I wave the last child off and shut the door. I lean against it and look around the daycare. Thanks to my brother and his best friend, the man I’m in love with, soon enough I’ll have my own place, set my own schedule. I’m currently having the space I recently leased renovated, to get it up to code, and in a month or so my dream of running my own place will come true, and I can have Daisy with me every day.

So if my one and only dream is about to be realized, why the hell am I so miserable?

“Hey, want to go out and get a drink?” Tina asks. For the last couple weeks she’s been close to my side, trying to help me move on, put the whole pretend marriage behind me.

I look at the clock. “Sure, why not,” I say. What else am I going to do on a Friday night? Go home and cry myself to sleep? Daisy is in good hands, and I’ll see her later, so I may as well go out.

“Maybe we can find you a man,” she says and nudges me playfully.

Ugh. Truthfully, how can I ever be with another man after Jonah? The things we did, the way he made me feel. Maybe I should have just come right out and told him I wanted forever. I was too much of a chicken shit, which is so unlike me. But it was better to let him go now, than him walking away later.

“Want to talk about it?” Tina asks when I don’t make a move to go.

“Not really.”

“If you love him, you need to tell him.”

“Yeah but—”

She holds her hand up. “No buts, Quinn. From everything you told me, Daisy changed that man, and I’m guessing he’s as broken up about all of this as you are.”

“He never wanted a family, Tina.”

She grins at me. “What’s that saying. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.”

“Yeah, but…” I pause to think about that. I swore up and down that I didn’t want a family of my own. But that all changed when I started playing house with Jonah. My mind rewinds to the way he protected Daisy, the way he protected me from Shari. What was that he once said, I protect those I care about.

“Come to think of it, he said he could want a family if the right woman came along,” I say.

“Don’t you think you’re that right woman?”

Is it possible that he might want the same things I do? That he didn’t voice it because I’d blatantly told him I didn’t want a family, that we needed to keep our relationship a secret because I didn’t want people to get the wrong idea? Was he protecting me because he cares about me, maybe even loves me?

If so, pushing him away like that, assuming he’d let no one or nothing stand in the way of his hockey, must have made him feel pretty shallow.

Have I made a horrible mistake?

“Oh, God, Tina, what have I done?” I ask, and put my hands over my face.

“It’s not too late, you know.”

“He’s on the road. I really don’t want to run after him, tell him how I feel when he’s practicing.”

Just then, a knock comes on the door, and I push off it. I check my watch again. “Maybe one of the kids forgot something.”

I open the door—and when I see who’s standing on the other side, my knees give.

“Hey,” Jonah says, as he wraps his arms around me. “You okay?”

“I’m okay,” I say, breathless and lightheaded.

He looks past my shoulder. “Hi, Tina,” he says.

“Jonah,” Tina says and backs up. “I’ll just go tidy up.”

“What are you doing here?” I ask. “Aren’t you supposed to be at practice?”

“Yeah, I am. Coach wasn’t too happy with me either, but I had to come back. There’s something you need to see.”

I frown, perplexed. “What are you talking about?”

“Can you come with me? I need to show you something.”

I nod my head. “Yeah, okay. I guess.” I turn and find Tina picking up blocks and putting them away. “Tina, would you mind if I took off?”

“Go,” she says. “I got this.”

Jonah doesn’t touch me or even stand too close as we walk to his car. He does, however, walk me to my side, and close the door once I’m inside. My heart is racing just about as fast as my brain. What does Jonah want to show me? I’m not sure what it is, but it’s obviously more important than his hockey practice.

“How have you been?” he asks as he pulls into traffic.

I look at him, take in the rumpled state of his clothes, his hair. Has he not been sleeping? I know I sure as hell haven’t been. As I look him over, I want to tell him how I feel, but there is a part of me that holds back. Jonah is upset about something.

“Good,” I say.

“Daisy?”

“She’s adjusting well. She’s such a happy little girl. I can’t wait to get my own center open so I can have her with me all day. I’ve already hired staff and given my resignation at the daycare.” Okay, Quinn stop rambling already. “How have you been?” I ask.

“Not that great.”

“I’m sorry. Anything from Shari?” I ask, even though I now she’s gone MIA again. Zander texts me every day asking about his daughter. If he’d heard from Shari, he would have let me know.

He shakes his head no, and I sit back and fold my hands, waiting to see what it is he needs to show me. A half hour later, he pulls up to his mansion, and I frown.

“Why are we here?”

“Come on.”

He slides from the car, comes around my side and holds his hand out. Little currents of electricity sizzle though me when our fingers touch. My God, the chemistry between us hasn’t diminished one little bit. Jonah sucks in a breath, clearly feeling it, too.

He guides me up the walkway and leads me into the house. I look around his place. “What?” I ask.

“Upstairs,” he says.

“Jonah, what’s going on?”

“Trust me,” he says quietly.

“I…okay.”

He puts his hand on the small of my back and leads me upstairs. He stops outside Daisy’s old bedroom.

He gives me a little nudge. “Go on in.”

I step into the room, expecting it to be empty. We’d brought all of Daisy’s things to Zander’s house. But when I flick the light on, the room is all set up again.

Wait, what is going on? Paternity tests proved Zander was the dad. Is Shari up to something?

“Jonah?”

“Follow me?”

He guides me down the hall to another bedroom, and he opens the door. This room is decorated in blue…and my heart jumps into my throat. When the hell did he do this? He’s been on the road, hasn’t he? But more importantly, what the hell is he trying to tell me?

Before I can ask, he tugs on my hand and leads me to another room. This one is decorated in a soft yellow, very gender neutral.

I spin and face him, take in the warm way he’s looking at me.

“Jonah, how many kids do you have?” I blurt out.

The corner of his mouth turns up, making him look so sexy my thighs quiver. “I don’t have any kids, Quinn.”

“Then why the hell do you have three bedrooms decorated?”

“Because I wanted to show you…”

“Show me what?”

I hold my breath, hoping he’s telling me what I think he’s trying to. His big hand slides around my waist and he pulls me close. My God, it feels so good to be held my him.

“Here’s the thing, Quinn. I’m a mess. I can’t eat. I can’t sleep. I can’t even play hockey.”

“So what does—”

He puts his finger on my lips to stop me. “I’ve learned so much about myself in the last couple months.”

“What have you learned?” I ask, my heart wobbling in my chest.

“Hockey is important to me, very important…but it’s not the most important thing in the world.”

“No?”

“No—you’re far more important,” he says, and my heart nearly explodes with all the love I have for him. “Without you, nothing else matters.”

As I look into his eyes, I see pure honesty. My brother was right, he’s always been a good guy, but he’s grown so much in the last few months. He looks past my shoulder into the baby’s room. “I wanted to show you what you meant to me. These rooms, they’re for our future.”

“Jonah—”

“This is the part where I’d ask you to marry me, but you’re already my wife.”

“No I’m not, I signed the papers.”

He pulls something from his back pocket and hands it to me. It’s our divorce papers, and they’re missing his signature.

“I want to be married to you, Quinn. For real. Not because of Shari, or Daisy, or the courts, but because I love you. I wanted this to be real the first time around, but you said you didn’t want a family, and I was trying to respect that.”

Tears spill from my eyes. “I do want this, Jonah. I love you, too. I just… I was afraid.”

He hugs me tighter, and his thumb brushes over my cheek. “I know, but I’m not like your mother, Quinn. I walked away from hockey practice and I’ll likely be benched the first few games because of it. But I did it to prove to you that you are way more important.”

My heart swells, knowing he did this all for me.

He brushes his lips over mine. “If you want to know the truth, I’ve been in love with you since you were sixteen.”

My eyes go wide. “You’re kidding me?”

He shakes his head. “Nope, but Zander…”

“I kind of figured he knew.” I look him over. “And you’re still in one piece?”

He laughs. “He’s a lover, not a fighter, and he’s happy for us.”

I go up on my toes and press my lips to his. He holds me to him, and when I break the kiss, I say, “I have a confession, too.”

“Yeah?”

“I’ve been in love with you for a very long time, Jonah. I only acted like I hated you because you treated me like one of the guys.”

“Had to. Bro code and all.”

I roll my eyes at him but I get it. “You should probably know, I spent days making hearts in my journals, putting ‘Quinn loves Jonah’ inside them.”

He laughs hard. “Are you kidding me?”

I shake my head and laugh with him. “I’ll show you someday.”

“Quinn?”

“Yeah?”

He pulls a ring from his back pocket. “Will you still be my wife?” he asks.

“Yes!” I say, and let loose a big squeal when he picks me up and spins me around.

“Will you help me fill these rooms with kids? I want a big-ass family.”

“So do I,” I say, and he picks me up.

“What are you doing?”

“Getting started.”

“On what?”

“Filling these rooms, of course.”

“Shouldn’t the Body Checker be in Seattle, doing what he does best.”

“Really, Quinn, after all the time you spent in my bed, you still think hockey is what I do best?”

“Well no…not really,” I say, my heart so full of love, and my body so alive for this man to take me again, I can barely think straight.

He carries me to his room, sets me on the bed and stands back. “Undress now,” he demands in a soft command, as his eyes rake over me. “The Body Checker has a body to check out.”

I laugh at that, and reach for the small buttons on my shirt.

The need making his eyes go dark, sends heat through my body. “Uh, are you fond of that shirt?” he asks.

I grin. “Not really,” I say.

He drops to his knees before me, grips the shirt and tears it wide open. I gasp, and his mouth goes to body. “That’s better, wife,” he says between kisses.

My heart soars, loving how he calls me that. “I’m going to go through a whole wardrobe with you, aren’t I?”

“Yes, and I’ll buy you a new one with no goddam small buttons.” His mouth leaves my flesh, and he stands, runs his tongue runs along my neck.

“You don’t have—” I begin, but when he tugs the cup of my bra down and closes his mouth over my nipple, all thoughts fade except for how much I love this man, and how I now have everything I’ve ever wanted, but never thought I could have. He draws my nipple in, and I let loose a soft moan that pulls a growl from him.

“Such a boob man,” I tease.

“That’s not all I’m into,” he says, his voice vibrating through me.

“I know,” I whisper, and rake my hands through his hair. “And now you have a lifetime to show me.”

“Some of those things might be weird.”

I laugh at that. “I wouldn’t expect anything less.”