Maddy tilts her head to the side in thought. “I don’t want to keep it from your kids. They’re too important to you for that.”
I hear what she doesn’t say.They’re too important tomefor that. And the picture it paints? Me, her, my kids, this house. Together. It feels so real, like I can reach out and touch it, and I want it more than I’ve wanted anything in a long, long time. “I can’t guarantee they won’t tell anyone.”
Maddy shakes her head. “I would never ask that of them. I’m not worried this is going to end up on ESPN because Ethan told a school friend how his dad has a girlfriend. And if Riley tells Zoe?” Maddy shrugs. “I honestly would be shocked if Liv hasn’t told Brian already to soften the ground for when this eventually is public, but if he does know, he’ll wait for me to come to him. He’s good like that. Maybe we can use this as kind of a…soft launch? Eventually once the season is over, we’ll have to figure out how to tell everyone, so maybe we can just start here, with your most important people.”
I have words. So, so many words. But right now, I can’t say any of them. So instead, I lower my mouth to hers. When I glide my tongue along her lower lip, she lets out a breathy sigh and presses closer, opening for me to sweep my tongue inside. She tastes like rain and happiness and everything I never thought I would have again. When I tip her head back to take the kiss deeper, she moans against my lips and my entire world rights itself because this. Her. This is what I’ve been waiting for. She is my happiest ending.
“Shit,” I mutter against her lips, realizing I’m about two seconds from lifting her up and carrying her straight to my bedroom, locking the door behind us.
“Yeah,” she says, a little breathlessly. “Something, something waffles?”
Laughing, I press my lips to hers one more time, becausethere is time for everything else. She’s here, and that’s enough for now. “Come on, Wildcat. Let me make you breakfast.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
MADDY
“Victory!” I throw my hands up in the air and stick my tongue out at Cam, who is sitting across from me in the epic blanket fort Riley and I built in the living room.
“Go ahead and gloat,” he says with a laugh. “You earned it, Wildcat.”
“You definitely earned it,” Riley says with a definitive nod. “I’ve never had a better waffle in my entire life.”
“I like that you did the Reese’s Cups and M&M’s in a pattern, so you get both in every bite. How did you even think of that?” Ethan takes another huge bite of the waffle I constructed and grins at me through a mouthful of candy and whipped cream.
I laugh, wondering if I’ve ever had this much fun. Neither of Cam’s kids blinked when I walked into their kitchen. Ethan let out a loud whoop, and Riley gave me herMama Miascript and asked me to run lines with her. Then Cam handed me an iced coffee exactly the way I like it and took his place behind the giant kitchen island to mix waffle batter.
With a whisk in hand, wearing gray joggers and a blackRenegades sweatshirt, dishtowel slung over his shoulder, and that messy hair falling over his forehead, I had to physically restrain myself from mauling him. I’ve never seen Cam in full domestic mode, and now that I have, consider my brain chemistry permanently altered.
Cam in dad mode is hot. Cam being a dad while simultaneously handling the waffle iron like a pro, making the perfect cup of coffee, tossing me a wink as he puts a Celine Dion playlist on the kitchen speakers, and scattering lit candles around the living room to chase the rainy day gloom away from our little blanket fort picnic is melt your underwear off levels of scorching.
And when the waffles were finished and Cam pulled out ten different bags of candy and so many toppings the counter practically groaned under their weight, declaring that we were having a waffle making competition?
Fuck me.
This whole current situation belongs in the Louvre.
“It’s a gift,” I say breezily, leaning back against a mound of pillows and contemplating another bite of the peanut butter chip/Oreo crumble/caramel sauce situation that was Cam’s brainchild. “I take junk food really, really seriously.”
Cam grins at me, his face flushed from standing over the waffle iron for so long and his eyes sparkling with happiness and fun. And when he nudges my knee with one outstretched foot, my stomach does a little shimmer and swoop.
“You sure do.” Lisa gives my various waffles an approving glance. “And the blanket fort was inspired.”
I look around the blanket fort and smile. “Wright family tradition. When I met my parents, one of the first things we all did together was build a blanket fort in the living room and eat tacos in it. My dad knew it was something my mom used to do with her own parents, so he recreated it for her, and then the tradition stuck.” I glance at Cam, locking eyes with him when I say this next thing. “It’s what we do when one of us needs a little extra comfort.”
His face goes soft, his eyes so intense that butterflies swarm my stomach at the same time as a deep satisfaction settles over me at being able to share my own family tradition with this little family that has come to mean so much to me. Cam opens his mouth to say something before he’s interrupted by Ethan.
“Why’d you have to meet your parents?” He sounds so confused that I almost laugh, and I glance at Cam, wondering if it’s okay to share my story with his kids. When he smiles and nods, I turn back to Ethan.
“I was adopted,” I tell him. “My biological mom died when I was very little, and then my biological dad couldn’t take care of me, so I came to live with my parents. I’m pretty lucky because they’re the best.”
“Our mom died when Riley and me were little too,” Ethan says matter-of-factly. “But we’re also pretty lucky because our dad is also the best.” He slides his gaze to Cam. “Even if he won’t let me have a phone forthree more years.”
And with that, what could be a melancholy moment turns into the exact opposite, as we all burst out laughing.
“I get my love of junk food from my mom. She’s been addicted to M&M’s for my entire life, so she’s the one who taught me to take candy very, very seriously.”
“Everyone should take candy seriously,” Lisa says, abandoning her waffle and eating Reese’s Pieces straight from the bag. “I’m so glad Cam didn’t turn into one of those athletes that eats all clean and stuff, whatever that means. I never could have handled it.”
