Epilogue

EPILOGUE

KYLE - THREE MONTHS LATER

" E xcuse me, can I ask what's going on here?" I peer at the woman in a pencil skirt, sleeveless blouse, and heels who's walking along the front of Kathy's house, taking pictures.

We haven't seen Kathy in several weeks, and no, we certainly never hear her in the back yard with the pool she had to have. As far as we can tell, Dani and I are the only ones who've been in it.

"And you are?" the woman asks. Her tone is polite and professional. Her eyes dripping over me are anything but.

I look like hell from working in the sun all day on my latest job. That infinity pool deal is harder than anticipated, and Wayne's threatening to quit on me if the next one isn't a basic rectangle with no homeowner onsite. So I don't have the time, inclination, or patience for flirty bullshit.

"The neighbor," I answer flatly.

"Oh! I thought it was a single woman next door. I didn't realize it was… a man." She bats her lashes as she licks her lips and then smiles invitingly.

"Lady, that ‘single woman' next door is my woman, and if you don't get your eyeballs off my dick, she's gonna kill us both, and I'm not being metaphorical. So unless you have a death wish, what's going on here?"

She's definitely put off by that, thankfully.

"I'm Zoe Jones, the realtor," she says, as if that explains everything. In fact, it explains nothing. When I roll my hand, like ‘give me more', she huffs. "Mrs. Wilson is preparing to sell. Didn't you know?"

I most definitely did not know that.

"Had no idea. We haven't seen her for a bit, but we figured she was on vacation or something," I reply. We honestly weren't too worried about it and have been enjoying the lack of drama, manufactured or otherwise.

"Oh, no, she had a bad fall playing pickleball several weeks ago. She had surgery and is gonna be totally fine," she rushes to reassure me like I give a shit, "but she enjoyed the luxury of the rehab facility so much that she's decided to move to a silver seniors' community. It's so much easier, with staff to do the cleaning and cooking, organized activities for residents, and that sort of thing."

I don't like Kathy Wilson, but that doesn't mean I wish ill on her, so I am glad that she's okay. But also, I will cross my fingers for the staff who'll have to deal with her on a daily basis. I can't imagine how awful that's going to be long-term.

Selfishly, I wonder about the house. If Kathy's selling, there's no telling who might buy the family-sized house next door to Dani's tiny one.

Maybe they'll be better than Kathy?

Maybe they'll be worse?

The realtor is still talking, though. "If you know anyone in the market, give them my name and number."

She holds out a card, and I look at it, already doing some quick thinking of my own. I know someone who can buy Kathy's house and never give Dani a bit of trouble, won't give a shit about the line of trucks that come through every day, and will enjoy the hell out of the pool out back.

"Have you already done your comps for the area and come up with a listing price?"

"Yes, it'll go on MLS today after I upload the pictures, and we have an open house scheduled this week. Weird one—Mrs. Wilson said to hold it on a Friday around lunch because the area gets lots of traffic then and it'd be good for potential buyers. You know anything about that?"

I laugh. "Yeah, I do." I don't explain that even as Kathy's selling her house, she's trying to stick it to Dani one more time, willing to go so far that it'd shoot herself in the foot because anyone coming to look at her house at that day and time wouldn't be able to get here around Dani's customers and definitely wouldn't be willing to pay top dollar. "I tell you what, show me the comps and a reasonable list price, and I'll do a full-price offer today. No open house needed."

"What?" Zoe balks, totally shocked. But she quickly remembers herself. "Are you serious? Do you want to see inside or the pool out back?"

I shake my head. "I've seen it." I pull my wallet out of my pocket and take out a card. Zoe reaches for it, but I pull it back, keeping it just out of her reach. "Call me with the comps and list price only. Understood?"

She nods, and I hand the card over.

But I'm caught.

"What the fuck are you doing giving another woman your phone number?" Dani snaps from her yard. She snuck up on me. I didn't even hear the screen door swinging. "I heard your truck and then wondered where you were, only to find you out here with…"

Dani trails off, and though Zoe smartly steps a bit farther away from me, she helpfully fills in, "Zoe Jones."

"Unless Zoe Jones is looking to install a pool, she doesn't need your number," Dani declares.

But she's not really jealous. She knows I would never cheat on her. Hell, I'm so hung up on her, other women don't even exist to me. She's it—my everything. But that doesn't mean she doesn't like giving me hell.

To be fair, it always works out for us both in the end. With multiple orgasms.

"Daniela," I say sternly, "Zoe was just telling me that she's the realtor listing Kathy's house for sale." I give her a beat to let that sink in before I drop the real bomb. "And I was telling her that I'll buy it because I hear the pool is amazing."

She grins, a laugh starting because what I'm saying is so utterly ridiculous. When I don't laugh too, she sobers.

"Wait… what? You can't, you're… What?"

I gather Dani into my arms and reassure her, "I know it's fast, but when you know, you know, and you're it for me. But I'm not rushing you, no pressure here. You've gotten enough of that, so me and Peanut Butter will live next door, and when you're ready, you can too. But you'll always have your place to run your business out of. We can even put a gate in the fence so we can sneak back and forth," I tease with a wink.

"You're just buying a house? What about the one you already have?"

"I'll keep it too. Maybe rent it out, call it an investment property. I don't know." I shrug. "I didn't get much further than being next door to you at all times."

"You can afford that?" She looks at the house with new eyes, and I can virtually see the dollar signs adding up in her mind.

Dani and I haven't really had that talk, and Mr. Becerra respects me too much to share what he knows, but the truth is… yeah, whatever Kathy's selling for, I can buy it outright. The pool business can be a little up and down, but at the level I'm at, the downs aren't very low and I'm good at investing in myself.

And now, in mine and Dani's future.

"Dani," I say, and when her eyes come back to me, they're filled with hope. "You're worth it. I'd do anything to be near you, with you, in you. You choose."

Zoe, who was looking a little starry-eyed, chokes. "Did you say ‘in you'?"

But Dani ignores her, focusing on me. "You're worth it too. I choose you. I love you."

I inhale sharply, never getting tired of hearing her say that. "I love you, too. But be warned, you will have to help me redo the kitchen in this place. It's awful."

She swats at my chest, purposefully hitting my nipple ring. "You're pretty good at kitchens, from what I've seen."

I tilt my head, smirking and cockily agreeing, "Yeah, I am pretty great."

"And so modest, too," she teases.

"Yeah, definitely that." I look over to Zoe and smile. "Call with the numbers and I'll get you a contract today. Quick close, like as soon as possible. Just keep my name out of it. The offer will be from a private corporation." Zoe nods, looking like she wishes all her listings were this easy.

As I guide Dani away, I growl in her ear, "We already christened the pool. Now I'm gonna fuck you in every room in that house."

She laughs, jumping when I smack her ass. "Promises, promises."

But we both know I keep my promises.

Dani does too, so one day, when she's ready, she will let me put a ring on her. She's not ready yet, but when she is, I've already got it at home in my sock drawer. Kayla helped me pick it out last month and didn't say one word about my race pace, other than she wouldn't expect anything different from me.

For now, I'm just patiently waiting and loving Dani more each day.

"You coming, pendejo ?" she asks when I lag behind.

"Not yet, and not till you do at least three times," I growl, shoving her in the house and kicking the door closed behind us.

I hope you enjoyed Kyle and Dani's story! The final 2 books in the Never Say Never series are now on preorder — Cameron's book (single dad trope) and Kayla's book (why choose hockey romance)!