by Penny Dee
He collapsed onto me and I felt the thunder of his pulse on my breasts. Moments passed in silence as our breathing calmed and our heartbeats evened.
Naked and satiated from our lovemaking, it was minutes before Jake rolled onto his side and gently ran a finger along my arm.
“Tell me something,” he said.
I looked at him, totally spent. “Sure.”
His beautiful eyes found mine. Even now, after months of knowing him, the color of them still fascinated me. “How are you feeling about everything. It’s been a crazy couple of months.”
He wasn’t wrong. After Derek had broken into my home, attacked and attempted to rape me, both Jake and I had endured some seriously lengthy police interviews. After much investigation, we were cleared of any wrongdoing. Derek, on the other hand, survived his injuries and woke up from his coma to face a whole stack of charges.
He was sent to a high-security facility where he would see out the rest of his days. He wouldn’t be getting out again.
“It’s crazy, but I’m not scared anymore,” I said, holding up my hands and noting the steadiness of my fingers. My fear was gone. For the first time in years, my fear was really gone. I felt lighter, like a huge weight had been lifted from me. I turned my head to look at him. “It’s really over.”
Jake nodded. “It is. He can’t hurt you any more.”
“Not just that. I’m talking about the anxiety. The meltdowns. The insanity.” I smiled up at the most beautiful man in the world who was looking back at me with absolute affection. “It’s time to move forward.”
I hadn’t had an anxiety attack in weeks.
“I’m proud of you.” He leaned down and pressed a kiss into my shoulder. “Time to bring on the pancakes?”
I looked sheepish. “Baby steps, Jake.”
My phone pinged with a message. It was Daisy with a message that read:
This is what happiness looks like.
The next message was a selfie of her and Anna in Aspen, their lips pressed together.
They had met two months earlier when a bad-tempered Daisy had shown up on my doorstep, mad as hell because all her accounts had been frozen, courtesy of Johnny Johnston. She had come looking for me, hoping I would talk some sense into the old coot, and had walked straight into Anna. It was insta-love for the both of them.
Two weeks ago, Daisy had announced to the entire world that she was gay and then promptly escaped to Aspen with her new love. Now they were shamelessly flaunting their relationship for all the world to see, and spreading it through Instagram and Facebook. I was proud of her. She had stood up to everyone and was finally happy.
I showed Jake the picture and he grinned.
“So tell me, do you know a good agent?” he asked, lacing his fingers through mine. “Because I have to get rid of the one I’ve got.”
Since the night of the playoffs and Derek’s attempt to rape me, I had resumed work as Jake’s agent.
I looked at him suspiciously. “Oh, really, why is that?”
“Because I’m going to marry her,” he said, like it was no big deal. “And she has this thing about mixing business with pleasure. She’s kind of a pain in the ass about it, really.”
I stared at him, my mouth agape. “Marry?”
He looked down at me, his face filled with a crazy amount of emotion as he said softly, “Yeah, what do you say, Z? Think you could handle being Mrs. Sasquatch?”
It took a moment for my post-orgasm brain to catch up. Jake Pennington was asking me to marry him. The Saskatoon Sasquatch wanted me to be his wife.
Happiness replaced shock and I grinned up at him. “Are you sure?”
“Z, there is nothing I want more.” He leaned down and planted a kiss on my lips. When he pulled back, he asked, “So?”
I pulled him back down to me. “I think you’ve got yourself a deal.”
THE END
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