It wasn’t until two days later that I found the right time to ask to speak to Zack alone.
“What can I do for you, Danny?” he asked as he sat in the big, leather chair behind the desk in his home office.
I cleared my throat and squared my shoulders, ready to do whatever it took to get the answer I wanted from Delia’s father.
“I want you to know that I’ve loved your daughter from the moment I saw her across campus. She is the most incredible woman I’ve ever known, and I will always do anything within my power to make her happy.”
Zack’s brows drew down, but he didn’t say anything. I wasn’t sure whether it was a good or bad thing.
“I’m going to propose to her.”
There was a stretch of silence after my announcement while Zack watched me with an unreadable expression. Finally, he leaned back and said, “That didn’t sound like a question.”
“It wasn’t.”
His lips thinned, and his eyes darkened, flashing with irritation. “Then why the hell are we talking, Danny? If you’re not going to ask for my permission?”
It took a lot of effort not to fidget under his intense scrutiny. “Delia is a grown woman, Mr. Parker. She can make her own decisions. I wanted to ask for your blessing. I love Delia and intend to make her my wife, but she adores you, and I want her to be happy. But don’t mistake this for anything other than what it is. I’d like you to be on board, but either way, I will never let her go. She is my heart and soul, my everything.”
After another slightly uncomfortable length of quiet, his expression lightened, and there was a glint in his eyes that I hoped was respect.
“No one will ever be good enough for my baby girl. But if I can’t keep her single, then I want her to have a man who loves her as fiercely as I love my wife. I think you’re that man.”
He stood and came around the desk to hold his hand out to me. When I slid my palm against his, the rush of relief I’d felt at his words froze. He squeezed hard and took a step closer to growl, “Don’t prove me wrong, Holland. I have the connections to ruin your life, or better yet, I can simply make you disappear. Am I being clear?”
If the threat had come from just about anyone else, I might have laughed, but somehow, I knew that Zack wasn’t joking in the least.
“Yes, sir,” I replied.
He let up his hard grip but didn’t release my hand. “Delia told me how you waited for her until you could give her the attention she deserved”—my heart stopped for a moment, wondering just how much she’d told him about those two years—“and how you scared off every guy who tried to take her out.” I mentally cringed until he continued. “I respect that you treated her with such care. And as for the boys...it just proves my point because I’d have done the same fucking thing.”
My eyebrows rose, and he laughed before patting me on the shoulder and finally disengaging our hands. “Relax, Danny. You have my blessing.”
I nodded, a little off-kilter with how this conversation had gone. “Thank you.”
From that point, Delia’s dad and I began to build a relationship that I would treasure as much as the one I had with my dad.
When he walked her down the aisle a year later, he looked at me with pride and gave me another handshake, complete with a momentary bone-crushing squeeze that was a reminder of his threat to take care of Delia.
My bride hadn’t missed it, and she’d giggled over it for years while teasing me about how I’d be just as bad when it came to any daughters we had.
She was right.
Epilogue
Delia
6 years later
All of the holidays I’d spent with Danny had been fantastic, starting with the very first one, even though we hadn’t been together on Christmas Day. But this year was different. Special. Only Danny didn’t know that yet.
There were rarely any secrets between us, so it had been lucky that I hadn’t noticed my period was late until I’d used the bathroom at my dad and Amelia’s house earlier tonight. I would never have been able to keep the news from Danny for long. He knew me too well and always seemed to know when something was on my mind...sometimes even before I realized I was upset.
Although I was the furthest thing from upset now. More like ecstatic. Thrilled. Happier than I’d ever been in my entire life.
Things had been hectic since we’d moved to Vegas, and the holidays had only added to all of the chaos. I’d barely had a moment to breathe over the past few months, so it was no wonder that I’d lost track of my cycle. But when I’d searched for a brush to pull my hair up into a ponytail and found a pile of feminine products in one of the bathroom drawers, realization had dawned.