Chapter 25
BLAKE
After calling my mom to explain why we’ll be missing dinner, I watch my wife walk down the stairs, her eyes boring into mine.
“Do I need a passport?”
“No.”
Danielle frowns, and I chuckle.
“Can you trust me on this?”
It’s crazy, but I’m sure what I’m doing is right.
It’s not a honeymoon—not really, but it couldn’t be, not with the way we got married.
We have to go back to the start.
“It’s a car ride away.”
Danielle looks even more puzzled. “I need to pack to go somewhere that close?”
“You’ll see.”
Danielle shrugs, typing on her phone as she follows me outside. “Skies is super grateful for our help.”
Due to our staying at home these past few days, we’d managed a virtual meeting with Skies. Danielle was as charming as ever, and I had to admit, the team at Skies were really something.
I understood why Danielle wanted to help them so much.
The ride takes about two hours, and I doze for most of it, with Danielle’s fingers in my hair.
I hate how perfect she is for me.
Issac’s words echo in my mind, and I sigh, knowing I’m going to have to patch things up with him sooner or later.
“Wait,” Danielle says, sitting up. “We’re back here?!”
The car slows by a high school, and I thank my driver before lacing my fingers with Danielle’s.
“I knew when I first saw you that I’d never see anyone as pretty as you in my life. I was right.” I turn to smile at her and find her eyes filling with tears. “Don’t cry.”
“I should’ve known you would break my heart. You were too damn good-looking.” Danielle wipes her eyes, staring at the football field beside us.
“If someone would’ve told me I’d have to live without you for five fucking years, I’d have knocked them out.” I stare at the field, remembering how my heart tripped when I saw her for the first time. “But somehow, I did.”
“I struggled too. No one compares to you,” Danielle confides, allowing me to pull her into my arms.
Her lower lip quivers, and the pain and emotion she’s been holding in for so long reaches the surface of her eyes, cutting me deep.
I never wanted to lose her, but I was so fucking scared. Scared of how strongly I felt about her.
“If I could go back, I’d change everything. I hate that I’m the man that broke you.”
Danielle nods, smiling through her tears.
Pain slices through me at her distress, but I need us to work through this.
We both have to go backward to move forward.
“So, I’m sorry. So very fucking sorry. But can we please start again? I’m Blake James, and you’re the prettiest girl in the world. I hope you’ll be my real wife one day.”
Danielle closes her eyes, and her shoulders shake as she sobs.
“Hey.” I press my lips to her forehead, tilting her tear-stained face to look up at me. “I mean it. I’m so sorry.”
“I told you I loved you every day until I hated you,” Danielle whispers, choking on her tears. “Then I told you every day about how much I hated you.”
My chest aches with the weight of her truths, and I bow my head slightly.
I deserve it.
“I thought you didn’t find me attractive—”
“Bullshit!” I shake my head in disbelief. “You’re fucking beautiful.”
“Especially when I saw you with a different girl every week. I had to move away. I hated you so much.”
I do, too, right now.
“None of them were you.”
“I’ve only slept with you and Issac.”
The confession knocks me back, and I feel like she’s punched me in the gut.
There’s no way she’s telling the truth—
“No one would ever be as good as you. I knew that, even as a virgin.” Danielle smiles faintly, and I curse the day I ever left her.
“Danielle…” I groan, pulling her into my arms. “I thought you’d be married and settled if I ever saw you again. I couldn’t believe you were still single.”
“No one compares to you; you were the bane of my life.” Danielle tilts her head, and I know there and then that I’ll be with her for the rest of my life.
“I wanted your children. I wanted to marry you, see you every day. Kiss you before you went to work, to walk our children to school in the sunshine. Stupid, teenage dreams.”
My heart is fucking breaking.
The images are too much to bear.
“All the while, you were Blake James, the party god. The dream bachelor.” Danielle sighs, shaking her head. “Now, look at us. In a fake marriage. A sham.”
“It’s not fucking fake, Danni.” I drag her face to mine, gripping her chin. “Nothing about us is fake. It never was, was it? I love you, Danielle. I always have, and I always will. You scare me with how much you make me want forever.”
“You said…”
I cut her off, tugging her into my arms. “I know what I fucking said, and if I could erase everything I’ve ever said to you, I would, so that I could start again.”
Danielle stares at me, her brows furrowing as I stroke her face.
“You’re my wife, Danielle. I love you. I got you something.”
Fuck, I’m choking up.
Fuck these emotions.
“I told you not to!” Danielle protests through her tears.
“Yeah. I know what you said, but what kind of man would I be if I didn’t do this?”
Danielle watches me as I reach into my pocket, pulling out a velvet box.
“What is that?” Danielle whispers, watching as I fall to one knee. “Blake—”
“Will you marry me, Danielle? Marry me because we’re in love with each other. Marry me because we’re meant to be together. Marry me because you’re it for me, and even though I’m scared of saying forever, I want it with you.”
Danielle stares down at me, tears spilling down her cheeks as I open the box.
“Let me spend the next five years and beyond making it up to you. Marry me for real.”
“We are married, silly,” Danielle mumbles with a laugh as I tug the plain band down to slide on the diamond ring she deserves to wear. “I didn’t need a new ring.”
“It’s a symbol, Danielle,” I say, kissing her lips softly as I wipe away her tears. “It’s me telling you that you’re everything. I’ve been a dick, and I want you to be my wife. For real.”
Danielle lifts her hands around my neck, and the vulnerability in her eyes makes me hate myself even more.
“If you fuck me over again, I deserve it, for giving you a second chance.”
“I’ll fuck you over and over again, but never will I fuck you over.”
“So romantic.”
“Will you?”
Danielle nods, waving the ring in front of me. “Duh, have you seen the size of this baby?!”
I kiss her, and this time something is different.
Something has shifted, and I’m fucking grateful.
I’ve got my girl back.
“Got her, Dad,” I whisper as Danielle squeezes me tight. “And I’ll never let her go.”