“Chester is doing great, Jason, don’t worry about him.”

My friend Bobby was an old friend from college. He’d moved out to Portland way before I did and started up his own vet clinic that eventually turned into one of the biggest veterinary hospitals in the city.

“We got lucky. Like I told you before, the bullet only went into the muscle. He might have a little limp and some arthritis when he gets older, but he’s going to pull through just fine.”

“I can’t thank you enough, brother,” I said, my heart swelling with joy. I’d been sick with worry over my boy. “How long will he need to stay there?”

“He’ll probably be ready to go home tomorrow evening, if everything keeps going as well as it is.”

“I’m not sure when I can pull away. I don’t want to get too far from Daisy and Alex right now.”

“I can take him home with me,” he said. “Take care of your business there and you can pick him up after things settle down.”

“You sure, brother?”

“For you? Absolutely.”

“You’re a life saver, literally,” I replied.

“Well, I know you’d do the same for me, so don’t worry about it.”

“I sure would.”

“How is Daisy?”

“She’s okay. She’s safe.”

“You’re a good man, Jason.”

“I do my best,” I said. “Thanks, again, Bobby. I’ll call and check in tomorrow. Hey, do me a favor and give my boy more steak. He deserves it. You can put it all on my bill.”

“Will do.”

The sun was setting over the trees, turning the sky into a watercolor of soft pinks. I’d stepped out onto the porch of the clubhouse to call Bobby away from the chattering inside. It was almost dinner time, and the clubhouse was filling up with Gods and their ladies, the smell of Cherry’s goulash drifting out the door. I could hear Alex laughing inside, and Daisy’s soft voice murmuring to him.

I wasn’t quite sure what to think of our kiss.

I’d been concentrating so damned hard on holding back and she’d unleashed a kiss on me unlike no other, damn near knocking me to my knees with emotion. I’d promised myself I’d let her take the lead and so I let her lead me right into that kiss. More like a jump right in, with both feet, I guess. After my initial shock passed, my body overrode all my good sense and the cocktail of lust and love and desire won out.

Hell, I’d almost laid her down on the fallen leaves and taken her right then and there.

I wanted her so damned badly, and yet we weren’t there yet. I knew that.

But that kiss held the promise of something worth waiting for, no matter how excruciating the wait would be.

Her lips were soft as silk, the heat of her passion surprising me with its fiery intensity. All I could think about was being gentle with her, and there she was kissing me like a wildcat out of the blue.

Look, I’d be a fool to say I minded. Of course, I liked it. I liked it a whole hell of a lot. But what a mind-fuck it was, because once my motor got started, I usually pressed the pedal to the metal without hesitating.

With Daisy, I couldn’t take my foot off the brake.

I didn’t want to fuck things up. I didn’t want to move so fast that I scared her. For fuck’s sake, she’d been through so much, I honestly didn’t even know if she was emotionally stable for more.

Who would be in her shoes?

Nobody I’d ever known. Hell, I was shaken just trying to be her friend.

Friend.

Is that what I was? I wanted to be, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want more. I just kept telling myself this wasn’t the right time. I had to let things unfold naturally, take extra care not to push things the way I wanted them to go.

Daisy needed to be completely in charge of her own destiny now, without any influence from me. I hated the idea that I might have to let her go. Who knows where she’ll end up? And whether I was part of that picture wasn’t even relevant right now.

The thoughts tumbling around in my head were completely inappropriate, I know that. But there I was, just the same — staring through the screen door of the clubhouse, watching her play with her sweet baby boy, the perfect picture of happiness and goodness — and imagining watching that every day of our lives.

I wanted the whole package.

And yet, nobody gave a damn what I wanted, I knew that. What I wanted didn’t matter. What mattered was getting her to a safe place, a place so safe, not even that asshole Sullivan could find her.

I thought that place might be my home, but obviously I was wrong.

I gazed at her thoughtfully, the feelings running through me new and unfamiliar, but I knew, with every cell in my body, that they weren’t wrong.

Maybe the timing was off.

But someday, I thought, my eyes welling with tears as I watched her kiss Alex on the forehead, that woman is going to be my wife.