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“Sooo it was…?”

“Her safe word.”

“Uh hmm.” He hummed. “Makes perfect sense now.”

“What does? You fuckers still haven’t filled me in on the drama.”

While Keaton grabbed another beer, I brought Koen up to speed. Not surprisingly, he laughed his ass off when he found out I’d moved Lanie in without her knowledge, then he was pissed I didn’t include him in my plans.

“What are you gonna do?”

I thought about it for a moment and came up with only one solution.

“Beg.”

11I’M PLAYING TO WIN

Lanie

“Do you want to live with Noah?”

Fifteen minutes ago, the answer to Jade’s question would’ve been unequivocally yes. If I set my current state of fury aside, it still was. However, Noah wasn’t getting off the hook easily and not without serious groveling. Until then, he could piss off.

“Of course she does.”

“You sure about that, Henley? She looks madder than a hen.”

“Let me know when you two are done talking about me like I’m not here.”

Henley gasped, putting her hand on her chest. “She speaks.”

When I’d torn out of the house, I had no idea where I was going. The only thing I wanted was to walk away before I said something I’d regret. It was the reason I used my safe word. He’d pushed me to my limit. In all fairness, him moving me in was just the icing on my fucked-up cake.

Noah’s back deck turned out to be the perfect escape. The three of us sat in the wooden Adirondack chairs lined up along the length of the railing facing the forest. They weren’t the most comfortable things in the world, but at least the view was spectacular.

“I was thinking, smart-ass, not avoiding the question.”

“That’s what you’re doing wrong,” Henley stated matter-of-factly. “Stop thinking. Get out of your head and open your heart. Noah absolutely went about this the wrong way. We know it, and after what I saw inside—which, by the way, you have to explain—he knows it too.”

“We aren’t saying you shouldn’t make him beg for forgiveness. That man should get on his knees, if you know what I mean.” Jade waggled her eyebrows, making me snort. “But, let’s face it, you were always going to end up right here whether it was today, next month, or a year from now.”

“He asked me while we were away, then we were interrupted before I could give him my answer. I was going to say yes, for Christ’s sake. Why couldn’t he just wait a minute?”

“He’s a man, Lanie.” Henley struggled to lean forward with her pregnant belly getting in the way. “Testosterone can fuck with their common sense sometimes.”

“I’d love to be able to blame my stupidity on hormones, ladies, but I’m afraid this was all me.”

Our heads swung around at the sound of his voice. Noah stood with one leg bent at the knee, his foot against the back of the house and his hands in his pockets. He looked delicious yet dejected. I had no idea how long he’d been there or how much he’d overheard.

“Can I talk to you, Darlin’?”

“Now you wanna talk?”

“Fair point.” He straightened, taking slow, tentative steps forward as if he was approaching a wild animal. Considering how I felt, he kinda was. “I was an ass.”

“Yup,” I agreed.

“We’re gonna give you two some privacy.” Henley swung her legs to the side of the chair, then tried twice to push up without any luck. “Can someone give me a hand? I’m stuck in this damn chair.”

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