Dan

I don’t think I’ve ever been so miserable. I’ve been doing my best to act normal, hoping it will break Lexi out of her funk, but so far I haven’t been too successful. She’s way too perceptive, and I’m not that good an actor.

She spent a couple nights at my mother’s and now Jeff has her at Tori’s. At this point, the less time she spends around me, the better.

I’d hoped Sabrina would call so we could work things out, but that hasn’t happened. I’ve picked up the phone a hundred times to break the silence, but put it down each time. She needs to come back on her own.

My profession can be hard on relationships. I’ve seen it with my teammates and have heard their stories. If we’re going to survive, I can’t have Sabrina doubt me or us.

For the third time in the last half hour, I opened the refrigerator and dismissed its contents. I need comfort food. Some calorie-filled, make-you-fill-better, greasy goodness. Maybe I’ll take a page from the women’s playbook and grab some ice cream on the way home, too.

I grabbed my keys and headed to the door. When I opened it and walked onto the porch, I crashed right into Sabrina, nearly knocking her down the steps.

Sabrina

I stared at Dan’s front door, willing my hand to raise and ring the bell. My inner battle was halted when the door swung open and Dan bounded through it, crashing right into me. His hands gripped my shoulders, holding me steady.

“Sabrina.” If his tone was anything to go by, he was both surprised and happy to see me. At least we’re off to a good start.

“Hi.”

During the drive, I rehearsed what to say, but nothing was coming to mind at the moment. When I realized we were standing there staring at each other, I asked, “I’m sorry, are you going somewhere?”

“I was just gonna grab dinner, but that can wait. Come on in.” He stepped aside and gestured toward the open door. “Would you like a drink?” he asked as we entered the kitchen.

“Some water would be great,” I said.

Anything to postpone the inevitable.

Dan retrieved two bottles of water from the refrigerator and asked me to follow him into the family room. I settled onto the love seat. Dan seated himself directly across from me on the sofa. I took a sip of water and looked around.

“It’s awfully quiet around here.”

“Mrs. Evans is gone for the day, and Lexi and Jeff are over Tori and Nancy’s house.”

I flashed a knowing smile. “I guess things are still going well.”

Dan nodded. “They told Tori and Lexi about their relationship a few days ago, so I guess it’s getting pretty serious.”

I was about to ask another question about Jeff’s love life when Dan asked one about my own. “Why are you here, Bri?”

I placed my bottle on the coffee table and tried to remember my carefully orchestrated speech, but not a single word came to mind. So I decided to keep it short and to the point. “Because I love you.” You couldn’t get shorter and pointer than that.

Dan’s smile was sad. “I know that, but it’s not really the issue.”

“I know.” I stood and joined him on the sofa. I took his hand in mine and felt a surge of satisfaction when he didn’t pull away. “I’m sorry I freaked out.”

“I can’t live the rest of my life worrying it’ll happen again.”

“It won’t.” I shook my head emphatically.

“How do I know that?” he asked.

“Because I’m telling you it won’t,” I said.

“How can I be sure?”

He was determined to make this difficult. Time to pull out the heavy artillery.

“You just have to trust me. The same way you’re asking me to trust you.” He opened his mouth to speak, but I raised a halting hand, stopping the flow of words. “I know what happened ten years ago and I’m trusting it won’t happen again.” I stared him down. “Ever.” The edges of Dan’s mouth kicked up at my not so subtle warning. “I love you more than life, and I want you and Lexi and me to be a family. I want to wake up with you every morning and go to bed with you every night. In between I want to love and laugh and raise our children.” I paused, trying to think of something else to say.

“Are you finished?” Dan’s words cut into my thoughts. I wasn’t, but I nodded anyway, figuring I should give him some floor time. “Good.” He put his hands on either side of my face and placed his mouth on mine. I moved in to deepen the kiss, but he pulled away.

“I love you too,” he said. “And for the record, you had me convinced with your first sentence.”

“I did?”

“Uh huh, but the rest was nice.”

“I meant every word.”

“And don’t think I won’t hold you to each and every one of them.”

That said, he took my mouth in a fierce, possessive kiss, leaving no doubt in my mind that he’d forgiven me.

“Come on,” Dan gasped. “Let’s get upstairs before I bury myself inside you right here.” He stood and pulled me up the stairs. “And once we’ve had our fill of each other, we have a wedding to plan.”

I settled into the middle of his bed and watched him pull his shirt off. “So you still want to marry me?”

“More than anything,” he said, as he stripped off his jeans. “Why would you doubt it?”

“Well, I know your theory of women,” I teased. “And with what we’re about to do, not to mention what we’ve been doing for the past few months, I didn’t think I’d still fall into the ‘girls you marry’ category.” My eyes danced with amusement as Dan’s darted up to meet them. His frown evaporated when he saw my teasing expression.

“You’re definitely enough women to fall into both categories.”

Then he proceeded to make love to me until I couldn’t help but agree with him.