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“We’re going to work this out. I promise,” Duke assured me, but I had my doubts.
The next day Maverick Kincaid assured me of the same thing. “Wildflower, this will be sorted.”
He had a lot of faith in the sheriff. Joy joined him, her enthusiasm loud enough to shake the rafters.
“Jesus, Elena.” Joy shook her head. “Only you couldget shot and still manage to look better than the rest of us.”
“She’s always looked better than everyone else.” Duke wrapped his arm around me in that proprietary manner again.
“You know nothing happened ever between her and me?” Maverick said when he saw the gesture.
“Because she didn’t want it to.” Duke nodded. “But you did.”
“Well, yeah. I’m a red-blooded man, and your woman is fuckin’ fabulous.”
“Hiswoman is right here,” I quipped.
Joy settled back in the armchair across from Duke and me on the sofa. Maverick stood by the window, drinking the coffee Itzel had served.
“Men are so…primal, aren’t they?” Joy beat her chest and added gruffly, “My woman, hear me roar.”
We all laughed.
“She was never gonna get with me, Duke,” Maverick drawled softly. “I knew you had hurt her, Duke, and once you came back, I could also see you wanted her back. I’m glad you both finally figured it out.”
"Figured what out?" I asked, narrowing my eyes.
He gestured between me and Duke. "That you’re together."
I opened my mouth to argue just on principle, but Duke beat me to it. “We are! We’re getting married soon.”
I whipped my head around to glare at him. “Say what?”
“I’m going to choose the dress,” Joy said with a whoop of delight.
Duke looked at me, face unreadable, but his eyes—God, his eyes, they spoke volumes. "Yeah, Elena, we’re getting married."
“You have to ask first, and I could say no.”
I’d say yes before he even finished asking, but he didn’t need me to spell it out, did he? Still, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t hide the happiness his words stirred in me. After a lifetime of feeling unimportant, I wasn’t, not to Duke. The way he cared for me, the way he showed up, the way he…yeah, loved me—without hesitation, without doubt—proved what I already knew. We were forever.
“I’m not goin’ to ask ‘cause then you may get the hair-brained idea that you have a choice in the matter,” Duke countered arrogantly.
"You can’t just decide that."
"Sure, I can," Duke shot back.
“We hardly know each other, Duke. We…come on.”
“Know all about each other that we need to know,” Duke asserted.
Joy laughed, shaking her head. "Oh, this is fun."
Maverick grinned. “Look, y’all can argue all you want, but we know the truth. Hell, I think you know it as well, Elena.”
"And what is that?" I challenged.
Maverick smiled wide. "You love each other. Everything else is just cosmetic nonsense that don’t mean a damn thing."