Page 8 of Silver Sanctuary (The Silver Springs #3)

Five

T here had never been a longer week in his fucking life. On top of waiting for Friday night to finally roll around for his plans with Lacy and Embrie, work had kicked his ass every single day.

But now that Friday was here, and he was standing inside Petals getting ready to surprise his girls, yeah, all that stress just melted away.

“Excuse me, miss?” Embrie laughed as Nash held out his hand. “I’m wondering if you can help me convince your mother to join me for dinner tonight.”

“You don’t need my help! She was fussing over her outfit this morning before she drove me to school?—”

“Embrie!” Lacy turned the most delicious shade of pink as she walked out from behind the counter, laying her apron down before she smoothed her hands over her dress.

And damn, what a dress it was. Nash’s throat squeezed as he swallowed his nerves.

Drop him in the middle of some fucking dusty-ass desert and ask him to retrieve a hostage from one of the most hostile terrorist cells in the world?

No problem. Ask him to keep his composure around the prettiest woman he’d ever seen and her hilarious and equally adorable daughter?

Nope. He wasn’t going to be able to do it.

“Are you ready to have some fun tonight, Taleggio?”

“Italian?” Brie guessed.

“ Molto Bene !”

Embrie rolled her eyes. “You used your Mama Mia! accent with it and skewed my guessing, but I’ll still take the point.”

Nash couldn’t hold back his laughter. “Don’t get too full of yourself, Cheese. I’ve got some harder ones written down for later.” He turned to Lacy, who was smiling at the two of them and their antics. “Are you ready to go?

“Mom! Don’t forget!” Embrie pointed to the counter.

“Oh! Yes. Uh, we made you something, since you were planning everything for tonight—as a thank you.”

His heart tumbled in his chest. “You didn’t have to do that.”

“We wanted to, right, Embrie?”

“Yup!”

“Here, hold out your hand.” Lacy turned and placed a small canvas on his outstretched palm. “Do you remember the scientific name for these, Brie?”

“Lew… lewisia rediviva .”

“Good job. It’s?—”

“Bitterroot.” Nash’s heart skipped a beat looking at the painting. Two vibrant pink bitterroot flowers filled the space. “My Nanny used to take all us kids—my cousins and I—outside every year to see it in bloom. You made artwork of the state flower of Montana for me.”

“Just thought you might want a piece of home here in Texas.”

“I don’t think anyone has ever given me artwork before.”

Lacy smiled, her hand resting on his forearm. “I know it’s silly. Embrie’s getting into painting and we wanted to try this… Don’t feel like you have to display it anywhere.”

“It’s not silly; it’s so incredibly sweet. Thank you.” He turned to Embrie. “Thank you, Brie. I’m going to hang this up in my office, right under a photograph I have of Montana. This is my favorite piece of artwork ever.”

She hopped up and down, her smile truly infectious. “Did you know that bitterroot can be found in California at elevations around twenty-five hundred feet, but can also grow in Utah at elevations close to ten thousand feet?”

“I didn’t know that,” he admitted.

“Mom helped me research it!”

“Your mom’s pretty incredible, Camembert.”

“French! You’ve used that one before! And yeah, she is. Are we going to have dinner yet? She told me I couldn’t have a snack because we’re going to have dinner with you.”

“Embrie!” Lacy scolded, and he had to fight not to laugh.

“Yeah, kiddo. I’m starving, too. Let’s go!”

Nash pushed open the door to the rooftop deck and heard Lacy gasp from behind him.

“What is all this?” she asked as he took her hand and helped her step over the cement block edge.

He was lucky to live in the same building where he worked.

Montgomery Defense—the gym and their offices—was housed on the bottom floor of the renovated building.

But above that were apartments where everyone on the team lived.

Gunner and Lily were on the top floor, across the hall from Hawk and Mae.

How the two siblings lived together without killing each other, he had no clue.

Nash’s apartment was one floor down, across the hall from Gage and Sloane, and Stone’s apartment was the last one on that floor, too.

“Careful, Brie. Watch your step, and stay clear of the edge, okay?” He helped her step over the barrier, following quickly behind them both.

“Okay.”

Nash stood still, watching them both take in everything he’d been busy putting together over the last few days.

The roof space needed work, but it wasn’t much more than tidying up when it came down to it.

And after he’d finished sweeping off some leaves and washing down the brick, Nash spent the previous night setting everything up.

A simple outdoor table with chairs, and a white screen on the far wall, with cushions and a small fire pit, perfect for the movie he was planning to put on after they ate.

Both Embrie and Lacy were looking up, staring at the twinkling lights the store manager in Rogersville had told him were absolutely necessary to make the place feel cozy, and maybe just a little bit romantic.

“What do my girls think?”

“Your girls?” Lacy’s eyebrow did an adorable little quirk as she questioned his words. But he didn’t care. He’d made up his mind weeks before—he was all in with these two.

“Hi, hi!” Mae came into view, holding a familiar tray from his oven before he could answer Lacy.

“Here.” Nash turned, hustling over to her. “Thank you for bringing this up,” he whispered.

“No problem. Good luck wooing them.” Mae winked, waved over his shoulder, and then disappeared back down the stairs.

Nash walked over to the dining table and smiled. While he’d been picking up Lacy and Embrie, Lily and Sloane had all volunteered to put the final touches on the decorations while Mae waited with the food.

“Where did you get all this from? It looks homemade.”

“It is. ”

“Nash, what? Did Mae do this?”

He shrugged. “No, I did. I like to cook. And this way, I knew everything was safe for you to eat. I cleaned out my kitchen Monday night, and followed a tutorial online that showed how to properly decontaminate things. Nothing has sesame or sesame byproduct ingredients. It’s all safe for you.”

“I can’t believe you would go through all that trouble for me.”

“It’s no trouble. I want you to be safe.” He clapped his hands together. “Speaking of that…”

“There can’t possibly be more!”

“Just one more thing. It’s not actually here, it’s in my apartment, and at Montgomery Defense, The Trident, and it will be at your store…”

“What did you do?”

“I made sure EpiPens would be available to you to use in an emergency.”

“Nash! No! That must have cost a fortune!”

His hand came up to brush her curls over her shoulder.

Embrie was already seated at the table, setting up one of the board games he’d brought up.

“You’re worth it—a million times over. Sebastian agreed it was a huge oversight for Stone to carry it in his med bag, but for us not to have at least two doses on hand at the office and the training facility.

I had Jake walk us all through how to use them.

Even Lily and Sloane were trained. Gage has the expiration dates all written down and set up an alert to notify all of us when they need to be changed out.

Since Jake wrote the prescription for Sebastian’s equities company, which Petals is operated under, I was able to get two doses for you at work.

And I’d like to be able to speak with Jake about getting you a prescription of your own, so we can keep an injector in your purse. ”

Her mouth opened just long enough for her tongue to dart out and moisten her lips. He couldn’t wait to kiss her. “I can’t… I don’t know what to say.”

“How about you say you’ll talk to Jake with me one day at the clinic? That you'll let me make sure you’re safe in this way?”

Lacy nodded, her lips pressing back together.

“Good. Now, come sit down and try this Mediterranean chicken dish I worked on this afternoon. Lily may have passed me the recipe, and I swapped out the tahini for sunflower butter, but I think it’s still going to be really good.”

“It sounds incredible, and I can’t wait to try it, but we can’t just gloss over the fact that you spent what sounds like hundreds, if not thousands of dollars to get medicine for me that I might never need.”

Nash just shrugged, his hand gently pressing against the small of her back as he tried to get her to walk over to the table. “It was an easy decision. I’d rather have you here, safe and healthy. The money will come back. You are irreplaceable.”

He watched the war dance across her face.

Maybe he overstepped. Maybe it was too presumptuous.

She’d had a hard time accepting Embrie’s gear; he should have known the medication would be a tough sell.

Just as he was getting ready to defend his decision again, Lacy wrapped her arms around his waist before standing on her tiptoes to press a kiss just below his jaw.

Fuck. The gesture had his chest warming and growing tight all at the same time.

“Thank you, Nash.”

He winked, tucking her into his side. “Anything for my girl.”

“So, what are we watching tonight?” Lacy tipped her head toward the screen.

The chicken had been incredible—maybe one of the best things she’d ever eaten.

Granted, she had started making her own meals by the age of five, living off bread with butter spread on it and stale cereal when her mother could remember to get groceries.

Lacy shook the unpleasant memories away.