“Well, that’s not completely surprising. Hayden hates everyone.”

“Yeah, but he really hates her.”

“He really hated you, too. How have you two been getting along?”

I’m taken aback by the question. Mostly because ten months ago, it would have stirred negative emotions in me. It would have raised my blood pressure and made me angry just thinking about Hayden. But not anymore. We’ve come a long way. A lifetime, I suppose.

We’re good… we’re brothers.

“We’re doing well. I was worried the extra hours spent together at the firm would aggravate our progress, but Hayden’s taking his position more seriously. Since becoming senior partner, the board and I have decided to throw him into the deep end and submerge him in more high-profile cases.”

Winter brushes a piece of hair from my forehead, and the brush of her soft little finger sends a little blood rushing to my cock.

“Is he sinking or swimming?”

I smile. “He’s proudly swimming, baby. Aside from his previous nonchalance toward his career, Hayden is a born lawyer. He may even be more cutthroat than I am.”

“Not possible.” She smirks devilishly, and a little more blood rushes south.

I lean in and kiss her softly, tasting the milky ice cream on her lips. “There’s this one other thing…” I say, stabbing the spoon into the ice cream, then setting it down next to us on the island. “I bought you something. I was going to wait to give it to you, but fuck it. I don’t want to wait.”

“It’s not a restaurant is it?”

I laugh. “No, it’s not a restaurant. Why, do you want a restaurant?”

She shakes her head with a chuckle. “No. Maybe a bookstore someday though…”

Mental note: Buy Winter a bookstore.

“Your wish is my command.” I rub my hands up and down her thighs, warming them with her body heat. “It’s just something I realize I’ve wanted to give you since the moment you agreed to be mine.”

“Aleck, you didn’t have to get me anything.”

I slide open the drawer next to her legs.

“You’re enough,” she adds. “You and those abs are enough. You, those abs, and that gigantic dic—” She stops, the words lodging in her throat when my hand pulls an open velvet box from the drawer, and the sparkle from the diamond inside catches the flicker of the candlelight.

Her eyes slowly lift from the velvet box to mine.

“Winter Elizabeth Sommers, my favorite season… You are my absolute favorite person on this planet. You make my life warm and vibrant, and I cannot live one more day without being able to call you my wife.”

Her lips part, but no words come out. She puts her hands on my shoulders and hops off the counter to stand in front of me. My heartbeat is in my throat and although I know she loves me enough to say yes, that little voice pops up in times like these.

She’ll never love you enough. You’re not good enough for her. Too selfish, too damaged…