Why wasn’t Dillon answering his phone? I called him several times and each time got the same result. It would ring four times before going to his voicemail. Something wasn’t right, and I didn’t like it.

I paced around the house wondering whether or not I’d made a mistake. I knew what room he was in, so I called the hotel and asked to be transferred. The phone just rang and rang. Dillon is an incredibly light sleeper, so there was no way he had gone back to bed and was sleeping through his phone ringing. Besides, how could he sleep after all of that? I had so much adrenaline flowing through my veins and knew he had to have the same feeling as well.

He couldn’t be mad at me, could he? This whole thing had been his idea, so it wouldn’t be fair to me if he were pissed off that I’d gone through with it.

There was always the possibility that he was upset because I did it behind his back. He always knew when I was out on dates and things like that, so maybe he didn’t like the fact that he wasn’t kept in the loop. If that was the case, I could understand it, but I thought that doing it the way I did would make him happy.

I was looking directly into his eyes when we were on our FaceTime call. He didn’t look mad then. There wasn’t even a hint of anger in his eyes. I saw excitement, but there was nothing that would have told me he was mad.

Frustration was starting to get the best of me, and I was getting worried that I’d messed everything up. I needed to talk to him, and I didn’t care how many times I had to call. I was going to blow his phone up until he answered me. If I had pissed him off, I deserved to hear him say it instead of giving me the silent treatment. I grabbed my phone and dialed his number.

* * *

My phone was ringing as I walked into the front door. As I closed it behind me, I heard footsteps running in my direction.

“Dillon! What the hell?” Kayla yelled as she came running towards me, throwing her arms around me and kissing me before she punched me in the arm.

“What was that for?” I asked, playfully rubbing my arm as though the punch had hurt me.

“Do you have any idea how many times I’ve called you?”

“I figured you’ve probably been calling a lot. I had to turn my phone off during the flight, so I probably missed most of them.”

“Why in the hell are you here? You have that whole conference in front of you. Are you flying back in the morning?”

“No, I’m going to skip the conference this year.”

“Can you do that?”

“Of course I can do that. It’s not like there’s some requirement that says you lose your license to practice medicine unless you attend every medical conference, I laughed. “Besides, I’m right where I need to be right now.”

Kayla wrapped her arms around me again, burying her head in my chest.

“You know I love you, right?” she asked, looking up at me with big, beautiful puppy dog eyes.

“I love you too. That’s why I’m here.”

“Don’t ever make me think that you’re mad at me again, especially after something like that.”

“I’m sorry, babe. I didn’t want you to think I was mad at you. I just didn’t want you to know I was coming home. I wanted to surprise.”

“You surprised me after giving me anxiety all night.”

“Come here,” I tell her as I hug her again and kiss her on her forehead. “I didn’t mean to leave you wondering. I just wanted to see the excitement on your face when I got home. I love you so very much, and I could never tell you that enough.”

“I love you too, Dillon.”

“I can’t believe you did it.”

“I know, I’m still in shock myself.”

“What happened to not wanting to do it anymore?”

“Oh, I came across a guy who was the exact opposite of the asshole that wouldn’t take no for an answer. He was polite and respectful and was more than willing to put on a show for you.”

“I was so surprised when I picked up my phone.”

“You should have seen your face. I thought your jaw was going to hit the floor.”

“Just so you know, it was fucking hot.”

“Yeah? You should have been on my end of it,” she laughed.

“You know that the experience is not completely over for you, right?”

“What do you mean?” she asked with a look of genuine confusion on her face.

“I’m not here just because I wanted to see you. I’m here because I need to reclaim you. I’m here because I couldn’t wait to take back what’s mine. Come with me.”

I stood up, grabbed her hand, lifted her from the couch and led her to the bedroom.