The groan he made was perfect. I loved the way his lips parted as the pleasure took over. His hands crushed my hips, and I knew he'd leave bruises, but I didn't fucking care. This was everything. For these few seconds, I could feel it. True, unrestricted love. Us. Perfection. I didn't even know the right words, but I could feel it wrapping around my heart.
And then he pulled me against his chest and hugged me close. We didn't need to talk. There were no more words to be said. Pressed against him, we both breathed in time, struggling to recover from that, and I never wanted to let him go. I needed him right here, slowly growing soft inside me.
"I hate that I can't fall asleep beside you," he finally whispered.
I released his neck and leaned back to trace the line of his cheek. "Me too, but it'll be worth it. Sometimes, to get what we want, we can't rush things."
The softest look took over his face. "You know I became a psychiatrist because of you, right?" He eased himself out of my body, then bent to pull up his pants and underwear. "Because you kept saying things like that, and it made me feel like maybe I wasn't worthless."
"You aren't worthless," I assured him.
"Nope, but I used to think I was. Then the most beautiful woman in the world noticed me, and now? Yeah, I just made love to her." He buttoned his pants then began picking up my clothes. "Fuck Kindle. He never stood a chance. Just one of you would've been enough to make me the happiest man in the world. That I can have it all? I fucking feel like the king of the world."
"My king," I told him.
He passed me my clothes. "Guess that means you're my queen then, huh?"
"Mhm," I agreed, "and Luke thinks this is a fairytale."
He stole a quick kiss. "Yeah, kinda is."
Chapter Forty-Six
The day of Faith's appointment with the psychiatrist crept up faster than I expected. Saturday morning, I woke my kid up and told her to get ready. She grumbled something about it being the weekend, but once she was sitting up, I knew she wouldn't fall back asleep. So, while I waited for her to get dressed, I headed downstairs.
Cy was in the kitchen brewing coffee. He had two large cups, and one of them was green - which meant for me. When I got close enough, I clasped his shoulders in my half-awake version of a thank you. The guy just looked over at me and smiled.
"Want some company for this?"
"You're going to ride all the way into town with us and then sit for at least an hour?" I scoffed at that. "I mean, sure, if you really want to, but I don't expect it."
"I wanna meet this guy," he admitted. "I would've preferred to find her a woman, but most of that list were men, and the women were all booked up. So, yeah, I want to make sure he's not some idiot."
"Works for me," I agreed.
So, when Faith finally came trouncing down the stairs - because my daughter did not know how to do anything subtly - the three of us headed to the truck together. The whole drive there, Faith talked to Cy about all the things she should bring up with her new psychiatrist. He kept turning her back to her relationship with both of her parents, but she was more interested in her bullies, and how much it sucked.
I honestly wasn't worried about what she was going to say. That didn't mean I wasn't nervous. There was something about being judged like this that made me second-guess myself. I knew Meredith's attorney was going to be searching for any reason he could find to take custody away from me. Unfortunately, there were plenty.
From the fight my kid had gotten into just last week to the relationships that made me so happy, a dozen innocent things could ruin all of this. For a split second, I debated calling it off with Ash and Cy to make the lie into a truth, but I knew that would never work. Violet wouldn't do the same, and so long as she was sleeping with all of us, the problem was still the same.
And I just didn't want to. Seeing Cy beside me, twisted in his seat to talk to my little girl? Yeah, that made my heart puff up in the best way. My man and my kid. It felt pretty good, even if I couldn't publicly admit it. It would be even better when I could.
When we finally reached the office, it was a little place, just a waiting area, an administrative room, and a second room where this shrink talked to his clients, basically. Yet before I could say anything, Cy walked up to the receptionist as if he owned the place. Faith and I followed behind him.
"Dr. Marshall to see Dr. Conway," he said. "I'm here with Faith Barrett who should have an appointment."
"Just a moment," the young lady said, pushing back her chair. "If you can fill out these papers..." She passed over a clipboard. "I'll go get the doctor."
Cy passed the clipboard and pen to me. I took one of the many open seats, pointed for Faith to sit beside me, and then began filling them out. Cy just waited at the desk, looking nothing at all like the stereotypical doctor. Not a mental one or a physical one. He looked more like some biker, in all honesty, except that his hair and beard were a lot less wild. Feeling a smile trying to take over my face, I dropped my eyes back to the page.
It was all the basic stuff. Contact information, medical history, mental illnesses, and any specific issues we would need to deal with. I wrote in there that it was for contested custody. Figured that sounded better than a custody battle. I was just signing the parental authorization when an older man stepped out of the second room and smiled at Cy.
"Dr. Marshall?" he asked. "I'm Dr. Conway."
"Cy," he told the man.
Dr. Conway nodded once. "James. What can I do for you?"
