He laughs and shakes his head. “Move in with me.”
I nod, my breathing becoming a little more regular now. “Okay.”
“You think Hailey will be okay with it?”
I snort. “Yeah. I’m pretty sure she’ll be just fine. She loves your house and the backyard.”
“Oh, yeah. I’m getting that kid a swing set and a sandbox.”
I smile. “You’re going to spoil the hell out of her, aren’t you?”
“Of course.” It’s said so matter-of-factly, I lean in and kiss his lips. “Now get naked.”
“Lock the door.”
He hops up, locking the door as I shed my clothes and grab the lube. I need him inside me tonight. I want to celebrate.
I spread my legs, letting my feet rest on the mattress, and with lubed fingers, I stretch myself and get ready for him. He stares at me, his chest rising and falling with each labored breath. “Goddamn, you’re the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen.”
“Get over here and show me.”
He shucks his clothes and joins me on the bed, my slicked-up hand circling his cock, getting him ready and not wanting to wait another second. When he pushes inside me, hitting that delicious spot, I try my best not to cry out but fail.
“You know one good thing about my house . . . ?” He pulls back and thrusts inside, making my toes curl and my back arch. His big hand covers my mouth. “My room is a little further from Hailey’s. So you can be a little louder, and I can listen to those whimpers as you plead for me instead of having to muffle them.”
My response is muted by his hand, but it’s along the lines of, “Oh, God. Yes.”
We move together, our bodies close to reaching ecstasy with his hand covering my mouth and my hands on his ass, pulling him deeper into me.
I know that everything has happened the way it was supposed to.
* * *
This Christmas Eve looks a little different and somehow even better. Because Rafe is mine, and Hailey is here in the house I bought. But I never thought it would be full of people I love like this.
They moved in the same week Rafe asked me to move in with them. There was no point in waiting. It was a waste for him to pay rent when we were already practically living together. We painted Hailey’s room pink, like she asked for. And I did, in fact, get her a sandbox. Rafe insisted on building a swing set for his princess, and that’s where she spends most of her time.
Now we’re in the living room, with Aunt Jo reading Christmas stories around the massive Christmas tree Hailey picked out, sipping hot cocoa.
Nothing has ever felt so right. Nothing.
I tried to make things fit for so long, forcing myself not to give up and then eventually forcing myself to do just that because those men didn’t love me. They didn’t deserve me.
Rafe?
He deserves everything good he’ll allow me to give him and so much more.
I’ve found my happiness with him and his pint-sized daughter. Aunt Jo hands me a cookie and offers me the sweetest smile. And his amazingly badass aunt insists I call her “Aunt Jo,” as well, because we’re family.
That we are.
Tomorrow, we’re all going over to my mom and dad’s, but tonight we’re having our own little tradition.
“When are you going to move here, Aunt Jo?” Hailey asks as she lays her head on Aunt Jo’s shoulder.
“You know I can’t leave my work, sweetie.”
Hailey pouts, and Jo kisses her forehead. “But we need you.”
“You have me, my sweet girl.” Jo looks at Rafe and me, curled up against each other. “And you have everything else too.”
Hailey thinks about it and then says, “Not a pink playhouse!”
I laugh, and Rafe shakes his head. We’ve been saving together for that pink playhouse for months. And that bastard Santa is going to get all the credit in the morning. “You never know, sweetie.”
She hugs Hailey close, and then Rafe sits up, pulling slightly out of my arms and giving Hailey an expectant look. “I think we should give Nolan his present.”
“Yes!” Hailey jumps up as Jo and I share a look. She doesn’t seem to know what’s going on, but she also has a good poker face.
“Presents tonight?”
Rafe nods, and then leans into my ear, his voice husky when he whispers, “You’ve been a very good boy.”
Yeah, giving me a boner in front of his aunt and daughter, not a great idea. I try to convey that in a look before Hailey brings me a box wrapped in plaid red-and-black paper. “Open it!”
Curiosity has a hold over me as I take the box from her with all three of them watching. I realize that Jo does, in fact, know what’s in the box when I tear the paper carefully and she gives me an encouraging smile.
I take a deep breath and open the lid, all the air leaving my lungs when I see a handwritten note from Hailey.
Wil you mery my dad?
I’m guessing Rafe let her sound it out and didn’t correct her spelling, which makes it all that more heartwarming, all that much better. Because it really came from her and from him.
I turn to look into his eyes. “Is that what you want?”
“I’ve wanted that pretty much from the moment we said ‘I love you.’ I know it’s probably too fast . . .”
“It’s not,” I say quickly before he can talk either of us out of it, even though I don’t think he could. We’re two stubborn bastards in love.
“Of course, I’ll marry you.”
He kisses me while Hailey does a little happy dance, and then I stare at the note again in wonder.
I didn’t see them coming. I wanted love. I’d decided I was going to find it, but in the back of my mind, I didn’t think I ever really would. I thought I was doomed.
I guess they showed me.
2 years later
* * *
“Jacob, please don’t fall on your head,” I say in a calm tone only a parent/teacher can because I’ve seen kids hanging upside down on the bars of a swing set by the ankles many times before.
He gives me a thumbs-up as Hailey giggles and swings, kicking her little legs and flying high.
So yeah . . . Rafe and I got married the following summer after that Christmas Eve he—or rather Hailey—proposed to me. And as soon as we filed papers for our marriage, we finished the adoption of Jacob.
We’d been fostering him since April, when his last foster home fell through, and the kid graciously let us become his parents. It wasn’t hard to fall in love with him as I tried my best to coax a smile from him, here and there. I’d even arranged playdates with Hailey after school at our house. Rafe agreed the kid needed a family he could depend on, which is something Rafe understands more than most.
Jacob smiles a lot more now. He runs and plays with his sister, Hailey, often, but there are quiet moments when I catch him lost in his head, lost in memories of the not so good days. And when that happens, I hold him tighter and let him know how loved he is.
He fits into our little family perfectly.
I look at the scene of our backyard from the deck Rafe added on last summer, and I smile. This life. This life we made together with two beautiful kids and two puppies we finally talked Rafe into—it was three against one, and he had no chance and didn’t even really put up a fight—this life is absolutely perfect.