She makes a sleepy sound that might be my name.
Piper moves to my side, gently tugging Ellie’s striped shirt down over her toddler belly. Warmth spreads through my chest at the automatic and innately maternal gesture.
“We should get her to bed,” Piper says softly.
“Yeah.” I look between Riva, Sadie, and Ian. “Thanks for stepping in tonight.”
Sadie waves me off. “That’s what family does.”
Another hit straight to the feels.
The drive home is quiet with Ellie asleep in her car seat. I’m not even sure she realizes she’s doing it, but Piper keeps one hand on my thigh, her thumb making light circles that are both comforting and distracting as hell.
When we pull into the driveway of her little house, she glances toward the front porch light. “Home.”
“Yeah.” I kill the engine and look at her. “Home.”
We get Ellie inside and upstairs without any fuss. She rouses slightly when I lay her in the crib, her eyes cracking open.
“Fee,” she mumbles, reaching for me.
“I’m here, sweetheart.” I lean down to brush a kiss across her forehead. “Sleep tight.”
“Love Fee.”
Oh, shit. The words take me apart in an instant. My heart stumbles, my throat tightening until it’s almost impossible to speak. “Love you too, Ellie Bean.”
She’s out again before I finish tucking the blanket around her. I stand there for a minute, watching her breathe and wondering how the hell I thought I could let this kid go. There’s no way I can hand her over to Julie’s aunt or anyone else when every cell in my body is screaming that she’s mine.
I slip out of the room, pulling the door mostly closed behind me. My brain short-circuits for a second when I find Piper waiting for me in the hallway. Having shed the jacket and her heels, she’s standing there in just that flowing dress with her hair still pinned up but coming loose around her face.
“Did she go down okay?” Piper asks.
“Out like a light.” I take a step toward her. “You tired?”
“Not really.” She reaches out and takes my hand. “Come with me.”
She leads me down the hall to her bedroom, with its white iron bed frame and fairy lights left over from the girl she once was strung along the headboard. There’s a stack of books on the nightstand and a framed photo of Max on the dresser.
Piper closes the door behind us and leans against it. “I want to say thank you.”
“You already thanked me.”
“Properly.” She moves closer, her hands sliding up my chest toloop around my neck. “I didn’t realize how much I needed someone in my corner today until you showed up and?—”
I kiss her before she can finish. Not because I want to stop her from talking, but because I can’t wait another second to taste her. She makes a surprised sound against my mouth, then presses her body flush against mine.
We’re both breathing hard when we break apart.
“Are you sure?” I whisper. “You don’t have to?—”
“Shush, you.” Her smile is wicked and sweet at the same time. “Stop overthinking and kiss me again.”
So I do.
This time, there’s no hesitation. My hands find the zipper at the back of her dress while she works at the buttons of my shirt. Fabric pools at our feet, and then her hands are on my skin, tracing the lines of muscle, her fingertips flicking over my nipples.
“You’re beautiful,” she murmurs. It sounds strange applied to me, but I’ll take the compliment coming from her. I’ll take anything she’s willing to give.
