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“Saving your ass. I stalked your captain on Facebook and figured out what his favorite drink is. Now, go take that to him and tell him and the rest of your crew that Moose will be serving barbecue ribs, roasted potatoes, stewed collard greens, and charred corn for everyone on your fire crew, along with the rest of the whole damn department and any of their family or friends who want to come down here, too.”
“Why are you doing this?”
She cocks her head to the side.
“Really, Dixon? With everything you’ve done to help me, with everything we’ve done together, you have to ask that question? Let me put it this way, Dixon Green: I thought a lot about you, about the way you make me feel, about the things you’ve done for me, and about us… And I realized that simply saying ‘I care for you’ is a fucking understatement. It goes deeper than that. I’m not going to put a label on what we have, because the word it leads me to is big and scary, but you’re more than just a phenomenal fuck who gives me really great orgasms. You stir up some serious emotions inside me in a way that I never thought I’d feel after all I’ve been through. When all this is over, I want to see where things go with you. Make of that what you will, but don’t stand around trying to figure it out — get that drink to your captain before the ice melts and dilutes the damn thing.”
I should hurry back to the captain, but I don’t. Because there’s something more important to do first — I lean in and kiss Alexandra so deep that someone in the fire truck blares the horn at us. But I don’t give a damn. She’s put into words the same feelings that have been bouncing around inside my chest. Now that they’re out there, there’s no taking them back. It’s only a matter of time before those damn feelings turn into three little words that can’t be unsaid.
Our kiss lingers until a fierce hunger stirs inside me and my pulse races like I’m in the middle of combat. I look into her eyes, see the depth of affection within them, and realize I’m through with being a coward.
I’m going in.
“I love you, too, princess.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Alexandra
Princess.
That damned, dumb nickname is now going to live forever in my memory, attached to the first time that the man that I love — fuck, I do love him — told me he loves me. Not only that, but unlike the first time we met, he beat me to the punch. He said it first.
Damn him again.
“Princess? You tell me you love me — and I love you too, damn it, because you are handsome, supportive, and drive me fucking crazy — and you use that fucking nickname?”
“I did, princess,” he says, that smirk growing. “When this is all over, I’m going to bend you over my knee and slap your ass until you admit you love it.”
“Oh, really?”
“And then I'm going to eat your pussy until you’re begging for me to shove my cock deep inside your royal pussy.”
“Is that a challenge?”
“A promise.”
I look down at the cup in his hand. “The drink’s melted.”
He chuckles. “It’s alcohol. After the morning we’ve had, the captain will drink it and be grateful.”
“Go take care of your team, Dixon, before I change my mind about loving you and decide to murder you instead..”
He smirks, but he leaves to the firetruck for a minute, and when he returns, the rest of the fire crew is right behind him. And he stays with them for a short while, introducing them to the MC, getting them drinks, doing his best to make up for past mistakes. I see a different side of him — a man who’s relaxed, who’s laughing and joking with friends, a man with a ready smile and even a hug or two for the people close to him. I like this side of him. It reminds me of what I used to have, before tragedy ripped my life apart and I spent so long drifting, planning, hating, that I forgot what it’s like to be a part of a loving family. I mix drinks and I watch Dixon with the others and I imagine what our life together could be like in the future.
“You’re good for him,” Striker says.
I turn, startled by his sudden appearance. “What?”
“You saw what he was like when you first met him, and that was him on a good day. This party right here, this is the first time in a long time where I’ve seen Smokey actually enjoy being alive.”
Those words hit home and I take a moment to soak in the sight of him, the weight that seems, in this moment, to have lifted from his broad shoulders.
“I love him.”
“That quickly? You seem pretty sure of it.”
“I spent so long hating him, and when I finally got him where I wanted him, I thought I was going to kill him. But I couldn’t do it. The more I got to know him, the closer we got, the things we survived… There’s only one thing I can think of that can overcome all the hate that I had inside me, and that’s love.”
