“No.” He shook his head.
“No?” It was worse than she thought. “But they can’t take Ruby Hawk from you! The company means everything to you.”
“There is only one thing that means everything to me. And that’s my wife.” He opened his right fist.
Her wedding ring sat on his palm, shining like a blazing star, sending refracted shards of rainbow dancing around the room.
She stared at it, caught between holding her breath and hyperventilating, as he held it out. “The board of directors didn’t remove me. I resigned. Anjuli is the new CEO. She’s more than a match for Nestor,” he said.
His blue gaze was alight with so much emotion it made her tremble. “I don’t understand. You gave up Ruby Hawk?”
“You were right. I had to stop the game. Stop allowing the past to dictate the future. Stop controlling the present.” He smiled, and it was so tender her breath caught. “Allow for serendipity.”
Hope started to flower, big, showy blossoms of delight and joy. Her veins sang with it. “What about Irene? And my email about our contract? Cinco Jackson’s exposé?”
He laughed. “I called Cinco and told him the whole thing.” He held up the hand with the chip again. “Took a risk, but it paid off. He was much more intrigued about the Stavros Group hacking email to find blackmail material on their potential business partners than he was in our contract. Irene is busy fending off his phone calls.”
The grin on her face painfully stretched her skin, but she didn’t care. “So you’re not going to start a new company and sell it under ridiculous conditions?”
“A new company, yes. I’ve already talked to Grayson Monk and Evan Fletcher about joining Medevco. But no more conditions.” He stepped closer, his scent teasing her nose. She yearned to throw her arms around his neck and press her lips to the skin just below his jaw, inhaling more of it, for the rest of time. “I’m never letting you go again. I love you, Danica Novak.”
It was a good thing she was in a medical facility, because she wasn’t sure her heart could hold all the happiness. She cupped his beloved face with her hands, tracing the faint lines that appeared in his forehead, reveling in the prickle of his five-o’clock shadow against her fingertips.
“You didn’t shave this morning,” she babbled, scarcely aware she spoke as she bathed in the heat and passion and love—yes, love—radiating from his gaze.
“I was in too much of a hurry to do this.” And then his mouth was on hers and she couldn’t think at all, lost in the wonder that was Luke kissing her, reaffirming just how much she meant to him. She melted into him, her lips opening under his, pressing as close to him as the thin barrier of their clothes would allow. She—
Someone tapped on her shoulder. Through the heat and haze, a voice said, “Hey, I hate to break this up, but...”
It sounded like Matt. But he should be in his room.
Danica disengaged from Luke and turned to whoever interrupted them. And then she clung to Luke even harder.
It was Matt. And Matt—Matt was standing. As she stared, blinking, he grinned and began to walk.
Oh, he was holding onto a walker, and his progress was slow. But he was moving his legs.
“Look at you.” Tears, which had been threatening to form ever since she first spotted Luke, now leaked down her cheeks. Luke handed her a packet of tissues, which she gratefully accepted. Then she frowned at her brother. “Have you been hiding your progress from me?”
“Just this past week. Got access to some new therapies,” he said, nodding at Luke.
“From Luke?” She gaped at him.
Luke smiled and tucked her against his side. “It was your idea to use Ruby Hawk technology in sports equipment that got me started. Medevco’s products include revolutionary tools for use in physical therapy. Matt was kind enough to be one of our test subjects.”
The tears burned hot on her cheeks. But then, joy should feel warm. “Thank you for helping my brother.”
“He’s family,” Luke said simply.
Danica’s gaze searched his face. Once upon a time she thought he resembled a brooding man of the moors, solitary, disdaining help from other people. And he still did—but the aura of utter self-sufficiency was no longer evident. “Family isn’t a four-letter word now?”
“My parents are who they are. But love is a four-letter word too. And speaking of...” He turned to face her. Then he dropped to one knee.
She didn’t think the day could hold any more shocks. Luke Dallas didn’t stoop to others. Luke Dallas walked on top of them. But there he was. Kneeling. In front of her. “What are you doing?” She forced the words past lips numb with surprise and hope.
“What I should have done the first time.” He took her hands in his, his grip warm and firm and oh so right. “When you left, you took the sun with you. I want you to come back. Be my light. Be my wife.”
Her heart expanded, shutting out doubts and fears with a strength beyond measure. “I love you too,” she said, her voice shaking. “I have ever since we kissed outside the taqueria.”
He pressed his lips against her left palm. Then he slid the diamond and platinum band on the ring finger. “Will you do me the honor of remaining my wife?”
“Yes. Yes!” And then his mouth was on hers. She gladly opened to him, winding her arms around his neck and pressing closer. She hadn’t known just how deeply she missed him until she could smell and taste and touch him once again.
“Hey, guys? People are waiting for the main event,” she heard her brother say. Luke laughed and lifted his head, keeping a tight arm around her waist.
“What main event? What could possibly come next?” Her gaze locked on Luke’s. She would never grow tired of watching the light dance in those summer-sea depths.
Luke smiled. “You said our last wedding wasn’t a real one because your family wasn’t there. So...” He took his phone out of his pocket and pushed a button on the screen. The opening chords of “My Shot” from Hamilton filled the air. “Your mother has a dress waiting for you. I’ll meet you in the center’s chapel when you’re ready.”
She didn’t know so much happiness existed in the world. “We’re already married.” She held up her decorated ring finger. “Another ceremony wouldn’t be practical.”
He growled, causing her to laugh. “I’m learning to let go when it comes to control, but I’m not letting you go ever again. I’ll marry you a hundred times. You can plan the next wedding.”
“Just twice will do,” she said. “As long as the contract term is forever.”
“At least that long,” he warned. “Trust me.”
Danica smiled. They weren’t in the chapel yet, but it was a vow to him that was long overdue. “I do. Forever.”
* * *
Keep reading for an excerpt from That Night in Texas by Joss Wood.
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That Night in Texas
by Joss Wood
One
Vivi Donner gripped her steering wheel and leaned forward, hoping that the extra couple of inches would help her see better through the gray, dense fog. It was another awful day after a string of terrible days, and like the rest of the residents of Houston, Texas, she felt both battered and shattered. After the storm that had led to devastating flooding, a blast of sunshine would help. But a clear day would also force Houston to face the destruction that had been caused and to take stock of the extensive damage to homes and buildings. Vivi jerked her eyes off to the side and the fog cleared just enough for her to see the piles of debris, broken branches and ruined furniture on the sidewalks.
Thank God her house, and that of Clem’s sitter, Charlie, was undamaged. The same couldn’t be said for The Rollin’ Smoke, the famed barbecue restaurant where she worked as head chef.
According to Joe, the owner and her mentor, her beautiful, newly updated kitchen was ruined. The renovations to the restaurant had been finished just six weeks ago, and the new floor, booths, tables and chairs were all wrecked, as well. Garbage and debris still covered the floor, and all hands, including hers, were needed on deck.
As the head chef who answered only to Joe, she could wait until her staff did the heavy lifting and cleaning before she returned, but she wasn’t a prima donna. How could she be? She’d worked her way up the ladder at the restaurant—albeit in record time—from dishwasher to head chef, but she still knew how to get her hands dirty.
Joe’s name might be on the deeds to the eatery but The Rollin’ Smoke was hers, dammit, and Vivi wanted to be there to pick it up and dry it off.
Seeing that the road ahead was closed, Vivi turned down a side road. The fog was thicker here, and her visibility was rapidly decreasing. If it got much worse, she’d have to stop and wait it out, but that could take hours. Where was that damn sun? She lifted one hand from the steering wheel and rubbed her hand on her soft denims, trying to wipe away the perspiration. God, this was scary.
The ringing of her phone had her butt lifting two inches off her seat. Fumbling, she hit the screen to answer the call. “God, Joe, you scared me!”
“Are you in the car? Please tell me you’re not driving!” Joe’s voice rose in panic.
“Actually, I’m crawling along.” That way, nothing bad could happen.
“Turn around, go back home.”
Vivi fought the urge to do exactly that. She wanted to pick up Clem and take her back to their house, climb into bed and pull the covers over their heads and hide out from the world. But she’d done that for the first quarter century of her life and she refused to live like that again. Life was for living, dammit, and part of that living was accepting the good with the bad.
Having Clem and being her mom was not just good but stupendously awesome. On the flip side, a devastating storm and the resulting flood was bad—terrible—but it had happened, and she had to deal with it.
“I have a job to do and a restaurant to clean up so that our lives can return to normal as soon as possible. A little destruction won’t stop the ravenous appetites of Houston meat eaters,” Vivi told Joe, ignoring the sense that she was standing on a precipice. She had a feeling that nothing would ever be the same again.
Vivi shivered as a cold chill ran up and down her spine. Her mom would’ve said that a devil was dancing on her spine, but Vivi shook that thought away. Her mom’s superstitions and beliefs, a curious mix of religion and craziness, no longer had a place in her life.
She was just freaked out by the fog, the lack of streetlights, the whistling wind and the piles of debris she occasionally caught a glimpse of in her weak headlights. They all contributed to the spooky atmosphere.
“Just be careful, please,” Joe begged her before disconnecting the call.
Another shiver raised the hair on her arms and Vivi swore. Dropping her eyes, she looked down and located the temperature controls. She punched the button to warm the interior of the car. It was hot and humid outside, but her body had other ideas.
Grateful for the blast of warm air, Vivi checked her rearview mirror and saw a cop car on her tail, blue lights flashing. Vivi scanned the road ahead of her, cursing when she realized there was nowhere to pull over. He was close to her tail and she saw, in her rearview mirror, big hands fly up in obvious frustration. He needed to be somewhere else and she was in his way. Her only option was to speed up and hope a spot would soon appear where she could pull over.
Vivi flexed her fingers and took a deep breath. And as soon as she accelerated she saw the spooky outline of a tree in her path. She slammed the brakes, felt her car slide, then fishtail. She spun her wheel and tapped her accelerator to pull her out of the slide.
Her engine roared and her lungs constricted as the car scrambled for purchase on the slick surface. She heard the ping of gravel hitting her paint. Gravel was better than slick asphalt, she decided. She’d be out of this mess in a minute. Then she’d stop, restart her heart and go home and cuddle Clem.
She might even pull those blankets up around her head, just for a little while.
But those thoughts were short-lived when she felt the car bounce over some uneven ground right before she felt the nose of the car dipping. Her vehicle slid down an embankment, its underside scraping over rocks and debris, and she looked out her window onto a gully containing swiftly running, black water. Her veins iced up and panic closed her throat. She was heading for that cold, foul water. God, there had to be something she could do to save herself, but her brain refused to engage.
Clem’s beautiful face, those bright blue eyes and impish smile, swam across her vision as water covered her feet and soaked her jeans. As it crawled up her thighs, she felt Clem’s arms around her neck, her gentle breath on her face.
Open the damn window, woman.
The voice in her head was from the past, but his tone was hard and demanding. Vivi slapped her hand on the button and the window slid down. A hard wave of water rocked her sideways, but she felt a strong hand on her shoulder and a comforting presence.
You can do this. Just keep calm.
Why was she hearing Camden McNeal’s voice in her head? She looked to the passenger seat, almost expecting to see the sexy ex–oil rigger there, tall and broad and so damn sexy. Clem’s eyes in a masculine, tough face.
Take a deep breath...and another...
The water hit her chin and drops of dirt smacked her lips. Vivi took in another deep breath as water covered her head.
Hold on to the wheel and release your seat belt...
She pushed the lever and felt the seat belt drift away. Without it anchoring her to her seat, she felt buffeted by the water. Panic clawed at her stomach, twisting her brain. A twig scraped over her eyebrow and Vivi closed her eyes. What was the point of keeping them open? She couldn’t see a damn thing as it was.
Survival instinct kicked in and she banged the frame of the open window, fighting the urge to haul in a breath.
She had to live. She had a little girl to raise. Grabbing the frame, she fought the water, scrabbling as she placed her feet against the console and tried to push herself through the open window. But she felt like she was trying to push through a concrete wall.
Wait five seconds and try again...
I don’t have five damn seconds, Vivi mentally screamed.
Sure you do.
Vivi cursed him, her hands gripping the
door frame. Five thousand one, five thousand two—God, she needed air—five thousand—
She couldn’t wait any longer. Completely convinced that she was about to die, Vivi pushed against the console, pulled against the window frame and shot out of the car. It was dark and cold and scary, but there was light above her. She’d head for that. Light was good, light was safety...
Light meant Clem.
She was so close—her fingers were an inch from the surface—but her lungs were about to burst. Another kick, another pull...
Vivi’s head broke the surface and she pulled in one life-affirming breath before darkness hauled her away.
* * *
Camden McNeal placed his palm on the window of his home office and looked out at the disappearing fog. He rolled his shoulders, trying to ease the tension in his shoulders and his back. He’d swallowed some painkillers a half hour ago, but the vise squeezing his brain had yet to release its claws. He felt like he was about to jump out of his skin.
Lifting his coffee mug to his lips, he took a large sip, enjoying the smooth taste of the expensive imported roast. He waited for the warmth to hit his stomach, but when it did, it burned rather than comforted. What the hell was wrong with him?
Yeah, the past few days hadn’t been fun. Houston had been slapped senseless by a devastating storm and there were many people out there who were in dire straits, although he wasn’t one of them. Not this time.
Count your blessings, McNeal...
Punching a number on his phone, he waited impatiently for Ryder to answer his call. “Cam, everything okay with you?”
His old boss and mentor had a way of making Cam feel steadier. Ryder was rock solid, as a colleague and a friend, and it never hurt to have someone like him standing in your corner. “My office is still under water and mud. All my computers are fried.”
“Nasty. Hope you backed up,” Ryder said.
All the time. “Yep, to a cloud server, so no information has been lost. But two of my guys have lost their houses and possessions.” He already had plans in place to get them back on their feet.
Wanted: Billionaire's Wife Page 17