“You can put this dress back on later. Okay?” My voice is stern.
“Yes, sir.” She winks.
It takes every ounce of willpower I have to turn away from her.
Ace is standing in the hallway, frowning. His eyes move from my suit to my face, then down to my hand. To the gold band on my ring finger.
I watch the lightbulb go off. “Hunter… you got something to tell me?”
“We got married earlier.”
He grins. Looks past me toward the stairs where Lola has already disappeared. Then back at me.
He leans in. “Is she pregnant?” he asks under his breath.
“Fucking hell. No. I just love her. And wanted to marry her. But I’m going to put a baby in her as soon as she will let me.”
He shrugs. Like marrying a woman you met weeks ago is the most reasonable thing in the world. Maybe in this family, it is.
“As long as you’re happy. Congrats.” He claps a hand on my shoulder. Then the grin fades. “But I might be about to get in the way of your big day.”
“How?”
I glance up the stairs. Lola is gone. The bathroom door clicks shut above us.
“I grabbed a guy who’s been snooping around Ashley’s place. Figured you’d wanna be there for the questioning.”
Part of me almost says no. Almost tells him to handle it. Because upstairs there’s a bathtub and a woman in a wedding dress and a promise I made about tying her to my bed.
But I need answers. I need to avoid jail time. And I need to know who is systematically trying to dismantle my life. Lola knows exactly who I am and what I do. This is the part of my life I can’t hide from. Not when I’m the one in charge.
“You made the right call,” I tell him. “Let’s get some answers.”
I loosen my tie as we head out the back. Pull it over my head. Roll up my sleeves.
I got married today. Kissed my wife in a courthouse. Carried her to my truck. Listened to her ask me to make love to her for the first time. And now I’m walking into a barn to interrogate a man who might hold the key to my freedom.
This is my life. Both halves of it. Running side by side. Never slowing down. And the woman upstairs in my bathtub chose it. Chose me. Knowing all of it.
That makes her braver than anyone I’ve ever known.
CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
LOLA
After the bathand getting changed, I’ve laid my wedding dress on the bed, ready for later when Hunter is home.
I’ve got to get Wyatt from school in half an hour, but I’m hoping Hunter comes with me. I’ve never been a mom-like figure to anyone; I don’t want to mess this up with Wyatt.
While I wait, Violet is about to get the surprise of her life.
I’ve got her location on my phone. She’s at the guest house. Five-minute walk. Easy.
I pull on my sneakers and step out onto the porch, taking a moment to just breathe. The afternoon sun hits my face, and I close my eyes. Listen to the rustle of the animals. The distant whicker of horses.
It’s peaceful here. Genuinely, bone-deep peaceful. The kind I’ve been chasing my whole life.
I jog down the steps, and I’m halfway across the yard when I stop.