Dirty Addiction (Dirty 2)

He sighs. “You were in school. It was stage one colon cancer.”

“What?”

“Calm down. They were able to easily cure it because they’d caught it so soon. We didn’t want to worry you since there was nothing to worry about. He wouldn’t have died from the cancer.”

I nod although it doesn’t make me feel any better that they kept secrets from me.

“Anyway, the cancer scare was enough for your father to rethink his life plans. He loved his work. He loved running the company. It’s all he’d ever dreamed about, but it made him realize that he wanted more. He wanted to retire, to travel, to find out what living was like, outside of the daily grind of work.”

I nod.

“At the time, Killian was aware of what we wanted him to do. He had worked for a few months in the VP position and was doing better than any of us had expected.” He pauses. “So, your dad offered him the CEO position with no strings attached.”

“You mean, he could have had the position without marrying me?”

He nods. “Yes. He told Killian to think about it, but he wanted an answer soon. Killian went to see you shortly after that.”

“I remember. He broke me and Eli up just to spite us, just because he could.”

“Is that what he told you?”

“He didn’t have to. I understood.”

Granddad shakes his head. “He needed to see you. He realized he would be making a decision not only for himself, but also for you, too. He saw how unhappy you were with Eli. Well, I don’t really know what else he saw when he went to see you. All I know is, when he came back, he told your father he wasn’t ready to take the CEO job yet. He said he wanted to keep the condition that he would have to marry you in order to get it.”

I suck in a breath. That can’t be true. He wouldn’t have come up with a plan so that we wouldn’t have to marry—except that he did…to give me a choice about my own future.

“Your father realized shortly afterward that he wasn’t ready to retire yet. And they never spoke of it again.”

“Why would he do that?”

“Oh, sweetie. Isn’t it obvious?”

I think for a minute before nodding because it is obvious. There is only one explanation for it.

“You’re still here,” I say when I exit my grandfather’s hospital room.

Killian is sitting in a plastic chair in the waiting room. He’s still wearing a tux. He must not have found any gift shop clothes that fit him.

“I told you I would stay,” he says, standing and putting his phone back into his pocket. “How’s he doing?” He nods toward my grandfather’s room.

“He’s doing well. He’s a pretty tough old man…although his heart might have just grown a little softer.”

He raises his eyebrows but doesn’t ask about it, and I don’t say anything else about my grandfather.

Instead, I walk to Killian until my lips are just a breath from his, until my body is trembling again, just like it was the last time our bodies were this close to each other. I close my eyes and try to calm my body, but it doesn’t work. I open them again and am faced with his intense dark eyes transfixed on mine.

“Ask me,” I breathe onto his lips.

I watch him suck in a breath, but he doesn’t say anything.

“Ask me,” I say again.

“Princess, will you marry me?” he asks while still standing.

He doesn’t get down on one knee. He doesn’t pull the ring box that is still tucked in his pocket back out. That means, he’s already decided that he knows the answer.

I smile because he’s mostly right. “No,” I say.