“Club of Love?” I ask with a true smile on my face for the first time since I broke my phone. “Is that what it’s called?”

“Well, we haven’t officially voted on the charter name yet, but I think it sounds great,” she says with another squeeze to my hand. And then in a voice that sounds so confident, I actually feel a tiny kernel of hope start to take root, she says, “I swear to you Casey. You are going to get your happily ever after with Tenn. You deserve it more than anyone else I know.”

I push up off her shoulder and turn my despairing eyes her way. “You really believe that? That I deserve something that good?”

“You more than deserve it,” she says confidently and then levels a stern gaze my way. “Now drink your wine, get a bit more hammered, and start watching this movie with me. It’s our favorite.”

I grin at her as I swipe the back of my hand across my cheeks to dry them. “You’re my favorite, Gabby.”

“Aww,” she says with her eyes going soft and round. “You’re my favorite too.”

Chapter 28

Tenn

I can’t decide if I’m going to spank Casey first when I see her, or fuck her first. Maybe spank her while I fuck her and kill two birds with one stone.

But truth be told, I feel so terrible that she’s clearly hurting and confused, I’m probably just going to hug the shit out of her until she forgives me for being so distant the past few days. I was a dumbass for even thinking a text would suffice after we hadn’t talked in three days.

My shame turned into panic when Casey wouldn’t respond to my “brat” statement. Then I called her and got her voice mail. Four calls and four messages later without a peep from her, and I went apeshit.

Despite Woolf pitching a fit, I booked the next flight out of Jackson.

“We got shit to iron out,” Woolf yelled at me as I packed a small bag.

“I’ll be back in two days,” I assured him. “Our shit won’t be any more wrinkled in that time frame.”

Jackson to Detroit, Detroit to Raleigh, and the longest fucking three-hour drive of my life from Raleigh to Nags Head.

I stopped at The Last Call, because I came upon it first. Although I didn’t see Casey’s Jeep, I still went inside and thank fuck… Hunter was there. It only took one look at my face and about twenty seconds, and he had me filled in on what was now called the infamous Casey Shattered Phone incident.

He assured me that she was at her house, having gotten gloriously drunk with Gabby last night, and was refusing to come in to work today because and he quoted, “I don’t fucking feel like working with a broken heart.”

I couldn’t help the grin I leveled at Hunter before I sprinted out of the bar and jumped back in my rental to make the short drive to Casey’s house.

It’s fully dark by the time I get there and I’m on the brink of absolute exhaustion, but something about the warm lights winking from her living room windows invigorates me.

Because this is truly my home.

Because Casey is inside.

I leave my bag in the car, almost too tired to carry it, but grab the envelope that I stuffed down into the outer pocket before I left. I put it my back jeans pocket, eager to show it to Casey.

Despite my fatigue, I end up trotting the staircase and bang firmly on her door as soon as I hit the top. Her soft footsteps pad closer and then the door opens.

And my heart leaps in absolute recognition of its other half.

Her eyes go wide when she sees me but that’s all I see because then I have her in my arms, pulling her against me tightly. “I’m going to spank you, then fuck you, but I’m going to kiss you hello first,” I say to her just before slamming my mouth on hers.

I expect a fight.

I expect angry and jilted Casey.

Instead, she throws her arms around my neck, and she’s the one that proceeds to kiss the fuck out of me. She kisses me so damn good my knees almost buckle, so I lock them hard and, just for good measure, drop my hands to grip hard onto her ass.

She gives me a tiny taste of tongue, but then it’s gone all too fast as she pulls back. “I’m so sorry,” she blurts out, and then she starts to ramble. “I was pissed. But then I threw my phone, and your number… I didn’t know what it was, so it turned into a night of wine and Will Ferrell, and I felt even shittier today, and…”

She stops… seems to be at a loss of words. Her gaze drifts away from me, and she nibbles on her lower lip.

“Casey?” I say softly to get those beautiful eyes back on me.

They slide back and they look a bit clearer… more confident. She smiles and says, “I’m just really glad you’re here.”

“Me too, Goldie,” I assure her. “And I’m sorry I was such a lousy communicator. I should have never ignored you for three days. I don’t have any excuse other than to tell you things started happening really fast and my head was just fucking spinning with it all.”

Her hand comes up, and she places soft fingers over my lips to hush me. “Don’t,” she says gently.

“I have so much to tell you,” I say as her fingers fall away.

“Later,” she says as she takes my hand and starts leading me toward the bedroom. “First… you promised a spanking and a fucking. Then we can talk.”

Christ above, I silently pray as I follow her back. Thank you for bringing this woman into my life.

Unfortunately, exhaustion got the better of me and after I heated Casey’s ass up, I fucked myself into a coma, promptly falling asleep after I had the mother lode of all orgasms.

When I awoke, Casey was gone from the bed and the sun was streaming through the windows. I rolled off the mattress, pulled my jeans on, and promptly found a message written in lipstick on her bathroom mirror that said, “Down on the beach.” Not even bothering with a shirt or shoes, I make my way over to the public beach access and find her sitting in the sand with a cup of coffee.

Her face tilts up to me when I reach her side, and her soft smile fills my heart as I plop down beside her. She leans over and grazes my jaw with her lips. “Sleep good?”

“Yeah,” I say as I run my fingers through my hair. “Guess I was more tired than I thought.”

She turns her face back to the ocean, but I continue to stare at her a moment.

So fucking beautiful. So fucking mine.

I reach out, take her coffee, and help myself to a sip. I can’t help but grimace over the creamy sweetness that hits my tongue, so I push the cup back into her hands.

“So what’s going on, Tenn?” she asks with an impish smile. “You don’t write… you don’t call. What’s a girl to think?”

My hand goes to the back of her head, threading my fingers through her hair and turning her face to me. I stick my nose right alongside hers and kiss the corner of her mouth. “The girl… she knows, without a doubt, that I love her.”

She presses her forehead against mine and says, “I do know that and I love you too. But if you ever go three days again without talking to me—”

“I don’t intend to go three more minutes without you by my side,” I tell her earnestly as I give her another kiss and release my hold on her.

“So what’s been going on?” she asks quietly.

I take a deep breath and wrap my arms around my knees. “It’s been a mess… trying to figure things out. The corporate attorneys really started pushing Woolf and me hard to take the company public. That was the reason for going to Chicago.”

“But,” she prompts me along.

“But we’re not going to,” I tell her. “We thought about it hard and honestly… we were really close to doing it, but then something happened.”

She turns to look at me with curious eyes. I merely reach into my back pocket and take the envelope out. Unfolding it, I hand it to her.