Mending Heart |18+|

Bonus Chapter 2

​​Congratulations

"Turn your words into wisdom." – Oprah Winfrey

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[8 Months Later]

"McKenzie."

"What?" I lifted my eyes to meet Ethan's piercing gaze. I was currently sitting on the dining room floor with Sweetie's head resting in my lap and Bella sound asleep next to me, while Ethan sat at the dining room table with his computer.

In the past year, Ethan and I had settled into married life. Although the two of us continued to butt heads whenever we got a chance, I wouldn't trade any of it for the world.

He was my adorably loving idiot, even when I wanted to make him sleep on the couch for pissing me off.

"Are you auditing one of my clients?" Ethan asked after a few moments, his lips pursed together in a thin line.

Titling my head to the side, I tried to suppress my smile. "You know I can't tell you that."

"McKenzie." Ethan scowled, narrowing his eyes in my direction.

"Why are you asking?" I couldn't help the small smirk that tugged at the corner of my lips. I knew exactly why he was asking, and which client of his had gotten served. Thomas and Cooper Consulting had been listed as the third-party firm hired to perform the internal audit for last year's fiscal year. I'd be lying if I said I didn't laugh when I saw the paperwork come across my desk. "Did your client get served a notice?"

"Yes." He practically growled, leaning back in his chair.

I shrugged, biting my lip to keep from laughing. Now that Ethan and I were on opposite sides of the table, he tended to get a little butt-hurt when my department audited one of his clients.

"And here I thought," Ethan said as he stood up and came to sit next to me. "Once you stopped working for me you'd finally stop being a pain in my ass."

I laughed, bumping my shoulder with his. "If you didn't want me to be a pain in your ass, you shouldn't have married me."

Ethan's eyes darkened as he wrapped his arms around me, gently resting his head on my shoulder. I felt his warm breath tickle my ear as he said, "Asking you to marry me was the best decision I ever made."

"And now, you have to deal with the consequences." I giggled, trying to wiggle out of his grasp. When it became clear that Ethan had no intention of letting go, I rolled my eyes. "Ethan, let me go. The salmon's going to overcook."

At the same time, the timer on my phone had gone off. Reaching into my pocket and pulling out my phone, I turned off the time just as Bella stirred.

"I don't care," Ethan tightened his arms around me. "We can order take out."

"Well I care!" I nudged him, finally freeing myself from him. Pushing myself up off the floor, I placed my hands on my hips and peered down at him. "Dinner's almost ready – go finish what you have to finish so we can eat."

Ethan opened his mouth to protest, but when I cocked a challenging eyebrow in his direction he quickly shut up. As much as both of us tried to leave our work at work, it was impossible most of the time. For my sanity and Ethan's, the two of us came to a mutual decision that if we did have to bring our work home, we'd put it away before dinner and what wasn't finished would just have to get done the following day.

It took some convincing because Ethan was used to sneaking down to his office after I fell asleep each night to finish paperwork, but he quickly learned that if he wanted to have sex more than once a week, he was just going to have to suck it up.