“Thanks,” I accepted, taking a sip, surprise and caffeine flooding me. “Kellie…”
“What’s up?” she asked, trying to stay cool, calm, and collected.
“You remembered.”
“Remembered?”
“How I take my coffee,” I confirmed, and Kellie just shrugged it off like it was nothing, but it wasn’t nothing.
“Have fun on the slide?” Kellie redirected.
“Cassie did.”
“She always does.”
“Does she make you go down?”
“She tried to. I learned how to say no, though.”
“Wait! You’re telling me that’s possible?” I chuckled, wrapping my arm around Kellie’s shoulders as we walked together back toward the playground.
“I saw you made some friends,” Kellie tossed out like it didn’t bother her. But the thing Kellie was forgetting was I knew her. I knew her back then, and I knew her now. We might not be together, and we might have a lot to sort through, but I knew her. Green didn’t suit her, but it made my heart pound. If Kellie was jealous, then maybe it wasn’t as far back to us as I thought.
Stopping, I spun her toward me and captured her chin between my fingers, wishing I could see her eyes and hating her sunglasses.
“You need to hear what I’m saying because I don’t want any misunderstandings, okay,” I declared, watching as she swallowed deeply.
“Okay.”
“A million women can come up to me. They can wear tight shirts and offer themselves up on a silver platter, but there’s only two that I care about.”
“Two?” Kellie squeaked.
“You and Cassie. You’re my world. I know we have a lot we need to figure out, but you should know, Marshmallow, I’m not going to rest until we’re a family.”
“A family?”
“A family. A real one. One that lives under the same roof and has the same last name,” I confirmed, not leaving anything off the table. Kellie deserved to know where I stood. All I could hope was I didn’t scare her off.
She reached up and slid her glasses off her eyes, settling them on the top of her head. When she blinked and looked up at me, I saw the overflowing emotions there.
I couldn’t stop myself.
I leaned forward and captured her lips with a kiss. It wasn’t fast and frenzied like so many we shared. This one was slow, measured, and filled with emotion.
When Kellie pulled back, panic flickered through me until I saw the way Kellie’s fingers pressed to her swollen lips. “We’re in public, Jake,” she reminded me.
“Oh.”
“Let’s go get our girl,” she suggested, and I’d never had a better offer.
Wrapping my arm back around her, I puffed my chest out when Kellie’s wound around my waist, hugging me to her. Up ahead, I saw the redhead eyeing us curiously, but I didn’t give a fuck. I had everything I needed right here.
“Hey, Marshmallow.”
“I can’t believe you still call me that,” Kellie chuckled, shaking her head.
“I’ll always call you that. You’re my Marshmallow. Until…”
