Page 49 of Forgotten Desires

I only had twenty-four more hours with her, and I wasn’t going to waste any of it sleeping.

“Plans?”

“Yup.”

“That include being awake?” Brynlee asked, tightening her grip around my chest.

“Most plans do.” I chuckled. “Come on, Bee, get up.”

She lifted her head, brown eyes with flecks of yellow around the iris staring at me. “This better be worth it, Crew.”

And there was the stinger. She may have been sweet, always giving parts of herself in service of others, but she had her defenses, and she could definitely pack a punch when her back was to the wall. It’s why I called her my little honeybee, which she found adorable.

“It will be,” I promised.

At least I hoped it would.

For the last six days I’d questioned everything I’d ever thought about love. Not that my parents or grandparents showed any of us what love looked like, but I believed it just evaded the Knight family.

We’d been punished, thanks to the generations of shithead men who married for duty.

Which is what I’d been told I’d be doing.

But what if I could have this? What if I could have her?

She whined and dropped her head back on my chest. “I want to just stay here. Forever.”

As though she read my mind. “And what would we do?”

I could feel her smile on my skin. “Stay like this. Stay in bed, wrapped around each other while the world moves on, and we have each other. Although, I’m not sure any company we work for would allow that,” Brynn joked.

Little did she know I owned my own company at that point and I could’ve probably found a way to work that into the bylaws.

“Probably not, but I want us to do something fun today, and then tonight, we’re going to dinner, just the two of us.”

She looked up at me with her long lashes fluttering. “A date.”

“A date.”

Our last one.

Brynlee pushed herself up higher on my chest and kissed my nose. “How have we spent this entire week together, each night sleeping together, and not gone on a date?”

I chuckled, pushing her hair back. “I’d say we’ve been on the longest first date in history.”

“I don’t want it to end,” she admitted.

Neither did I, but I knew there wouldn’t be a way to continue, not with my family. Not with my future mapped out, but I could give her one date. One that she’d remember forever, and that’s exactly what I planned to do.

My phone rings, and I glance at the clock, seeing it’s five in the morning. Great. It begins.

Sure enough, my father’s face is on the screen, and I shift, trying not to wake Brynn. She rolls over, clutching a pillow, and I grin.

She’s the same in so many ways.

Once out of the bedroom, I swipe the phone. “Hello, Father.”

“You’re engaged?” he yells, and I pull the phone away from my ear. “Are you fucking kidding me?”

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