never have before, I realized,” she continued. “You're the reason I have my own show, and you're the reason why I'm with your wonderful brother. If it hadn't been for you, we never would have met, and, so, I wanted to give you one little inside scoop, like you gave me.”

Completely disarmed and surprised, Dane just laughed. “Sure, Charlene, shoot. What is it?”

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