Page 116 of Promise Me

“Yes.”

“Likelove,love her? Love her enough to spend the rest of your life with her, love?”

I nod and then I smile.

“If she lets me.”

He scowls at me for another couple of seconds, then his hands hit his hips, and he drops his chin to his chest.

“This is not how I expected my day to go.”

“Day?” I question with a laugh. “Try summer. If you would have asked me if I saw myself living to make that woman smile”—I point at his dad’s house—“I’d have laughed in your face.”

Finally, Linc chuckles. “It’s weird, but I should have seen it coming. I knew something was up at my dad’s that one day, but I trusted you two.”

“To be fair, nothing had happened at that point. Nothing happened until the day that?—”

“The fewer details, the better, man.”

“Noted.”

The door swings open, and Sadie comes running out.

“Linc, you better not be … you’re not fighting?”

She looks back and forth between us as if she’s unsure what to do next.

“No, we aren’t fighting.” I grab her hand.

Linc groans. “I might not want to kick you in the junk anymore, but that doesn’t mean I’m ready for all this.”

His hand waves us up and down, and then he spins. “I need to get back to work.”

“Wait,” Sadie calls out. “Why are you here?”

“Shit. I came to get Dad’s portfolio. He forgot it.”

Linc turns back for the house as I pull Sadie into my arms.

“I can't believe that just happened. How did you calm him down so fast?”

“I just told him the truth.”

“And that is?”

“That I’ve never been happier in my entire life than when I’m with you.”

Sadie pushes to her toes and presses a kiss to my mouth. I slide my tongue past her lips, igniting the passion we’d had moments ago before we were interrupted.

“I said wait till I’m gone!” Linc yells as he walks past us with their father’s bag in his hand. “And you two are telling Dad tonight at dinner. Be here at six.”

“You got it,” I say and then kiss Sadie's forehead.

“And Sadie”—he stops to look at his sister—“by no means does this mean I’ll stop worrying about you.”

She rolls her eyes.

“I know.”

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