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“It’s about damn time,” he said, his voice still rough with lust, clumsily pushing back my damp hairs.
His words startled a laugh from me. “Excuse me?”
“I said it’s about damn time.” He pressed a hard kiss against my mouth. “I’ve been struggling to keep the words to myself that might scare you off because I promised to keep you safe. I couldn’t risk you running off because you didn’t feel the same, but it’s been hard as fuck keeping this to myself.”
My heart swelled at the implication of his words. “Keep what to yourself?”
His fingers tangled in my hair, and he held me so we were eye to eye. “I love you Emma. I love you more than I knew I was capable of loving another person. And then you gave me a person who makes my heart so full that sometimes I can’t breathe. You are the most incredible woman I have ever met, and I want to spend the rest of my life loving you and showing you just how incredible you are. I love that I get to see this part of you, like it’s a fucking privilege many don’t get to see.”
Tears burned my eyes at his gruff yet sweet words. “I do love you, Slate. I didn’t plan to and I’m not sure I wanted to, given the circumstances, but I really, really do.”
His cock swelled as he smiled at me. His cock surged to life and this time when we came together it was slow and sweetly intense. It solidified everything I knew about my heart and what it felt.
It was amazing.
It was intense.
It was everything I ever dreamed of and now it was my reality.
The way we found our pleasure together was both amazing and terrifying. How could I be so in sync with another man after everything I’d been through? How was it so easy? So uncomplicated?
So perfect.
The alarm on my phone intruded on our moment, loud and incessant and obnoxious as hell. I groaned and pressed my forehead to his. “Time to get the day started.”
“This is the stupid real world intruding?”
I laughed and nodded against him. “It’s been known to happen on occasion.” I loved that he seemed so reluctant to let me go. “Grace is coming over with Ash. I have to enroll her in school and then go shopping for essentials.”
“School?”
“First grade. She finally gets to go to school and make friends and have a normal childhood.” It’s all I ever wanted for her.
“Shower?” His brows wiggled as if I needed to be enticed to shower with him when it was the perfect way to start my day.
“Absolutely.”
***
We spent more time in the shower than we should have and by the time we were finished, and Grace dropped off Ash, all three of us rushed from the house and into our respective vehicles with hurried goodbyes.
“Mommy, is Daddy your boyfriend?” Our observant daughter had seen the way we kissed each other goodbye. Not that she needed to be particularly observant as we weren’t even trying to hide our new-found love.
It was such an odd question I couldn’t help but laugh. “Um, I’m not sure? Maybe?”
Ash giggled sweetly, peppering me with questions as we made our way to the elementary school where she would attend first grade in the fall. “Are you and Daddy gonna get married?”
That was a question I had no answer for, so I simply shrugged. “I don’t know, Ash. Come on, let’s get you registered for school.”
“Okay!” It was easy enough to distract her with thoughts of new friends and learning new things, and thirty minutes later all she could talk about on the drive to the grocery store was her new teacher with the fiery red hair. “Am I gonna like school, Mommy?”
“No,” I shook my head. “You’re going to love it.” She didn’t look convinced, and I stepped up because this was my time to shine as her mother. “You’re going to meet so many different people and you’ll learn so much from them. You’ll love some of them and dislike others. You will have so much fun that you won’t have time to worry about anything.”
“Promise?”
I nodded as we pulled into the grocery store parking lot. “I promise.” One of the things the past two months had taught me was the importance of hope. I had no clue what the future would bring but feeling hopeful helped me face it, more than feeling doubt and fear. “Let’s do some shopping, yeah?”
“Can we make some cookies for Daddy? He liked them lots last time.”
