“Give them a kiss for me and tell them I miss them. I miss you too.”

“Yeah, well, if you didn’t run off to Nashville then you wouldn’t miss us,” Rachel snapped and then she hung up on her. Dropping her hands to her lap, Lacey took in a deep breath.

“I’m so tired of her talking to me like that,” she said, swallowing back a sob. “It doesn’t matter how mad I get at her, I don’t disrespect her. I care, and she is my best friend, but I really don’t know what to do, Karson. She is pissing me off.”

“Tell her that.”

“I will tomorrow, and if she doesn’t like it, she can find somewhere else to work.”

“Didn’t she start the business with you, though?”

“She did, and I thought she was in it till the end, but if that were the case, she would respect me. I just don’t think she does,” she said sadly, her tears rolling down her cheeks and off her chin.

Sitting up, Karson wrapped her in his arms and kissed her jaw. “Baby, it takes time to adjust. You were always there before. Now she is doing everything. Give it time, but I agree that she needs to respect you. You need to say that. Leave the personal shit at the door.”

“Yeah,” she agreed, leaning into him. He kissed her temple before gathering her closer to him. “I need to talk to you about something.”

“Yeah? Did you pay all that?”

“Yeah, and I also noticed something.”

“That’s JT’s subscription to that porn site. I canceled my card yesterday and he added his, I swear,” he said quickly, and she couldn’t help it, she lost it. She laughed so hard tears streamed down from her eyes before she quickly shook her head.

“No, not that!” she laughed and he smiled.

“Oh, good,” he said, letting out a long breath. “Then what?”

Turning to face him, she put her computer beside them as he picked up her legs and laid them across his lap, looking deep into her eyes. She had said before that his generosity was breathtaking, but she’d had no clue the extent of it.

He was by far the loveliest person on this planet.

And he was all hers.

“I saw that you’ve been donating to the Lacey’s Lace Foundation for the last six years.”

His face didn’t change as he nodded slowly. “Yup, every month.”

Her eyes watered again before she whispered, “That’s my foundation.”

“I know; the name kind of gives it away,” he said, a grin pulling at his lips.

She giggled before smacking his chest. “Why, Karson? For so long without telling me?”

“Because I was scared you wouldn’t take it if you knew it was me.”

Shaking her head, she couldn’t believe it. For so long he had been supporting her and she hadn’t even know it. All that time she spent mad that she didn’t have him, he was believing in her, hoping for another chance. All he would have had to do was ask because she had been hoping just like he had. It was a cruel joke, keeping them apart, and her anger at her father burned a little stronger. How could he have done this to them?

“All I keep doing is thinking about all that time we spent apart. How things would be so much different if we wouldn’t have broken up, or if you would have come for me sooner, or if I would have come to you,” she said, her lip wobbling as she held his gaze.

“I know,” he said, his eyes reflecting the same thing hers did.

Penitence.

“I can’t believe that you’ve been doing that all this time, for me. It means so much.”

“When you love and believe in someone, you do anything for them,” he said it like it was that simple. But if it was, then why didn’t her family follow the same example?

He had continually left her speechless from the moment she saw him in the cab back in Chicago. And since then, he had changed her life completely. Each second that passed between them was something she would forever treasure, but this moment she would hold near and dear to her heart. She didn’t know if he realized how much he helped her foundation, how many girls he gave a chance to feel like a woman or helped with their treatment, and she really didn’t know how to thank him.

Wrapping her arms around his neck, she met her lips to his and kissed him long and hard before coming up for breath. Looking deep into the eyes she loved, she whispered, “You said earlier that I make your dreams come true. But really, you’ve been making mine come true since the beginning.”

With all the sincerity and love in the world, Karson smiled as he said, “And I’ll continue until my dying day.”

So would she.

And she wouldn’t stop until she proved how grateful and blessed she was to have him.

Pressing her lips to his, Lacey slowly pushed him back, straddling him as her mouth devoured his. His hands ran up the back of her jean-clad thighs, settling on her ass and causing heat to go straight to her core. She could care less if JT was in the room over. It had been far too long since her husband had been inside her, and it was time to rectify that. Tearing her mouth from his, she pushed off his chest and then stood up above him. Looking deep in his eyes, she undid her pants and a grin came over his beautiful face. Crossing his arms behind his head, he watched her intently as she stepped to the side and inched her pants down her body. Lifting her shirt over her head, she threw it aside before dropping back down on top of him.

He was hard. Deliciously hard against her as she slowly moved herself along his body before meeting her mouth to his. Heat flooded her panties as she teased him with her hot center over his thick cock. He groaned against her lips, his fingers dancing along the lace of her ass, inching their way inside. Kissing down her throat, his fingers found the inside of her panties, gripping both of her butt cheeks and squeezing them tightly. She gasped against his ear as his finger ran up her crack, tickling her asshole, and something inside her liked it.