I brush my thumb against it, stopping her because it’s turning me on too much. “Fuck no. You’re remarkable,” I tell her.Her cheeks burn hotter.“Please tell me you packed a bag for tonight.”
Her eyes widen. “Um … why would I do that?”
“Because you’re not leaving. You promised my boy breakfast, and we’re going shopping after. The three of us.”
“Wyatt, I can’t stay while Caleb’s here. What would he think?”
“He’ll think you’re a permanent fixture in our lives,” I say simply. “He’ll be right, too, because you are. Argue all you want, but this past week has been … completely perfect. Neither of us wants to let this go.”
“Wyatt—”
“Admit it,” I murmur. “You want what we’re building just as much as I do, Gwen.” She opens her mouth—but nothing comes out. I stare at her, silently daring her to lie to me.
She can’t deny it. Finally, she whispers, “Fine. I do. I love what’s happening between us. But you have to protect your son. What if he gets used to me? What if things don’t work out? I don’t want to hurt him.”
“Gwen … sweetheart.” I cup her face. “You really think I’d open my son up to this if I wasn’t a hundred percent sure of what I want?”
“Time changes things,” she whispers. “Just because you want it now doesn’t mean you will a month from now—or heck, even next week.”
That’s enough. I don’t want to hear her doubts anymore. Whoever worked Gwen over in her past almost completely obliterated her self-confidence. I pull her down and kiss her—hard and deep. I take control and refuse to let her spiral into doubt. I kiss her until she melts, until her breath stutters, her body softens, and her hands fist in my shirt like she needs me to live. When I finally break the kiss, I rest my forehead against hers.
“This thing between us isn’t going away, honey. You and I will not end until the day they put me in the ground, and eventhen, I’ll be waiting for you in whatever comes next. I don’t want you to tell me how this is going to end. It hurts to hear that you don’t believe in us.”
“Wyatt …” she breathes.
“It’s like a knife to the heart, Gwen.”
She closes her eyes. “I haven’t had good luck with men. This is all so fast, and it’s so intense. It makes it kind of hard to believe in it because I want it so badly. You know?”
I run my thumb along her cheek. “Relax. Give me time to prove it. I will. You’re everything to me. Understand?”
She nods softly. “I understand.”
“Good.” I smile. “Now give me those lips again?—”
“Daddy! I’m in bed with Buddy! I need my story! Can you tell Gwen?”
Gwen giggles. Looking down at me with sparkling eyes.
I groan. “Cock-blocked by my five-year-old.”
She laughs, sliding off my lap. I help her stand, and she bends to kiss my cheek.
“I’ll be back,” she whispers.
“I’m counting on it.”
Then I watch her walk down the hall, feeling like I’m sitting on top of the damn world. With Gwen by my side?
Nothing can stop me.
Cookies With A Side of Tears
GWEN
Buddy sits in a chair beside Caleb like he’s the official cookie-decorating supervisor, paws perched on the edge, head tilted, eyes following every move we make. Caleb and Wyatt are shoulder-to-shoulder at the island, both of them laughing so hard that more icing is going on the island than the cookies. Caleb holds up his cookie proudly.
A very … white Grinch.
