“What?”
“You don’t have to make me jealous to find out if I feel the same way about you. You want to know something funny as fuck? I never expected our relationship to last.”
She didn’t find his confession funny.
Hurt, she tried to pull her hand back, but Ice forestalled her, linking his fingers with hers.
“I expected you to get tired of my ass a long time ago. You could have any man you want, someone smarter, has a decent job, or a decent family you wouldn’t be ashamed to be a part of. I only married you because, once I put that ring on your finger and you swore on our marriage vows, that if I fucked up, you wouldn’t walk away. When you say something, you fucking mean it. You’re everything I’m not. I counted on you loving me despite me not being able to hide the fact I’m not the best man you could have chosen to be with.”
“I don’t want to change you.”
“You do, but I can’t. That’s why I married you. I’ve been banking on that fact, when you realized it, you wouldn’t leave me. How could I blame you when I couldn’t cash in the promises you expected me to?”
“This whole time you’ve thought that the only reason I’ve stayed with you is because of a ring and a piece of paper?”
“Yes.”
“If we had a marriage license or not, I wouldn’t stay if I didn’t love you. That’s what divorce is for.”
“Since I’m putting all my cards on the table, there will never be a divorce. I’ll never let you go.”
She squeezed the hand in hers. “I don’t want you to. I think both of us have been so afraid of losing each other that we’ve been pushing each other away. We have to start fighting for what we have, and I have been more to blame than you. I’m sorry.
“If you want to keep working for Desmond, then go ahead. I won’t interfere again. I have to trust that you’ll do what’s best for our marriage, even when I’m not there. And since we’re laying our cards on the table, don’t think that crap you just spilled about you not being smart, having a regular job, or a decent family was an effort to pull on my heartstrings. You’re smart enough to know how to do that, and you know I don’t give a damn about the other two.”
Laying her head down on his shoulder, she relaxed against him for the first time in what felt like forever. “How much longer do you think we have to stay in here?”
“Want me to sneak out and see if they’re finished?”
“No, I don’t need you getting any more ideas.”
“Too late. It’s Valentine’s Day, and I know what I want.”
“Does it involve a pole?” she teased.
“No, it involves that jacket, those boots you’re wearing, and a lap dance.”
She was about to tell him that wasn’t going to happen when they both jumped at the bathroom door being swung open.
The bar owner stood there, staring down at them grimly. “You were supposed to leave.”
Ice stood, helping her to her feet. “We tried, but we didn’t want to set the alarm off.”
“That fucking alarm hasn’t worked in ten years.”
“That would have been good to know an hour ago.” Grace blew a tuft of blue fur from the corner of her mouth.
“It’s been over three hours since you went to the bathroom.”
“It didn’t seem that long, did it?” she asked her husband, seeing the man’s skeptical look as he stared them down like they were peeping toms.
That he didn’t agree with her had her jabbing him in the ribs.
“Yeah, sure,” he finally conceded, even though he clearly didn’t.
“How’d you know we were still in here?”
“Other than your rental car is still out front?” Sarcasm rolled of his tongue. “Shade gave me your cell phones that you left sitting on the bar to return to you.”
Grace’s throat went dry. She gave Ice a killing glance because he didn’t seem as embarrassed as her.
“What did he say?” Ice asked, taking the phone from him.
“Happy Valentine’s Day.”
CHAPTER 7
“I’ve never been so embarrassed in my life! Shade knew we were watching them!”
Ice took his eyes off the road to see Grace’s face planted in her hands. “It didn’t seem to bother him,” he teased, trying to lighten her anxiety.
She raised her head to look at him. “Do you think Lily knows?”
“No.”
“You don’t think he told her?”
“If he had, he wouldn’t have told us Happy Valentine’s Day. He would have kicked my ass.”
“I’m glad we’re flying back in the morning. I’ll never be able to face Lily again if she knows we saw them.”
“You’re being a little overdramatic, aren’t you?”
“That’s easy for you to say. With women, it’s different. We get embarrassed about stuff like that. Especially Lily. She’s very shy.”
“She wasn’t shy tonight,” he said then cautioned, “Don’t hit me. I’m driving.”
Grace huffily gave him an angry glare but kept her elbow to herself. “Keep it up and it’ll be four weeks until we have sex again.”
“Don’t hit a man when he’s down.”
“I truly didn’t know it had been so long.”
“Grace, I could have said something. I didn’t. I know Winston’s hearing is coming up, then your dad getting remarried. The last thing you needed was me hounding you for sex.”
“I don’t know whether to thank you or be worried that you didn’t.”
Ice put the blinker on to turn down the street of Dalton’s home. “There’s nothing to be worried about.”
He felt her eyes on him in the darkness as they pulled into the driveway.
“You haven’t asked me to come to the clubhouse lately.”
He tilted his head to the side, trying to study her expression in the shadows.
“You’ve been working late, and the mood you’ve been in, I didn’t think you would want to.”
“Me being a witch is over, Ice. I mean it.”
“I know you do.”
Getting out of the car, he took her hand when she held hers out to him as they walked up the sidewalk to the house.
“I’ll be glad to be home tomorrow. I miss our dogs.”
“Stump will be ready to give them back, and Zoey will try to keep them.”
“It won’t do her any good. I’m selfish when something is mine.”
Ice gave her a quick glance as he inserted the key in the door. He had heard a subtle hint of possessiveness in her tone but thought she was overreacting.
Zoey would give the dogs back. To tell the truth, he probably would put up as much of a fight where the little shits were concerned.
Turning the lights on, he deactivated the alarm system that Dalton had show
n him. The house was wired like Fort Knox.
“Looks like the caterers cleaned before they left.” He expected to come back and have to spend the rest of the night helping Grace clean.
“They did. I told Willa and Ginny that we would, but they wouldn’t let me lift a finger. I even wanted to pay them, but they wouldn’t let me.”
“I’m sure Dalton took care of it.” Removing his jacket, he was going to take Grace’s from her to hang it up, but she skirted from his touch. “Don’t you want to take it off?”
“No, I won’t be wearing it in the morning. I’m going to pack it in my suitcase before I forget it. I’m dreading packing. Our room is a mess.”
Locking the door and resetting the outside alarms, he went to her side. “Come on, I’ll help you pack.”
“Don’t you want me to make you something to eat?”
“We’ll find something when the packing is done. I’m sure there’re plenty of leftovers. You look exhausted.”
“I am tired,” she confessed.
Concerned filled him for his wife. She had been through so much emotional turmoil lately that she was like a violin string wound too tightly.
“Come on; get what you need for tonight and the morning, and I’ll do the packing. While I do the packing, you take a shower.”
“That’s okay. I can.”
They walked through the foyer then through the kitchen, toward the bedroom. He flicked the light switch on as they rounded the corner, both stopping when they saw what was sitting on the counter, waiting for them.
Moving forward, Grace laughed when she read the card left in plain sight.
“It’s from T.A. and Dad. It’s their Valentine’s Day present to us. She said there’re steaks and potatoes in the oven.”
Ice took the champagne out of the ice bucket.
“Damn, I like T.A.” Tearing the foil off the top, he reached for the wine opener sitting beside the bucket.
“I do, too.” She picked up the glass he filled first for her before pouring his own. “I thought I’d resent anyone Dad would marry. Mom and I talked before she passed away, and she made me promise that whomever Dad picked that I show her as much as love and respect as I gave her.”
Ice choked on the drink he had just taken.