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“I want to dance!” Hannah said jumping up and down next to me.
I picked Hannah up, holding her in one arm while I pulled Beth to me with the other. I meant what I’d said to Kade. Sex was infinitely better with a woman you loved versus a hookup, no matter how adventurous that hookup might be in bed. But it wasn’t just the sex that was better. Everything was better. Life was better. The future looked better.
I looked over at Hannah, her sweet face lit up in delight, her hands clapping as I moved to the music. Then I took in the beauty of the woman who’d soon be my wife, my breath catching as I was awestruck again by all that I had. I didn’t know how I got so lucky to have these lovely ladies in my life, but I was so fucking grateful that I did.
“I love you, Beth.” I leaned forward and kissed Beth on the lips, tenderly but with all the love I felt in my heart.
“What’s that for?” she asked.
“For making all my dreams come true.”
Her smile was so radiant, I had to kiss her again.
“Me too, Daddy,”
I gave Hannah a big, fat, loud kiss on the cheek. “I love you too, cutie pie.”
“I love you, Daddy and Mommy.”
I grinned at them both. I was with my family, not just Beth and Hannah, but also with my brothers, who were all doing well. The business was booming. Life was perfect.
“Ash?”
I looked at Beth. “Yes.”
Her eyes stared back at me with the same love I felt for her, but also regret for what she’d done, keeping Hannah from me. As much as I tried to let her know that we needed to look forward, and not linger on the past, she often felt guilt.
I gave her a quick kiss, not needing to hear any apologies again. I’d forgiven her, and now we were forging a path forward.
“I want to marry you, Ash.”
“That’s what that ring is for,” I said, pulling her left hand to my lips and kissing her delicate fingers.
“And my bracelet,” Hannah said showing off the bangle I’d gotten her.
“Sooner rather than later,” Beth said. “I don’t need a big fancy wedding. I just need to be married to you.”
“Shall we catch a flight to Vegas?” I said teasingly.
“I’d do that.”
She was serious. I loved that. “How about I use my vast wealth and my father’s influence to arrange a spectacular wedding ASAP in New York?”
To be honest, I’d have been okay with eloping, but I wanted to give my girls a big ceremony. I wanted to mark the day with huge exclamation point; Today was the day the Ash, Beth, and Hannah Raven family was officially created.
Beth nodded. “Okay. But ASAP. I want to be Mrs. Ash Raven before the summer is over.”
“Whatever you want, Beth, I’ll give it to you.” The moon and stars. Heaven and earth. Whatever she wanted, I’d do whatever it took to give it to her. And to Hannah too.
“I want you, Ash.”
“I want you too, Daddy.”
“You both have me. My heart… my soul… they’re yours.”
Later that night, with Hannah fast asleep in her room in our suite, I made love to Beth in our room, once again vowing to give her the world. As I slid inside her, I felt that magic click of our souls snapping together as one. It made me realize that as much as I resented my father enacting Alex’s dumbass plan for our inheritance, he’d been right about one thing: what really mattered in life was family. My work with Raven Industries and my own clubs was fulfilling and fun, but it wasn’t until Beth came back into my life, bringing our perfect child, that I felt true happiness. As cliche as it was, Beth and Hannah completed me. They’d been the pieces I’d needed to fill the emptiness in my life and make me feel whole. The gave me purpose and direction. They were everything I ever wanted or needed.
I watched Beth’s face as I moved inside her, bringing her closer and closer to the edge of bliss, and I marveled at all I’d been given with this second chance.
“I don’t want this to ever end,” she said on a gasp bringing me back to that last night six years ago when we’d been together on the beach.
I promised her then that we’d make it work, somehow. I failed her then, but I wouldn’t this time. “We’ll never end, Beth. I’m yours forever.”
***The End***
