He sighs, the stress of this situation starting to show on his face. “This thing is more complicated than you can imagine.”
“I don’t care. Take your money and leave.”
“Juliette, please,” he pleads as he inches forward and Kodiak takes a step forward, his face etched with intensity and his gun leveled at Gavin’s head.
“You heard the lady. Get your goddamn money and get out of our clubhouse,” Blaze orders and defeat flashes across his face as he nods and creeps forward to scoop the bag off of the floor. As soon as his hand is on the bag, the door bursts open and police flood into the room with guns drawn. Gavin’s pistol clatters to the floor and he throws his hands over his head as the guys tuck their weapons back into their holsters.
Rodriguez steps forward and begins reading Gavin his rights as he puts him in handcuffs and Gavin’s eyes sweep over the room, frantic, until they land on me.
“Juliette! Wait!”
Rodriguez passes him off to another officer as Gavin struggles against his hold.
“Please! She needs to know everything!” He whips around and manages to break free of the officer’s grasp, running straight for me. Sawyer steps in front of me but before Gavin reaches us, Blaze’s arm goes out, clotheslining him. He falls back with a thud and two officers appear at his side, ripping him off the floor.
“Juliette!” he calls, his voice weaker this time. “I need to tell you about everything! I need to explain.”
“Get him the fuck out of here!” Rodriguez bellows at the officers, who seem content to let Gavin stand around and run his mouth for their entertainment value. Sufficiently scolded, they nod and drag Gavin outside as he continues to scream about needing to tell me the truth.
“You okay, baby?” Sawyer asks, stepping up behind me and wrapping me up in his arms. I turn in his grasp and bury my head in his chest as I take a deep breath for what feels like the first time since I woke up in the hospital. Relief washes over me, so potent that I burst into tears.
“Oh, angel,” he breathes as he scoops me up in his arms. I can feel everyone’s eyes on me and like he can read my thoughts, he turns away from them and carries me up to his room where I completely fall apart before he puts me back together again.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Sawyer
My stomach flips as I drive the truck onto the property and glance over at Juliette in the passenger seat, the blindfold I made her put on as we were leaving the steakhouse still firmly in place. She looks absolutely incredible in the new red dress Mercedes stopped by the clubhouse to bring her and I can’t wait to get her back to my room and strip it off her but there are more important things to focus on right now - like the ring burning a hole in my pocket, the one Mercedes slipped to me when Juliette wasn’t looking. Apparently, it’s her dream engagement ring - one she designed and had made but never had the heart to sell because it owned such a special place in her heart. I guess I’m just lucky Gavin decided to buy her a different ring instead of proposing with this one. Or like most things when it comes to our whirlwind of a relationship, it was meant to be.
“Where are you taking me?” she asks, gazing around like she can still see as I pull the truck to a stop and she reaches up to touch the blindfold.
“You’ll find out in a second. We’re here.”
She smiles. “Can I take it off now?”
“No. I’m coming to get you. Just hold on.”
She scowls and crosses her arms over her chest, making me laugh, as I jump out and run around to her side, pulling the door open.
“Take my hands,” I instruct and she places her hands in mine. I help her slip out of the truck before guiding her around the front to the perfect spot that overlooks the lake. “Are you ready?”
“I don’t know,” she huffs, her patience wearing thin and I laugh as I untie the blindfold, letting it fall from her eyes. She blinks as the world comes into focus and gasps. The lake stretches out in front of us, framed by trees and glistening in the moonlight as millions of stars paint the sky over our heads and it’s the perfect backdrop for this night. “Oh, Sawyer. This is incredible.”
“You think so?”
She glances over her shoulder. “Yes! I could stay here for hours.”
“What about forever?”
“What?” she asks, glancing around like she’s missing something and I smile, my heart hammering against my ribs.
“The property is for sale and we’re in the market for a new place to live so I thought we could build our dream house here.”
Sucking in a breath, she nods. “With big windows that look out over the water…”
“Exactly.” One of the things I love the most about this woman is that, at her core, she is a dreamer. She doesn’t spend too much time worrying about what she should do or what is acceptable because all that matters is how it makes me feel.
“It’s perfect!” she squeals, spinning around in my arms and pulling me into a hug. I bury my face in her neck, breathing in her scent as I slowly work up the courage for the next part.
Okay, Michelson. It’s now or never.
Releasing her, I step back and reach into my pocket. “There’s one more thing.”
“What?”
I pull the ring from my pocket and drop down on one knee, my eyes locked with hers the entire time as my hands shake like crazy. Her gaze flicks to the ring and she scowls for a second before gasping as tears spring to her eyes.
“That ring…”
I smile. “Do you remember it?”
“Yes. I designed it… but…” She scrunches up her nose in confusion and I know she’s struggling to piece it all together. More memories have started coming back in the last couple of days but she is still missing huge gaps of information and the timelines don’t always make sense.
“Mercedes told me you designed it but you were never able to sell it because it was special to you and as soon as I saw it, I knew I couldn’t ask you to spend the rest of your life with me without it.”
She gasps, pressing her fingers to her lips as tears spill down her cheeks. “Oh, Sawyer.”
“Juliette Kathleen Shaw,” I start, my heart racing and my skin tingling with awareness. “I love you. In fact, I’m pretty sure I fell in love with you as soon as I saw you from across the parking lot of that diner. I love the woman you are today, so fierce, funny, kind, and generous and I love the woman you’re going to be tomorrow and the woman you’re going to be one hundred years from now and I love every variation of the woman you’re going to be all the years in between. If you never get all of your memories back, I’ll love you then and if you wake up tomorrow with those five years you’re missing, I’ll love you then, too. You are everything and you made me believe in myself and in love again with just a look. So, what do you say, angel? You want to marry me, have babies with me, and build our life together in this spot that was so clearly meant for us?”
Tears spill down her cheeks as she smiles down at me, so much love in her eyes that it smashes into me and almost knocks me over. I can see it all now. Our kids running through these fields, laughing and playing. Our home, filled with love and our future here together. My angel, Juliette, by my side through it all. She opens her mouth and I suck in a breath, so eager to hear her answer.