I finally fell asleep, only to be woken up by the alarm clock. I opened my eyes and Rory wasn’t in bed. She was always in bed. I turned off the alarm and got up to put on my pajama bottoms. I checked the bathroom first and she wasn’t there. I walked down to the kitchen and smiled when I saw her bending over, taking something out of the oven.

“What are you doing, sweetheart?”

“I hope I didn’t wake you,” she said as she walked over and kissed me.

“No, the alarm did.”

“Well, since today is Charles’s day off, I thought it would be nice to make you some blueberry muffins.”

I stood there. I couldn’t believe she got up that early and made me muffins. My heart started to ache a little because this woman amazed me, yet again.

“Rory,” I whispered as I pulled her into an embrace. “I can’t believe you did this.”

“Why, silly? I love you and I know how much you love fresh blueberry muffins in the morning.” She smiled.

“You’re amazing. I love you.”

“I love you too. Now go sit down and I’ll bring your coffee and muffin.”

“No,” I said as I led her to the chair and made her sit down. “You sit down and let me serve you.”

I poured us each a cup of coffee and set two muffins on a plate and took it over to the table. The smile never left her face as she watched me the whole time.

“No run today?” she asked.

“I thought maybe we could use the gym downstairs today. It looks like it’s going to rain,” I spoke as I looked out the window.

“Yeah, it does look like rain.”

I took a bite of the blueberry muffin and almost choked. It was the worst blueberry muffin I ever had. I tried so hard not to show it, but it was too late.

“What’s wrong? You don’t like it?”

I didn’t know how to tell her it was awful. “It just seems different from how Charles makes them. Did you forget an ingredient? Maybe?”

A look of disappointment swept across her face and I felt like the biggest asshole around.

“I don’t think I forgot an ingredient. Damn it!” she said as she got up from the table.

“Sweetheart, it’s fine. Please don’t worry about it.”

She walked over and picked up the recipe card from the counter. “OH SHIT! FUCK! I forgot to put in the sugar.” She pouted.

“Aw, baby, it’s okay,” I said as I got up and wrapped my arms around her. “You tried and that’s all that matters.”

“You don’t understand. I wanted to do something special for you and, as usual, I fucked it all up. How could I forget the sugar?”

I looked over on the other side of the counter, where a measuring cup sat with sugar in it. “Is that it over there?”

“Ugh.”

“Sweetheart, it’s okay. It can happen to anyone. So what, you forgot to add the sugar. You had it measured out, which means you thought of it. It’s the thought and I love your thoughts.” I smiled as I brushed my thumb over her soft lips before gently kissing them.

I picked up Rory and set her on the counter. “I’m changing up our exercise routine today.”

“Why? What are we doing?” she asked.

“First, I’m going to take you upstairs and fuck you fast and hard. Then, when I’m finished, you’re going to get on top and fuck me fast and hard. It’s going to be an awesome workout, sweetheart. I promise.” I winked.

Rory smiled as she wrapped her legs tightly around my waist and her arms around my neck. “Let’s go start that workout, Mr. Braxton.”

The one thing I loved about my girl was that she was so easy to please. I picked her up from the counter, took her upstairs, and we both had one hell of a workout.

“Mr. Braxton, Mr. Black is on line two for you.”

“Thank you, Jan. I’ll take it.”

“Connor. How are you, friend?” I answered.

“Good, Ian. How are you?”

“Things are great.”

“How’s Rory doing?” Connor asked.

“Rory’s good. Thanks for asking. What can I do for you?”

“I ran across a piece a property here in New York City and I was hoping that you’d come out and take a look at it for me.”

“Sure. When do you want me to come out there?”

“How about next week? And bring Rory with you. Ellery’s been asking about her and wants to see her.”

“I sure will. She’d love to see the two of you again. Rory visits her brother on Thursdays, but we can fly out after.”

“Sounds good. We’ll plan to meet Friday morning. Don’t make plans for Friday night. Ellery and I are taking the two of you out on the town.”

“Sounds good, Connor. We’ll see you next week. Rory will be thrilled.”

“Talk to you soon, Ian.”

I hung up the phone and sat back in my chair. Rory was going to be thrilled that she was going to be able to see Ellery again. I thought about texting her or even calling her, but I decided to wait and tell her the news in person.

“Jan, do me a favor and call the florist. I want two dozen red roses sent to Rory Sinclair at my home address.”

“I’ll do it now, Mr. Braxton,” she replied.

As I was looking over some legal papers, I heard the office door open. I looked up as Andrew walked in.

“Hey, bro,” he said with smile on his face.

“Andrew,” I replied and continued looking over the papers.

“Let’s go hit the club tonight.”

“Sorry, but I’m spending the evening with Rory.”

“Shit, Ian. What’s wrong, won’t the little woman let you off the leash for one night?”

“That’s enough, Drew.”

“Whatever, man,” he sighed.

I looked at him and saw the disappointment in his face. Andrew didn’t have too many friends, because honestly, he was an ass. “Why don’t we ask Rory, Adalynn, and Daniel to come with us and we can all go together?”

“Seriously, Ian? Just tell the bitch you’re going out for the night. You don’t owe her any explanations.”

The one thing you didn’t do was call my girl a bitch. I could feel the anger towards him building up inside. I stood up and slammed my hands against the desk.

“Don’t you ever call Rory a bitch or any other demeaning name again! Do you understand me, friend?”

“Chill out, Ian. Fuck, man,” he said as he got up from his chair. “All I wanted was to spend a little time with my best friend. Is that so wrong?” he said as he shook his head and walked out of my office.

I sat back in my chair and threw a pen across my desk. As long as he had a problem with Rory, he was going to have a problem with me. Maybe Adalynn could talk to him. I finished up what I had to do and walked out of my office.

“I’m out of here for the night, Jan. I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Good night, Mr. Braxton.”

Andrew really had me fired up and he pissed me off. I needed to calm down. When I climbed into the back of the limo, I poured a glass of bourbon.

“Bad day, Ian?” Joshua asked.

“You could say that,” I said as I threw back the bourbon.

I pulled my phone from my pocket and stared at our picture. When we were in Paris, we had a nice young woman take a picture of the two of us in front of the Eiffel Tower. Rory and I had the biggest smiles on our faces. I took pride in the fact that I was the one responsible for making her smile like that. What Andrew didn’t understand was that I wanted to spend every waking minute with Rory. I knew he was having a hard time, because growing up, we always talked poorly of relationships and women. But the one thing I realized was things change, and people can change. If only Andrew could find someone as special as Rory.

I could hear the sweet melody of piano music playing as I approached the house. A smile graced my face because, somehow, Rory erased any kind of bad day I had. As I opened the door, walked into the living room, and set my briefcase down, Rory stopped playing and walked over to me. I noticed the vase of red roses were sitting on top of the piano.

“Thank you so much for the beautiful roses, Ian. I was so surprised when they were delivered.” She smiled as she wrapped her arms around me and planted a kiss on my lips.