Dax: Military Heroes (The One I Want Series Book 4)

by Ellie Masters

He shook his head. “You’re not letting me live that down, are you?”

  “You mean the world’s worst proposal?”

  He reached into his pocket and gave her a credit card. “Get us something to eat while you’re at it.” When she reached for the card, he yanked it away. “I need a kiss first.”

  “A kiss? Your mother is watching us.”

  “I promise to keep my hands to myself.”

  “You sure you can keep that promise?”

  A low chuckle escaped him, because he had every intention of squeezing her ass. He didn’t answer. Instead, he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her to him. Leaning down, he kissed her. It wasn’t passionate, but neither was it chaste. And, yes, he palmed her ass, lifting her against him with a groan.

  He selfishly wished they were by the riverside, staring up at the stars with a blazing fire with the soft lowing of cattle rumbling over the hills. He missed the simplicity of Bear Creek. With his kiss delivered, he gave Dani a light swat on the ass as the elevator doors dinged open. She gave a little wave as the drew closed, leaving him to return to his mother.

  From the way his mother picked at the nonexistent lint on her dress, it was time to provide a little reassurance.

  “How are you holding up?”

  “I’m good.” She wasn’t, but it was the proper thing to say.

  “He’s going to be all right.” He tried to inject as much confidence into his tone as possible.

  “Thank you for coming.” She leaned against him. “I know the two of you have had your issues. It’ll mean a lot to him that you’re here.”

  “I know.”

  “Dani seems nice.”

  “She’s amazing.” At the mention of her name, warmth filled his chest.

  “And she seems to have stolen my son’s heart.”

  “She has.”

  “Is she the one?”

  “Yeah.” If felt good saying it.

  “Have you thought about a ring?”

  “I was hoping to ask about grandma’s ring.”

  “That’s what I was going to suggest. Tell me about Dani.”

  He proceeded to tell his mother how they met, about the feisty girl by the side of the road who gave him grief, about how he had waited to make sure she finished changing the tire and was safe, and how he followed her to the diner.

  “Bear Creek sounds like a wonderful town.”

  “It is.”

  “How did you ever wind up there?”

  “Well, I got a dog.”

  “A dog?”

  He mentioned the shelter and how it felt like fate to find Dynamo there. “I wasn’t ready to come home. I lost so much when the Air Force boarded me out. I know father wanted me home, but I needed to figure out what I wanted to do. Dynamo and I just took to the road. I’d ask him left or right, and wound up in Montana.”

  “Your father loves you. I know he can be strict, and he expects so much from you. Don’t fault him for wanting the best for you.”

  “Well, I didn’t go far.”

  “Montana seems rather far.”

  “I mean, I got a job at her father’s ranch, helping out during calving season. Ranching is more in my blood than I thought.”

  “I guess so.” His mother gave a secretive smile. “Does Dani know about Kingston Ranch?”

  “She does now.”

  “You barely know her. Are you sure about marriage?”

  “From the moment I met her, I’ve felt something I can’t describe. She lights up my life. Breathing is easier around her. And when I’m with her I don’t think about the things I’ve lost. All I can think about are the things I want to do with her.” He paused and thought about Dani, about how incredible she was. He wanted his mother to feel it too. “She’s in vet school.”

  “Is that so?”

  “Yeah, has only a year to go.” He pursed his lips wondering how hard Dani would fight him when he told her he would be paying for the rest of her education.

  “I sense something you’re not saying.”

  His mother had always been perceptive. He proceeded to tell her about the crazy deal Dani’s father arranged with Scott and his family.

  “We’ve had our run ins with those sorts,” she said with a nod. “Tell me what you’re thinking?”

  “I’m thinking I need to put a ring on her finger fast, and I need to fix things with her father. I basically abducted her.”

  “Dani doesn’t look like a kidnap victim.”

  “She’s not, but we still have to sort out what to do about her father. Crowbar Ranch would be a great addition to the Kingston brand.”

  “Ah, I was wondering how you were going to fix that. It could work. Costly though to annex a ranch out of state.”

  “Yeah, I don’t think father will support it, but I have enough on my own to make it work. I’m not walking away from this.”

  “I wouldn’t expect you to, but don’t write off your father just yet. He’s going to need your help to run Kingston Ranch after this. I hope you’ll consider coming home. The two of you need to learn to work together and it’s time for you to take over control of the business. How is that going to work with Dani? Have you thought about that? Where will the two of you live? Bear Creek? Or here?”

  “I don’t know, but I have a year to figure that out.”

  “I’m sure you’ll do the right thing.”

  Twenty minutes later, one of the nurses from intensive care came up to them. “Mrs. Kingston?”

  “Yes?”

  “Your husband is awake and asking for you.”

  “Come, let’s go.” His mother stood.

  “Only one visitor at a time in post-op recovery.” The nurse gave an apologetic look. “I’m sorry.”

  “You go, hun.” His mother gestured for him to go with the nurse. “Your father will be happy to see you.”

  “You go. I’ll wait.”

  Dani had yet to return with the coffee and he wanted to be there when she returned. Although from the way she and his mother seemed to hit things off, maybe he shouldn’t worry.

  “You should go.” She tried to insist. “It’ll do him good to see you.”

  “I’ll see him, but a man needs to see his wife after something like this. I’m good, mother, another few minutes won’t matter. Go to him.”

  She brushed at the wetness on her cheeks and rose to follow the nurse back behind the double doors marked PACU, leaving him to wait alone.

  He rubbed his palms against his jeans, nervous to see his father. Seth Kingston was intimidating on the best of days. He didn’t know what kind of state he’d find his father in, but braced for the worst.

  Chapter 24

  Dax

  A few minutes later, a different nurse returned and approached Dax.

  “Mr. Kingston?”

  He looked up. “Yes?”

  “You may go back now.”

  “I thought there was only one visitor at a time?”

  “Your father can be quite persuasive.”

  “Are you sure it’s okay? Is my father…”

  “Your father is recovering quickly. He’s going to keep all of us on our toes.” From her frazzled look, Dax figured that was an apt statement. He glanced at the elevator. Dani had yet to return with the coffee. “I’m expecting my fiancée to return with coffee. I don’t want her to think I ran off.”

  The nurse inclined her head. “Don’t worry, Mr. Kingston. We’re used to this. Let’s tell the people at the front desk and they’ll keep an eye out. She’ll be fine. Your father…” She shook her head.

  Dax held back a grin. He knew how tenacious his father could be.

  “You would make my day if we didn’t keep him waiting.” She twisted her fingers and he could see the effort she made to remain professional and not say the wrong thing to a family member.

  “Done deal. I know exactly what you’re talking about.” He braced himself as much as possible, but still wasn’t prepared for the frail looking man hooked up to monitorin
g equipment in the PACU.

  “Alexander…” His father’s greeting was more of a croak than a robust shout.

  Dax approached and gripped his father’s shaky hand.

  “Father, you look…” Weak? Frail? Nearly dead?

  “I look like shit. It’s been a rough go, but I’m not dead yet.”

  “No sir, you are not.”

  For a man who had a brush with death, he didn’t appreciate his father’s humor. From the expression on his mother’s face, she didn’t either.

  “Well, I don’t plan on leaving just yet. You and I have some things to discuss. First off, you need to come home. Kingston Ranch needs you.”

  He gave his mother a look, telling her he would try his best to behave, but that he’d likely fail.

  “Honey,” she soothed, stroking Seth Kingston’s hair back from his face, “you said you would behave.”

  “Do you see this?” His father gestured. “Already, she’s treating me like a child. I’m not an invalid.”

  “I never said you were, and Seth Kingston, you promised me you would behave.”

  “Oh, all right.” His father said with a grumble.

  Not one to step in-between his parent’s arguments, or whatever this was, Dax did just that.

  “She’s treating you like a man who should be resting but is already running the nursing staff ragged. You need to take it easy.”

  “I don’t know what that means. Speaking of, your mother says you have news and a business proposition.”

  “Wow, mother, I thought maybe you’d let me tell him.” Not that he was surprised. His parents shared everything.

  “I’m simply running interference for two blockheads.” She rubbed his father’s hand, stroking the pale flesh. Her lower lip trembled, but her voice came out strong enough.

  “Blockhead? Is that the best you can come up with Beth?” His father gave an indignant snort.

  “For now,” she said, “and you promised…”

  “Yes, yes, I know, and I’m a man of my word.” He lifted a finger and pointed at Dax. “Your mother says you’ve found a girl, need my mama’s ring, and want to swoop in and save the day by annexing her family’s ranch.”

  “Father…” He gritted his teeth.

  The way his father said it made the whole thing sound impetuous, as if he hadn’t thought through everything that could go wrong. Or, as if he hadn’t considered all the reasons he and Dani should slow things down.

  None of it mattered.

  He was marrying Dani, with or without his father’s blessing. And he was still trying to figure out how to get Dani’s father’s approval. Something told him all three of Dani’s conditions had to be met before she would officially say yes.

  “Are you going to give me grandma’s ring, or not?”

  “That depends. Tell me about Crowbar Ranch. Convince me it’s a good business proposition and the ring is yours.”

  Not that he was prepared to present a business plan to his father, but he’d already given the matter great thought. And he hadn’t wasted his time on the flight down from Montana.

  Twenty minutes later, he had his father’s blessing, the promise of his grandmother’s ring, and a proposition for Dani’s father.

  After their conversation, his father’s complexion seemed even paler than before. Dax checked the monitors, his skill as a paramedic came to good use in times like these, but there was nothing worrisome. In fact, his father’s heart rate, blood pressure, and oxygen levels were all normal. Better than he expected, in fact.

  He took a moment to really look at the man. Age wasn’t settling well on his father, weakening the strong man he’d always admired, and feared.

  After their talk, where his father listened rather than dominated the conversation, Dax feared him a little less and found a new respect for his father’s mind for business. Not once did he reject the idea of annexing Crowbar Ranch into Kingston properties.

  He did raise some concerns and offered a different, novel solution to the problem. It was something unique and allowed Dani’s father to retain full control of the ranch. A gentleman’s agreement, it respected Studer’s autonomy.

  “I’m going to check on Dani.”

  “Do you want to meet her?” His mother fussed over his father.

  “I would, but maybe not just yet. I’m feeling a little tired.”

  Tired? His father looked ten shades past exhausted.

  “Mother, we should let father rest.”

  “Yes, of course dear. I’ll be out in a minute.” She settled into a nearby chair.

  He left his parents to say their goodbyes and found Dani waiting for him with three steaming cups of coffee.

  “Sorry to have left you.”

  She stood and wrapped her arms around him. “Don’t ever be sorry for taking care of your family. I’ll wait as long as it takes.”

  “How long do you have?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Before you have to get back to school. This is your Spring Break, isn’t it?”

  “I have to be back on Monday. We have a couple days left.”

  “Good.”

  “What are you thinking?” She gave him a look like she didn’t trust him.

  “I’m thinking I want to show you my home. Are you too tired for another flight?”

  “As long as I’m with you? Never.”

  He liked that answer. Now that he knew his father wasn’t actively trying to die, he felt a weight lifted off his shoulders. Which was funny considering his father had basically given over the entire operation of Kingston ranch and all its holdings to him.

  “Let’s get out of here.” He whispered into her ear, nibbling her earlobe until her blush filled her face.

  “What about your mother?”

  “My mother won’t be leaving my father’s side. They’ll have to pry her away.”

  He hadn’t exactly said goodbye to his mother, but they’d exchanged a look. His parents had fallen in love at first sight. She understood the feelings her son had for the woman he intended to call wife.

  He led Dani downstairs and a very excited Dynamo greeted them in the SUV.

  An hour later, they were in the air, heading west toward his home. He suddenly got the urge to lay her out on one of the leather couches and thoroughly kiss her. Hell, who was he kidding? He ached to fuck her and stake his claim, not as a boyfriend, but rather as her One and Only.

  Adrenaline rushed through him, thinking about laying her out for his pleasure. It was mixed with more than a fair helping of intense awe. She wanted him, as much or more than he wanted her. This thing between them felt right, like her heart belonged exclusively to him. Not for a fleeting second, but for an eternity.

  He wanted to express physically what that meant, all the emotions he felt but had been forced to repress with his family emergency.

  Finally, he couldn’t contain himself any longer. There was only one problem. They were less than ten-minutes out from landing.

  “Excuse me a second.”

  Dani looked up from the book she was reading. She’d found it on their flight down to Texas and was nearly at the end. She read fast.

  “Okay.” She buried her nose back in the book while he went to knock on the door to the cockpit.

  “Come in.”

  He pushed open the door and poked his head inside. “How far out are we?”

  “Should be starting our descent in just a few minutes. Why?” Saul’s gaze flicked past Dax to Dani sitting in the back.

  “Any way you can circle around for a bit?”

  Saul gave a wink. “You’re the boss. Consider it done.”

  Dax retreated, making sure he shut the pilot’s door. He took a seat beside Dani.

  “How’s the book?”

  “Not too bad, considering.” She held up the trashy 80’s romance novel.

  He recognized it as one of his mother’s favorites and by the wear on the spine and the way the pages curled, he knew it had been read many times
.

  He traced a circle over Dani’s thigh, starting just above her knee and moving inexorably up. “That went pretty well with my parents, didn’t it?”

  She put the book down and her attention shifted to the progress of his hand. “It went very well. Your mother is amazing, and I’m really happy your father’s surgery was a success.”

  “Yes, it was, but it’s still going to be a long road to recovery. He needs me to help out at home.”

  “I kind of figured that. You’re going to have to leave Bear Creek.”

  “Not for long, and it’s not like you’re going to be there anyway. Not when you return to school.”

  “True. I just need to steer clear of Scott and I might just make it to the end of the year.”

  “I want to talk about what comes next.” He tapped the cover of her book. “Our story would make a pretty good book, don’t you think?”

  “It would.”

  “I know how to make it happen.” He proceeded to tell her about his conversation with his father, needing to know if what they proposed might be of interest to her father. “What do you think?”

  “I think the next conversation you have with my dad shouldn’t be about business. Or don’t you remember his shotgun?”

  “Oh, I’ve got that covered. I have the ring. I’ll speak with your father, and I’m going to knock your socks off with the most epic proposal.”

  “Is that so?” She crossed her arms and bit at her lower lip.

  His fingers found the juncture of her thighs, but she squeezed her legs together, denying him access. He wanted to lay her out on the floor, have his way with her, and deal with the future later.

  “I’m expecting an unequivocal yes, by the way.”

  “Is that so?” Her chest rose and fell as her breath deepened. He put his hands on her knees and forced them open. Her legs parted with very little resistance. God, he could smell her arousal and that made his dick ache.

  He found it harder and harder to look her in the eyes, especially when he wanted to bury his head between her legs and lick her until she came on his face.

  “Now what is going on in that head of yours?” she asked.

  “I was thinking this is the perfect time to induct you into the mile-high club.”

  Her attention shifted to the closed door separating them from the cockpit. “And what about him?”