“Cole,” I breathe, sliding my hands up his chest and wrapping them around his neck. “How was I lucky enough to find you?”
“I’m the lucky one, baby. And them,” he says, looking down at the two excited sets of eyes that are staring up at us.
“Are they really ours?” I ask, my brain still trying to process all of this.
“If you want them.”
“Are you kidding? Of course I do. I love them so much. And I—” I swallow the following words that want to erupt. “I can’t wait to take them home.”
“Home,” Cole muses. “You do know that you’re moving in, too, right?”
A nervous laugh bursts out of me.
“I’m serious. I hate it when you leave. It’s only a home when you’re there.”
I try to blink back my tears, but it’s impossible.
“Are you being serious?”
“Of course I am. I told you before, I want you in my life, Freya. In my life, my apartment, my bed. I want it all with you.”
“It’s so fast and?—”
“Is that a no?” he asks, cutting me off, probably predicting that I’m about to word vomit all over him.
“What? No. It’s not a no,” I argue.
“So it’s a yes?” he asks, hope shining bright in his eyes.
“Hmm,” I tease, turning to the two boys beside us. “What do you think, boys? Should we all make Cole’s apartment our home?”
As if they know what I’m saying, both Buddy and Charlie start barking, and Cole and I fall about laughing.
“Sounded like a yes to me,” Cole jokes.
“Yes,” I cry before jumping into his arms. “Yes, yes, yes.”
My lips find his, and I kiss him as if it’s our first and last, all rolled into one.
“Whoa, and in front of all these innocent eyes,” Lilah jokes as she joins us.
“She said yes,” Cole announces once we’ve separated.
“Was there ever any concern she wouldn’t?” Lilah deadpans.
“When my boys are all this beautiful, how could I not?” I say, cupping Cole’s cheeks and talking directly to him. My heart pounds rapidly in my chest as everything I feel for him slams into me.
He drops his head, pressing his forehead against mine. His eyes hold mine as the words we’re not saying and the promises we’re making each other pass between us. Maybe one day soon, we’ll be able to say them. But for now, this is everything.
“I’ve just got the final two pieces of paperwork for you to sign, and then you’re good to go,” Lilah says, breaking our moment.
I stand back and allow them to do what they need to do, my eyes darting between my man and my boys.
When I took this job while standing in Casey’s kitchen all those weeks ago, I never could have imagined this.
I thought the job itself was the dream. I had no idea it would open up a life that I never thought even existed for me.
The next few minutes are a whirlwind of excitement as we let the boys out and get them on their leashes.
