My shoulders slumped in relief as I hauled her mouth to mine, tasting her salty tears on her lips. She slid off the chair and joined me on the floor, straddling my hips as she whimpered into my mouth.
“I love you,” she murmured. “I’m sorry. All I feel about you makes me do stupid things. Like knock cake batter out of your hand.” She sniffled out a chuckle and roped her arms around my neck. “We’ve known each other our whole lives, but having you like this…” She fidgeted with the collar of my shirt. “I was scared it was all too amazing to be real. I’ve been in love with you for so long, it’s seemed too good to be true that you wanted me back. It’s always been you for me. I love you so much, I think it still makes me crazy.Thatmuch hasn’t changed since we were kids.”
I painted kisses down her jaw. “And I love that you’re crazy over me. I’m just as crazy over you, sugar.”
“Right,” she said, a laugh bubbling out through her tears. “I doubt that.”
“You make me happy on a level I never imagined. And I want to ask you something, even if it seems fast. But at this point, fuck fast.”
“Okay,” she giggled against my lips. “Go ahead.”
“I don’t like spending nights away from you. And when the little guy comes, I won’t want to leave either of you. My apartment is fine. For me. You’ve seen how bare it is, but it was by the bakery and easy. But convenience isn’t worth being away from my family.”
“Do you want to move in with me?” Olivia asked slowly, her brow pulled together.
“Yes, I do. For the same reasons you want to stay here. You have a nice yard, and your mom is here. My mom is usually here too.” We shared a laugh. “And I hate not having you next to me at night or to have to leave earlier to get ready for work. And I know my dad did his best, but I want to do better. I want to be a hands-on father from the beginning. I told you, I’m all in, sugar.”
“Well, if you want…” She gulped, lifting a shoulder as her jaw quivered. “I guess you could live with us.” She grabbed my face and kissed me so hard I fell back on the kitchen floor. “I think I melted a little when you called us your family.”
“That’s what you are.”
It was always her too. And it felt so goddamn good to—finally—stop fighting it.
“Right back at you,” she whispered before we fell into another kiss, igniting with that fire I never had with anyone else along with a lifetime of relief.
All my life, I’d felt incomplete and not good enough. Olivia was the missing piece I’d never realized was there all along.
THIRTY-SIX
OLIVIA
“If you keep doing that, I’ll never want to get up.”
Tyler trailed kisses over the nape of my neck and down my back. Despite my protests, I arched into him for more, greedy as always.
“Good, we can skip today. Not like we have to be there anyway.” He cupped my breast—what he could get into his hand anyway. At seven months pregnant, my body had blossomed everywhere—meaning ballooned to twice its size. None of my shoes fit, and I busted out of every bra I owned. I had to get a whole new wardrobe a couple of weeks ago, and my new clothes were already tight.
“Yes, we do,” I grumbled, turning over on a yawn. “It’s a baby shower, so we’re kind of important guests. And we need stuff, so I think we can suck it up for a day.”
Helen came up with the idea of having more of a party than a shower with both men and women invited, meaning my little family plus Tyler’s asshole cousins. I was big enough to be uncomfortable, but I didn’t mind seeing family today. Tyler still hated seeing most of his, but Donnie and his wife were in town, and my presence still made Alan uncomfortable enough to be fun.
I searched for my nightgown and reached over the bed to grab it off the floor. Sex required a little maneuvering with my big stomach in the way, and my face pressed into the pillow while Tyler pressed into me had recently become my new favorite position. We were delirious on love, but he was still my adorable grump when it came to parties.
“I guess,” he conceded, throwing his legs around the side of the bed and pushing off the mattress. I took a peek at the globes of his perfect ass before making my way into the kitchen. We only had a couple of hours to get ready, and even my fast speed lately was in slow motion.
“I got the keys last night for the new space—I forgot to tell you.”
“Really?” I stilled as I set up the coffee pot. My doctor had always told me I could have one real cup of coffee per day, and now that I was more exhausted than ever, I decided to take her up on it and savor every last drop of the eight ounces of real stuff allowed. “That’s exciting.”
“Seemed like it took forever to get it all finalized. Now to figure out what the hell to do with it. Come with me tomorrow—we can celebrate for a day.”
I shot him a glare as I grabbed the mugs out of the cabinet. “Babe, we talked about this.”
“We did, but you can’t even leave the apartment? I promise I won’t even say happy birthday.”
“The only reason I agreed to have the shower today was that Mom wanted a distraction from my father’s third anniversary. It doesn’t have to make sense to you, it’s how I deal.”
“Am I allowed to stay home, or should I sleep at the bakery?”
