Page 202 of Delicate Hope

“I missed you,” he whispers into my skin.

I hum turning in his arms. “We were apart for a whole five hours since you came to the shop earlier.”

He grins and kisses me fiercely. “I know, I can’t help myself.”

I loop my arms around his neck, laying my cheek on his bare chest. “My stage-five clinger.”

“No fair, your kids are too.”

I snort. “Oh,mykids are. What aboutyourkids? They learned it from you.”

“Yeah, because their daddy is smart.”

I lean back to give him the ‘give me a break’ face, and he grins down at me.

“How you have this much energy after a long day and kids waking you up in the middle of the night, I will never understand.”

He kisses my forehead as his hand rubs up and down my spine. “I’m filled with joy because I get to fall asleep and wake up to the best woman in the world. I get to hug and kiss the kids we made, and raise every day. I’m the most blessed man in the world. I can’t wait to wake up every morning, and—” he pauses. “You sure you don’t want to have another kid? We make somereallycute ones.”

I laugh, and my laugh turns into a groan, and I shake my head against his chest. “We would have to expand the house again, and if we did that Naomi would have to have her own bathroom. We can’t subject her to three little ones.”

“Done,” Cooper says.

“Coop.”

“Stubborn.”

I smile into his chest, still amazed that he loves me this way. “I’ll get more stretch marks,” I grumble.

He takes the back of my neck, tilting my head back to look me directly in the eyes. “Baby, I love your body, and I love it even more knowing how powerful it is, how you gave me two kids. Stretch marks don’t matter because you always have been and always will be beautiful to me.”

I stare at him, still shocked that he’s mine, and kiss him. “Maybe you should just make love to me and remind me what the process is because I can’t remember and we probably have an hour before one of us passes out from exhaustion.”

Cooper chuckles and sweeps his mouth against mine. “I can do that.”

Who would have thought being conned into taking over a flower shop by my mom and aunt would have come to this. I look at my past prior to meeting Cooper, and it wasn’t bad. It was lonely, a loneliness that it felt like few knew. My heart hurts for the younger Mae. I wish I could tell her that it’s worth the wait. It’s worth the repeated heartbreak and tears. It was all worth it for the happily ever after she dreamed of.

1 Year Later

We added on to the house … again.