The doorbell rang again.
“Stay here,” I ordered when Sloane made a move to stand.
I stalked from the dining room into the living room and yanked the door open. Knox and Naomi stood on the front porch holding a carrier of to-go cups and a bag of bagels.
“What the fuck are you wearing, man?” Knox asked, staring at my pants.
Naomi elbowed him. “Hi. We thought Sloane might want some breakfast.”
“Might as well join the party,” I said, hooking a thumb in the direction of the dining room.
There were hugs and platitudes and more than one skeptical look thrown in my direction.
“Can we get back to the topic at hand?” I demanded.
Knox smirked. “Now who’s the sweatpants-wearing whiner?”
“How long is it going to take to rebuild?” Sloane asked.
“Levi from Benderson Builders already stopped by this morning,” Nash explained.
“I talked to him too. Levi thinks he can get the work done in three or four months. He’s willing to start now so you don’t have to wait out the inevitable fucking around of the insurance company,” Knox said.
“You talked to him?” Nash repeated.
Knox shrugged. “Building’s got my fuckin’ name on it. I’m invested.”
“Three or four months?” Sloane looked pale. I reached out and gripped her hand in mine. Those green eyes swung in my direction. “What am I going to do?”
“Baby, we’ll figure something out,” I assured her. “We’ll find a temporary location. We’ll save what can be saved and buy new of everything that was lost.”
“Baby?” Knox muttered.
“That was a lot of wes,” Lina pointed out.
“You’re gonna be hearing a lot of both, so I’d advise you get used to it,” I warned them.
“Don’t mind Lucian. He’s suffered some kind of break with reality,” Sloane said, slathering a bagel with cream cheese.
“That’s it,” I said. I pushed my chair back and stood up. “If you’ll all excuse us for a minute, I need to have a word with Sloane.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” she sniffed, cramming a bite of bagel into her mouth.
I dragged her chair backward and tossed her over my shoulder.
“This is not gonna end well,” Knox predicted as I carried the shrieking Sloane out of the room, through the kitchen, and out the back door.
Outside on the porch, we were met with the perfect spring morning. Warm sunshine, chirping birds, and a thousand new blooms brought her backyard to life.
Spring. A new beginning. A fresh start.
Just what we both needed.
“Put me down, you gigantic assface!” Sloane shouted.
I set her on her feet, noting that she’d managed to keep hold of her bagel.
“You need to understand something,” I told her calmly. “I’m not going anywhere, and you are my business because we’re together.”
Her gasp was one of outrage. “You can’t just tell me we’re in a relationship.” Her feistiness was back in full force. I took credit for that.
“I’m merely stating a fact.”
She shook her head vehemently from side to side. “No. You’ve clearly suffered some sort of head wound and are experiencing an alternate reality.”
“Sloane, we’re together. End of story. The sooner you accept that—”
“You expect me to be all like ‘okey-dokey!’ when you’ve dumped me twice now?”
“I was trying to protect you. I thought Anthony Hugo connected you to me and was going to hurt you! When you showed up at my office, I was fucking terrified that he’d see you there.”
“And instead of telling me that and coming up with a solution together, you kicked me out of your house, had me escorted from your office, and then proceeded to date an army of the most beautiful and talented women in the DC area?”
“I didn’t want Hugo to be able to connect you to me. If you were just one of many, he’d leave you alone. But it was someone else who wanted to hurt you, and I’m not going to let that happen.”
She was still shaking her head. “I want kids, Lucian. Actual children. I want a big, loud, messy family.”
“Then we’ll have one.” I meant it. Anything Sloane wanted was now my job to procure.
She blinked rapidly. “I’m sorry. Did you say…” She brought a hand to her head and starting prodding the bruise on her forehead. “Maybe I did give myself a concussion. I could have sworn you said—”