“Name them,” I tell her.
She blows out a breath. “I don’t need anything fancy, but I need you to plan the dates. It’s what I hated most about dating. They always wanted to know where I wanted to go, but I hated it. I don’t like the anxiety that comes with those decisions.” She waits for me to nod before she continues. “I need you to know that I don’t handle canceled plans well. If we say we are going to do something, I expect you to be there. Outside of illness or bodily injury, I want you there. I know the club is important to you, and you have duties, but I won’t be second fiddle to the club like I was with my dad. I need to be the priority. I mean, if this turns into more than friendship.”
She looks a little nervous at the end, like she didn’t mean to let so much information slip, but I caught it. She is not thinking of only friendship. Which is good because neither am I.
“Understandable,” I say as my heart races. “I will always put you first. If something major comes up with the club, I will let you know and let you decide if I go with them or you. If it’s minor, I will tell them to kick rocks.”
I know for a fact that Mustang went out of his way to be present when she was young, but in high school, something flipped. I hated how Mustang would cancel dinner to hang out at the club with the brothers. Or the way he would use the club as an excuse because he didn’t know how to handle Rain’s teenage outbursts. He loved his daughter. He provided for her, gave her food and shelter, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t have his failures when it came to her.
He came from a different mentality where the club comes first, always. I might be part of the same club, but my priorities are different. All of ours are. Panther doesn’t do things like they used to. He understands that we aren’t some one-percenters living life on the edge of the law. He understands that family is important.
If he didn’t, I don’t know if I would have stuck around for as long as I have after he took over.
“So what now?” she asks.
“Now you get ready for the day and go to work. I have my own day of work to get to. I’ll get dinner ready for tonight and start working on planning our first date.”
She looks up at me, eyes wide. “Already?”
“Better now than never. I don’t want to waste any time. I think we both can agree that life can be cut short. I want to enjoy every minute of it,” I tell her. “With you.”
She blushes a little as she stands. “All right. I’ll see you later then?”
I nod. “Tonight.”
She takes a couple of steps toward the hall.
“Rain.” She stops and looks over her shoulder at me. “I hope you know that I’m going to make you fall in love with me.”
Fear and uncertainty flash through her eyes.
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” she says quietly.
Before I can say anything, she rushes down the hall like her ass is on fire.
What she doesn’t know is the only one who has to worry about getting their heart crushed is me. Because one thing is for sure—if she gives me her heart, I’ll do everything in my power to protect it.
CHAPTER
FOURTEEN
Rain
It’s beentwo days since Ridge had the talk with me. I still feel like I am in an alternate reality. I am rethinking everything I thought about him in the past.
He has made dinner every night after he gets home from work. I have even noticed that he has made sure not to be home too late, like in the first bit of our marriage. He is making the effort to be here with me. It’s jarring.
Not only that, but when we sit down to watch TV, he refuses to take control of the remote. He lets me watch whatever I want and happily sits next to me as we do.
We haven’t even crossed any lines. He sits next to me, but never touches me. And me? I think I am starting to want him to touch me.
It’s like he flipped a switch in my brain, giving me permission to access those feelings I once harbored for him in my teens.
It’s why I needed girl time. I need their advice, even if I don’t know how to ask for it.
We’ve already placed our orders and exchanged pleasantries, yet I still have no idea how to start.
Maggie is in the middle of telling us about something that I haven’t even focused on when I finally blurt it out.