Page 165 of The Trouble with Flings

And he’s doing it for me and our baby.

The problem is, I didn’t know I’d feel like this. I don’t want to take our daughter away from him just to live in my apartment and cling to some idea of independence. I don’t want that kind of independence, and I definitely don’t want Fitz to go a single day without holding Viviana. I don’t want to go back to living life at breakneck speed or leave our little girl with a stranger while I’m at work, much less spend hours away from her every day. But most of all, I don’t want to leave the place and the people that have become our home, and I don’t want the man I love to do the same.

I’ve felt this way since we brought Viviana home from the hospital, but Fitz had already bought and furnished the brownstone and made arrangements to work remotely after we return to the city. It felt selfish to mention it that late in the game.

But now here I am, feeling like the air is being sucked from my lungs just thinking about it.

Viviana is starting to cry, shifting into feed-me mode, which means we have about two minutes before those cries turn into full-on wails. Fitz turns and finds me watching him in the dark. “Hey, wild girl.” His voice is still soft. “I think she’s hungry.”

“Okay.” I sit up, and he hands her to me. “Hi, sweet angel,” I whisper, and kiss her forehead as she latches on. My heart is wrapped so tightly around her, sometimes all that love physically hurts in the very best way.

As Fitz slides my nursing pillow under her, I know I have to tell him the truth. For all our sakes.

Fitz lowers himself to the bed beside us and brushes his finger over Vivi’s head as she nurses. “Do you think she knows how much we love her?”

“How can she not? It’s all we do.”

He looks at me with those loving eyes and kisses me softly, then settles in beside me, his hand on my leg, his eyes on our little ball of fury.

Gathering all my courage, I say, “Hey, Fitz?”

“Hm?”

“I know this is a lot to ask, and it’s probably not fair that I’m asking this late in the game, but how would you feel about not moving to the city?”

He sits up, his face etched with concern. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

I smile and nod.

His brows slant. “You want me to live here while you’re in the city? No, wild girl. Absolutely not—”

“That’s not what I mean,” I say quickly. “I don’t want to live apart at all, and I don’t want to live in the city. I want to live here with you and Vivi. She deserves to grow up with her father down the hall and her grandmother a few streets over and her aunts showing up with pastries and photo ops and an island full of people who already love her. That’s not something we can fit in a brownstone. I know my timing sucks, and you just spent all that money, but maybe you can sell the brownstone, or rent it out, and I’m not asking you to support me. I promise I won’t freeload. I’ve been thinking about the work I do with programs for kids, and that’s something I can build on. Not just here, but in other cities and states. If I come up with a plan people can use. I was thinking I could talk to Grant about it, since he set up his foundation, and—” Fitz is staring at me with a furrowed brow. I realize I’m rambling, the words tumbling out too fast, and force myself to stop.

Silence stretches between us for so long, panic flares inside me. “I’m sorry. It’s too much to ask. Forget I said anything.”

He just stares at me for another long moment, then closes his eyes and drags a hand down his face, an incredulous, overwhelmed sound escaping him. “You’re serious?”

My heart twists. “Yes.”

“You have no idea how much I was hoping you’d eventually want to live here full time.”

Relief rushes through me. “You did?”

He nods. “I’ve been trying so hard not to influence that because I wanted you to live the life you want, not the life you think I want. But hearing you say you want to stay?” Another disbelieving sound escapes him. “Jesus, Jennifer.”

My throat constricts. “You’re not mad? Even after you spent all that money on the brownstone?”

“No, wild girl. I’m unbelievably happy.” He leans in and kisses me. “Now we have a house in the city for when you miss it, and we can take Vivi there so she can fall in love with the place that made her mama who she is.”

My eyes well up.

“I’ve been waiting for the perfect time to do this, and I think we just found it.” He leans over his side of the bed and reaches into the nightstand.

“To do what?”

When he comes back to me, he’s holding the most stunning emerald-cut diamond ring I’ve ever seen. My heart stumbles. “Fitz…? How long have you had that?”

A smile tugs at his lips. “A couple of months.”