Aflame (Fall Away #4)(78)

“Good.” He looked back at the race but kept talking. “I signed Jared up for some off-roading stuff at the Loop next weekend, so don’t plan too much, okay?”

I twisted up my lips. “You know Jared hates off-roading,” I reminded him. “If it’s not fast—”

“I just want him to learn the lay of the land,” he shot out, appeasing me. “Juliet and I will be off to Costa Rica in a few months, and I trust him to look in on things better than I trust anyone else.”

That’s right. I’d almost forgotten.

Jax and Juliet weren’t letting a baby slow them down. Their son would be coming on their adventures with them. Juliet had a yearlong teaching contract—which she’d delayed when she got pregnant—while Jax had secured a job with Outward Bound down there and also continued to perform computer work on the side. Legal computer work.

Jared would be keeping an eye on the Loop operations in his place when we were in town.

“I’m bringing Lucas,” Madoc told Jax. “If Jared is willing, he can take him with him off-roading. The more mentors the kid has, the better.”

I smiled, thinking of how great Lucas had it. Madoc and Fallon treated their “little brother” like one of their own, and I had no doubt the kid had a promising future ahead of him with the support system he’d gained. He had a good mom and great friends.

“Come on!” Everyone started screaming, seeing Jared in his superflashy red-and-white racing suit, which he was forced to wear.

He tore across the finish line, and it felt like those tires were driving over my heart.

“Yes!” Jax and Madoc roared, shooting their arms into the air and then doing double high fives.

I put one hand over my heart and another over my stomach, aching from the worry.

The crowd cheered as the race ended, and I smiled, seeing Jared ignore everyone who tried to talk to him as he ran up to me, dumping his helmet on the ground.

“You see?” He lifted me in the air. “I’m always safe.”

And then he brought me down, crashing his lips to mine in a way that sent me reeling. I almost cringed, hearing cameras go off as we kissed, but I looked at it as a step up that I wasn’t in a towel this time.

He set me down, wrapping his arms around me.

“Eh”—I shrugged my shoulders—“I’m not so worried about your safety anymore,” I lied.

He raised his eyebrows. “No?”

“No.” I shook my head. “Just that you win.”

I leaned in, threading my fingers through the back of his hair and inhaling the scent of his body wash.

“And I wanted you in a good mood,” I told him. “I can’t give you happy news on an unhappy day.”

He cocked his head, looking at me, confused.

“And the prize money will help,” I continued, “since you’re the only working member in the household, and I’m about to cost you a lot of money,” I teased.

He shot me a cocky grin. “And why’s that?”

And when I leaned in to tell him why I needed him safe, why no obstacle could keep me from being happy right now, I felt his breath give way and his chest cave.

And tears immediately sprang to my eyes when he knelt down in front of everyone—cameras flashing in the background and gasps from our friends going off around us—and kissed my stomach, saying hello to his child.





Epilogue


Tate

Seven Years Later

Fanning myself with the copy of Newsweek, I grunted as I bent down to pick up Dylan’s shoes off the carpet.

The July heat had me so aggravated that I was tempted to staple her shoelaces to the floor if she kept dumping her belongings everywhere.

Jared was next to no help when it came to building our daughter’s sense of responsibility. Yeah, she was only six years old, but we didn’t want her spoiled, did we? I constantly had to remind him that she’d be a teenager someday, and then he’d be sorry.

But Dylan Trent was a daddy’s girl, and heaven help him when she started wanting boyfriends and late curfews instead of candy and toys.

“Why’s it so cold in here?” I heard Madoc bellow from down the hall.

I shook my head and tossed my daughter’s shoes on top of the hamper in our private bathroom, shutting off the light as I left. “It’s hot as hell,” I grumbled under my breath so he couldn’t hear.

I took a long look around the room, finally satisfied that it was clean and the laundry was put away. I knew Madoc and Fallon didn’t care about messes, but I did when I was staying in someone else’s house.

I pulled Jared’s long-sleeved blue-and-white pinstripe dress shirt away from my chest and continued fanning cool air down through the opening at the neck as I sat down on the edge of our bed. His mom had bought him a bunch of stylish Brooks Brothers dress shirts for his business trips, but he’d wear only the black or white ones. The blue-and pink-striped ones were mine, and they, along with my cotton pajama shorts, were my uniform these days.

Madoc pulled up outside my bedroom door, scowling at me with his hands on his hips.

“It’s cold in here,” he accused, eyeing me as the culprit, since I was the one burning up these days and keeping his house at subzero temperatures.

I let out a fake sympathetic sigh as I continued fanning myself. “Don’t make your problems my problems, man,” I replied sarcastically.