Just One Night Together (Flatiron Five Fitness #3) - Deborah Cooke Page 0,103

without you, there was only work. It’s a good job. I like it. Challenging and interesting.”

“Good.”

“How did it go with your therapy?”

“Great. Amazing, actually.” Damon smiled at her. “I can direct the nightmare sometimes, and even when I can’t, it’s not as bad. We did some training with sudden noises and shocks. I feel a lot stronger.” He bent and touched his brow to hers. “I’m not afraid of it anymore.”

Her smile was like a ray of sunshine. “Can I help? Tell me what to do.”

“I have lots of support materials.”

“Good. I like having the facts.” Haley ran her hands over his face, as if she couldn’t believe he was really with her. “You drove all night,” she whispered. “You really drove all night.”

Damon nodded, liking that she was starting to smile. “I did. It was the right thing to do. It was the only thing to do.”

She blushed a little, clearly pleased.

“I never felt like this before, Haley.”

“Me, neither.” She was holding so tightly to his hand that Damon thought his fingers might go numb. He didn’t care.

He bent to whisper in her ear, amazed that he could be so lucky as to have this woman in his life. “I owe you an apology and I need to thank you. That’s long overdue.”

“I like the way you say thank you,” she whispered.

“Yeah. I like it too, but only with you.”

She drew back a little then, clearly delighted, her hands still running over him. “You need something to eat, then a shower...”

She was doing it again, her adorable triage and making of lists, but this time, he was the focus of her attention. Damon’s heart squeezed tightly that he would have Haley looking out for him, worrying about him, even as he put his thumb over her lips to silence her.

“I need you,” he said, because it was true. “And not one thing more.”

She looked a little more worried than he’d expected. “What about F5F?”

“I don’t know. We’ll work something out. They were talking about a branch in Chicago, sometime after the one in San Francisco gets going. There are other gyms.”

“You’ll leave New York for me?” She looked astonished. “You’d leave Flatiron Five Fitness for me?”

“Home is where you are, Haley. If this is your dream job, then we’ll be here.”

“Even though I still have Ninja?” she asked, her eyes twinkling.

Damon looked up to see a familiar silhouette on the window sill, tail flicking. “Even so.”

“But you can’t leave the club. They’re your friends and partners, and you’ve worked so hard for it.”

Once again, he silenced her with a touch. “It doesn’t matter as much as being with you.”

She shook her head, so stubborn that he smiled. “No, we both have to follow our dreams together.”

“But...”

“They said they’d create a similar job for me in Queens, if I wanted it. I said no, because I didn’t want to spend all my time thinking about you and missing you, but maybe it’s not too late. Let me call and ask.”

“You can be pretty persuasive.”

She laughed. “I’ll try. I want us both to have what we need, and I think you need your friends.” She took his hand and gave him a little tug. “Now, come and meet my big brother when he’s not being a protective bear, and my mom, and...”

Damon pulled her to a halt. “Just one last thing,” he said, framing her face in his hands. She met his gaze, her eyes wide, her lips curved slightly in a smile. Damon swallowed. “Will you marry me, Haley Slater?”

“Yes, oh yes, oh yes!” she said, jumping into his arms. Damon kissed her, pouring his relief into his kiss, and tried to show her with his touch what he couldn’t put into words.

He wasn’t fully healed. He might never be. But he knew that he and Haley could conquer whatever obstacles were before them, because they would do it together.

And that was the very best promise for the future of all.

Epilogue

It was the first Sunday in March and Ty was sitting at the kitchen table of the house in Brooklyn that he shared with Shannyn. The sky was clear blue and the sunlight seemed brighter because of the way it reflected off the fresh snow. Everything was blanketed in white and the surface of the snow in the yard sparkled like it contained diamonds. The house was mercifully quiet, now that the renovations were done. It was also a lot less dusty. Shannyn was upstairs and he could hear her