After everything we’ve gone through, it still amazes me how easily we’ve fallen into being us again. Like the ache never happened, like we never unraveled, like our love remembered how to––just be.

The penthouse is what I expected—sleek, masculine, understated luxury––with warm wood, rich leather, tall windows that let the Dallas skyline pour in like liquid gold. It smells like eucalyptus and old money.

The bedroom is massive—warm, elegant, and designed to impress.

“I see you went all out,” I say, turning in a slow circle.

He shrugs like it’s no big deal. “Three months is a long time. I wanted it to feel comfortable… so you’d want to come back. Spend time with me.”

I pause, tilting my head. Odd thing to say.

“You worry I won’t?”

“A little.” His voice is careful, almost too casual. “Travel can be exhausting. You’ve got the business consuming a lot of your time. I wanted to make it easy for you to stay. To work here. To want to be here.”

I go to him, putting my arm around his shoulders. “I’m going to be here every minute I can. You got it?”

He nods, the corners of his mouth lifting just enough to soften the tension. “Promise?”

I go up on my tiptoes and press a kiss to his mouth. “Promise.”

We spend the afternoon walking around the city. Nothing fancy––a museum, a bookstore, a quiet bench at the edge of Klyde Warren Park where we split a slice of caramel cake we didn’t need but definitely wanted.

By early evening, I see it—the subtle shift in his gait. The quiet hitch in his breath when he thinks I’m not paying attention. The way he favors his good ankle.

He hasn’t said anything, but I suspect he injured it again when he fought with Tyson.

“Are you okay?” I slow down beside him as we cross the street. “You’re limping.”

He gives me that signature half-smile that’s pure trouble. “I’m fine.”

“Alex, you’re not.”

He stops on the sidewalk and turns to face me. “Listen, babe. I’m about to be in a boot for weeks. I’ve got days ahead of me stuck in bed with an ankle that’ll hate me. The pain is going to be worse than last time and believe me when I tell you it was no walk in the park. So let me have this. Let me have you and Dallas tonight.”

“Okay.”

“And besides––” He leans closer, voice dropping low enough to make me shiver. “I don’t mind being stuck in bed… if you’re in it with me.”

I swat his chest, laughing as he catches my wrist mid-air and brings it to his lips, brushing a kiss over the inside. His eyes don’t leave mine.

God, I love him.