35
“P ut the suitcase down,” Davis growls, pushing into my room. His gaze burns into mine, his posture tense and coiled.
“I have to go, Davis.” I race across the room, stuffing socks, bras, and T-shirts into the duffel bag I once dared to unpack. It feels like a rewind to that long strange runaway road back to Resurrection. Intent to stay, to dream. Now all my hopes smashed to smithereens. I feel like a madwoman.
“You’re pregnant. Where are you going, Koty?”
“I don’t know. I don’t care.”
“You’re not going anywhere.” Davis takes a step toward me. At the sudden, slight raise of his voice, he’s blocked by Keena. The Belgian Malinois puts her body between him and me. Fur rippling, teeth bared, she stares at him.
His face softens, and he puts a hand out. “Easy, girl. You did a good job today.”
I look down at Keena. She hasn’t left my side since the shooting. “She protected me.”
“She did.” He roughs her fur and Keena settles. “And I’ll owe her the rest of my life.”
A shiver slides through me, and I turn back to the task at hand. When I catch a glimpse of the bassinet in the room’s corner, the cache of baby supplies collected by Davis, my eyes well with tears. “I was an idiot coming home. All I brought was trouble. If he’s here…”
“Dakota, baby…” The duffel bag is torn from my hands. Davis takes my wrists and I’m gently but forcibly stilled.
“It was a couple of hunters in the forest behind us. They were trespassing and claimed they were trying to hit the wolf. Richter’s taking their statement now.”
My mind’s spinning. “Do you believe that? Do you?”
He’s silent for a long second. “I don’t know.”
“It doesn’t feel right. Nothing does.” I thrash my head. “You have a hole in your fucking lodge, Davis. Weeks before you open.”
Davis closes his eyes. “Dakota—”
“It was supposed to be Ruby’s perfect day. It was the best dessert I’ve ever made, and he ruined it.” My lower lip trembles. “No one even got to eat the cake.”
“They’ll eat the cake,” Davis says, his dark brown eyes fierce. “We’ll eat the cake. And everybody’ll goddamn like it. I’ll drag them out of their beds at midnight, Dakota, if it’ll make you happy.”
I sob-laugh, the weight of today easing somewhat.
Yet, just as quickly, my smile fades. The consequences of today feel too heavy. “Ruby could have been hurt. My sister. Your brothers.”
It’s that thought that calls me back, lights a fire inside. I untangle myself from Davis’s grip, steel my spine, and move for the bed. “I have to leave.”
“Stay.”
I go still. My heart’s ripping in two. “Davis,” I whisper.
“Stay.”
The floorboards thud behind me and then I’m in Davis’s arms. I squirm against him but he locks me to his chest. “I won’t let you run. Not anymore.” The vibration of his voice rumbles through me.
“You have to,” I gasp. “What if he hurts my family? Yours?”
His big fingers take my chin to move my gaze to his. “If you go, I will chase you. I will find you and bring you back home. You belong here. With me.”
“I’m scared,” I say, holding onto his solid body, his strength.
“He will never get near you or our son. You hear me?” His voice drops two octaves deeper. I shiver at the frozen rage in his eyes.
Rugged. Violent. Protective. And he’s mine.
He cups my face with his rough hands. “Cupcake, I need you to trust me. I will not let this monster win. I won’t let him chase you off. I want all of your years, Dakota. I lost six of them. I won’t lose any more.”
I wince. His words hurt.
Davis’s massive chest heaves. For a long second, only the sound of our breathing.
“I love you and this baby,” he says. He closes his eyes like he’s in pain. “My biggest fear is you being taken away from me. I won’t let it happen, Dakota.”
“But, Davis…” I look up into his eyes, asking him to tell me the truth. “This doesn’t feel—”
“Right,” he cuts in. “I agree.” He roughs a hand through his hair. “With what happened with Ruby and Charlie, and then Ford.”
I pull back, narrow my eyes. “What happened to Ford?”
He wraps his arms around me, sighs. “His brake lines were cut in town.”
“Oh my god.”
My mind spins. Aiden is fucking with us. Slowly. I would bet the ranch on it.
“How do we move on if this is never over?” I ask.
“I know one way.”
“What?”
One hand on mine, he lowers himself to a knee. With the other, he digs into the pockets of his jeans. “Fuck, but this isn’t how I wanted to do this.”
My heart’s in my throat. “What are you doing?” I ask nervously.
“Getting on my knees,” he says, voice serious.
“Davis—”
I gasp when out of his pocket comes a ring. A stunning diamond on a silver band.
He takes a deep breath. “I’m doing what I should have done the night before you left. Beg you to stay until the sun came up. Tell you how goddamn bad I need you. Want you. Love you.”
I hiccup and shake my head.
“I have Stede’s blessing. I have Fallon’s.” His dark brown eyes sear mine. “Stay with me.Marry me.”
Tears blur my eyes, slide down my cheeks.
“Let me protect you and our son. Let me make you happy. Let me love you for the rest of your life.”
An unholy sob wrenches out of my mouth.
And then Davis is standing, watching me with careful eyes. “What do you say, Cupcake?”
I throw myself into his arms and pepper his whiskery jaw with kisses. “Yes, yes, yes!”
Yes, to the easiest question anyone has ever asked me.
He slips the sparkling ring on my finger. “My wife,” he whispers, his voice breaking. “My Cupcake.”
I palm his face. “Yours.”
“I love you, Dakota,” he says gruffly.
“You,” I whisper. “I love you.”
He kisses me. Hard. Hungry. Squish kicks between us and suddenly, terror has no place here.
Despite today, I have hope.
Because I have love.
And that has to be enough.
It has to be.