Jordan, Wyatt, and Tene were on our heels as I entered Cade's house to pick up my belongings.

"What time is your father's surgery tomorrow?" Jordan asked. His sweet smile melted hearts across the universe, and my sister seemed a little dazed and a lot confused at the look he was giving her.

Cade had noticed, too, and the muscle of his jaw ticked.

I answered for us both because, for the first time in the history of Tene's life, she fell silent.

"Early morning. Seven o'clock. Something like that." All I knew was that I had to be there before my father woke up. I'd promised. "That's why we should start heading back."

"It'll take you hours to drive there,” Jordan said. “Why don't you take the jet?"

"You have your own personal jet?" Tene piped up beside him.

"Well,” Jordan grinned, his dimple popping from his cheek. “Not mine; it's Wyatt's."

Wyatt's eyes protruded, his voice deepening. "It's not. It's our jet."

Jordan waved a hand in Wyatt’s direction. "His Daddy bought it for him."

"Daddy?" Tene mouthed, turning toward me for answers. I could see her mind churning, trying to work things out in her head, but there was no way she was going to figure this one out—that Wyatt was the bastard child of Bill Hendricks.

Wyatt's face reddened. "Fuck you," he muttered to Jordan. He stormed up the stairs, the house shaking when he slammed a bedroom door.

"Why do you taunt him all the time, Jordan?" Cade's eyes were hard, his voice authoritative like a parent. "You need to stop that shit."

Jordan ran one frustrated hand through his hair. "Okay, I didn't know he'd go all PMS on me." Jordan threw up both hands. "Fine, fine. I'll go apologize and rub his balls." Jordan loped toward the stairs and stopped, turning back to us with a grin. "You can use the jet, but you'll have to go with us to get our tattoos."

He didn't even give us a chance to respond before he ran up the stairs and I heard him banging on Wyatt's door. "Open up, bruh. I'm sorry, a'ight? You know I love you. So, open up and forgive me so we can get some ink." Bang, bang, bang. "Come on, Wyatt. We're family. You can't hold a grudge forever. Dude, let it go. You know you're the reason that we have a better life now. That we can put Mom in a good home, that we started the businesses. It's all you, Wyatt." A lighter knock echoed down the stairs, but the walls of the house were so thin that there was no way you couldn't hear it. It sounded as though Jordan was tapping his head against the door. "Wyatt, I'm sorry, all right?" Another tap. "I'll stop."

Tene's face brightened, her mouth forming an “O.” She pointed at Cade. "C-J-W Investments. You're the investment company that owns all the restaurants and bars around the nation." She clasped her hands together, overjoyed that she had figured something big out. "Wow." The woman with oh-so-many words had only one to say—“wow.”

She tilted her head, eyes curious, and I could read all the questions filtering through that brunette head of hers. "Aren't you guys going to explain this to me?" She dropped her hands to her hips. "Angie, did you know that CJW Investments was part Cade's?"

I nodded guiltily but also feeling impatient. "Yeah, but it's a long story, and we really need to go. Go home. I promised Dad." We'd be stuck here until tomorrow if I answered all of her questions.

Jordan strolled down with one arm wrapped around Wyatt's shoulder. Wyatt appeared sullen still and in a sour mood, but whatever Jordan had said had gotten him to open the door and come down.

"You guys aren't going home until we go get our tattoos," Jordan reminded us.

"Tattoos?" Tene's eyes brightened. Her body was untouched by ink just like mine.

"We get tattoos to commemorate our sister and Dad who passed," Wyatt said. "We get one every year." Given that they were pretty tatted up, I wondered where else they were going to place their ink.

Cade tilted his head from side to side, releasing the tension in his neck. "They can't go. They have to go home."

"The jet will get them there in forty-five minutes,” Jordan argued. “I can just have their car shipped back. No big deal." He eyed my sister with a little smirk. I was surprised Tene could form words given the way he ogled her.

I bit my bottom lip, twisting my hand together. "I promised Dad I'd be there before his surgery. We just can't waste any more time." My pitch was low, steady, and serious. I’d made a promise, and I needed to keep it. "Plus, if we leave soon, we can get some sleep."

My sister peered up at me, listening to my voice of reason and nodded. "You know what? You're right. We need to go."

Cade lowered his head, but not before I caught the downturned look in his eyes that mirrored mine. "Take the jet anyway,” he said, softly. “You'll get there faster."

I was packed, and we were in Cade's car in under ten minutes. Cade held my hand fiercely through the whole drive, as though he never wanted me to leave his side. I wanted to enjoy it, sink into it, but I couldn’t sit still. All these thoughts of our mortality were really getting to me. Minutes and seconds ticked by like we were on borrowed time. Both of our families had money—we were lucky—but one thing we’d never be able to buy was time.

When the car pulled into the private airport just outside the city, tears nearly burned the back of my eyes. I didn’t want to leave. When would I see him again? We were together, so I had nothing to fear, right?

Jordan put the car in park, right by the private plane that said CJW in letters sprawled right above the wing. Wyatt sat right next to him in the front, waiting for direction.

"Let’s give these two lovebirds a moment alone." My sister cleared her throat beside me.

Jordan peered behind him and nodded. "Yeah. Come on, Wyatt, let's give Christene a tour of the plane."

When the door shut behind them, I buried my head into Cade's chest, my whole body falling into his.

"I'm not ready to leave yet." I unbuckled my seat belt and hopped in his lap. "Thanks for taking me here to meet your mother, your brothers. I ... I had so much fun in the short time I've been here."

His hands pressed against my sides, caging me in his arms, against the warmth of his body. "Come here," he said, lifting my chin.

I wrapped my arms around his neck, and he pressed his lips against mine. Being here with his family, miles away from Rosendell where we didn't have to hide, felt like a dream. As soon as my father was out of surgery and cleared and well, I vowed to make everything right. To tell them about Cade. Tell them about us. Tell them I was in love. "You're coming back to Rosendell, right?"

He nodded.

"Say it, then. I want to hear it. Tell me you're coming back for me." Anxiety was laced in every word that left my mouth.

"I'm coming back to Rosendell." His eyes blazed. "I'm coming back for you."

I framed his face with my hands, my fingers running against the stubble on his chin. "I love you. I want to be with you." I kissed him fiercely and firmly and with a passion that radiated in my chest.

He inhaled deeply, then pulled back, locking his eyes with mine. "I want you, too. Not just for a night. Not just for the next few months. I want you for years, for life, for forever."