Say Yes

r /> So, for a few days after my talk with Grant, I didn’t do anything.

Well, that’s not entirely true. I moped around the house with a more hangdog expression than Bruno, I drank way too much whiskey, and I clung desperately to the small bits of Mackenzie that were still left in my life.

Sitting behind the large oak desk in my home office, I soothed my pathetically aching heart by scanning through old security footage of the house. The system was pretty state of the art, with full color and sound. While I wasn’t a high-profile celebrity like Grant was, it didn’t stop me from being overly cautious when it came to protecting what was mine.

That meant that over the last two months, I had collected practically every minute of time Mackenzie had spent here on camera, in glistening high def. Swirling my drink in my glass, I watched our escapades in the art room back as we painted together—me horribly, her beautifully. I flipped through more footage and watched her play with Bruno, running through the house without a care in the world. I held on to the sounds of her laughter as it echoed from the computer speaker. On the screen, I saw myself come home, saw how eagerly she yielded to my kisses…

When it felt a little too voyeuristic, I skipped ahead to the most recent footage that had Mackenzie in it. The day she’d moved out.

My stomach did flip-flops, the whiskey I’d just sipped churning inside it.

I watched the version of me on-screen retreat to the bedroom with Bruno—fucking coward. Chewing my bottom lip, my gaze zeroed in on her as she lingered in the foyer as the movers passed by with boxes, taking every bit of her that had made this house feel like a home. When they were gone, she went to move toward the bedroom, but she hesitated. I saw her lips move, and I paused, turning the volume up so I could hear it better.

“You can’t go back on this, Macks,” she muttered to herself. “You’re just going to get hurt again. Just leave. It’s better this way.”

I swore I could see her building the wall around her heart, brick by goddamn brick. The wall I’d had the chance to tear down—the one she would’ve gladly opened up for me if I’d had the courage to just fucking ask her. To just tell her what I wanted.

To commit.

To take the damn risk.

But I hadn’t. And even though she hadn’t wanted to go, she had taken my silence and withdrawal for the answer it was and protected herself by walking out of my life.

On the screen, Mackenzie drew in a shaking breath. Her gaze settled on the bedroom door once more, and the heartbreak on her face threatened to drown me in shame. Then, brushing the back of her hand over her eyes, she turned and walked down the hallway.

I kept staring at the footage of the now-empty hallway, feeling my heart beat heavy and hard against my ribs.

Empty.

The hall was empty.

My life was empty.

And all because I’d been a damn coward.

Shit. Grant was right about my fucking pride. I had been given a second chance with the woman of my dreams, something I’d never thought would happen—something I knew I didn’t deserve. And what had I done with it?

Wasted it.

I had let myself be pulled into all the same lies that had broken us up the first time. That my family legacy was more important than my happiness. That the business needed more of my attention than my goddamn wife.

Even when part of me realized I was ruining things, that I was pushing Macks away for no good reason, I’d been too damned stubborn and scared to open the bedroom door and fight for her. Fight for us.

Shit. I really am an idiot. Maybe the biggest damn idiot of them all.

Shaking my head, I turned off the security cameras. I scrubbed a hand down my face, my pulse racing almost as fast as my mind. It was fine. It would be all right. When Mackenzie left that day, she had thought I wanted her to go; that I really didn’t see a future for us. I just needed to show her how wrong that was.

How wrong I was.

She was the only future that mattered to me now. My company could crumble to the ground or take over the world, and neither of those things would mean shit to me if I didn’t have Mackenzie by my side.

She was my first love, and I knew down to the very marrow of my bones that she would be my last. There would never be anyone for me but Macks. I had made a colossal mistake by pushing her away once, but I’d be damned if I let myself make that mistake again.

I would do whatever it took to make things right. I would protect her heart with everything I had.

And this time, I would go to the mats and fight for us.

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