Page 228 of Allegiance

He grinned wickedly, letting his guard down for the first time in a very long time. He hadn’t been lying when he said he felt safe with her.

“Skills,” he said. “It takes a special tactical skill to get a snake pregnant. They bite.”

She corrected him.

“Well, we bite when we are angry. I’m not feeling very bite-y right now. I’m feeling more happy and blissful. It’s been a good day.”

He was glad.

All he wanted was to give her a plethora of happy moments going forward.

Dakota put food on her plate, made up his own, and they started eating.

“Thank you for tonight,” he said.

“I wasn’t sure you wanted to come here.”

He laughed.

“Oh, Evie, I really wanted to come here. I’m just afraid to make you angry. I know I’m on my last chance.”

She was honest.

“Just don’t hurt me. I don’t get angry easily, Dakota. I’m trained to stay calm. I don’t want you living in fear that any moment I’m going to kick you out of this child’s, or my life.”

“So if we don’t work out?” he asked. “I ask because I’m not easy to love.”

She wasn’t so sure about that.

She’d fallen fast.

“You’re still this child’s father. That’s not changing. Violet said something that resonated with me.”

“What?” he asked, curiously.

“Why would I punish a child if both parents wanted to be in its life? Why would I take a parent away?”

His heart thumped.

“She’s a very wise soul. She’s smarter than I am.”

Yeah, her too.

“So if this doesn’t work, which I doubt it won’t, you’re still expected to do everything you said in your letter. If we have a boy, you’d better be ready to coach baseball. If we have a girl, you’ll need to show her how a man needs to treat her if he wants her heart. You’ll be the first man who loves her, and trust me when I say that matters. I wish my father had been around.”

A tear slipped down his cheek.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

Dakota was honest.

“I never thought I’d be in this position.”

She waited, holding her breath.

“And now I never want to not be in it. The whole idea of a little one scares me, but it also fills that hole. I didn’t know what was missing, Eve. Now I do. It was a family of my own.”

She was honest.