She sniffles. “We also did the Caribbean in summer, for our honeymoon.”
“Two down, huh?”
“And you surprised me and Ellie with tickets toHamilton, so I got to see New York City.”
“Not at Christmas, though,” I remind her.
“Well, no, but I did get to see it.”
“So the Big Apple at Christmas, Yellowstone in the spring. Maybe there’s some other places my wife will want to go, and I can add them to my list.”
Chrissy brushes her hands off on the blanket around her and she straightens up, looking at me seriously. “That’s really all you want out of life? The life we have? Just with more time together?”
My hand comes back to her face once again, thumb trailing the swell of one cheek.
“I mean, all that hot sex you mentioned sounds fucking great, sign me up…”
Her head falls forward as she laughs, but when she meets my gaze again, we’re both uncharacteristically solemn.
“I meant it when I said you gave me everything I wanted in life, baby. I never saw myself being this fucking happy until you came along. These kids of ours? This life we have? It’s more than I dreamed of when we first had this talk. I just want to find a way for you to be happy in it, too.”
My thumb that’s still holding her cheek gets wet, and I haul her over to me, sitting her in my lap. She buries her face in her hands, shoulders shaking, but I wrap my arms around her and place gentle kisses on the cheek that’s facing me until she pulls her hands away and looks at me again.
“I want to be happy, Chance. In so many ways, I am. As a mother? Life is amazing. But as a wife, a woman…” Her voice trails off and she takes in several deep breaths.
“Hey,” I cut in. “It’s a work in progress, okay? We’re going to get there. Together.”
Leaning in, I press my lips to hers, softly, not pushing for anything more than comfort, reassurance. Let her taste the honesty in me. She sighs against my mouth, relaxing, and I decide to show her what she needs to see, rather than try to tell her.
I pull her frame back to mine, so she’s cradled between my legs, her back to my chest, arms wrapped around her torso, with hers resting on top of mine. The perfect position to work on that intimacy she wants us to build on.
“So, these dreams of yours,” I prompt her, holding her tight. “Tell me more about what our life looks like a few years from now.”
Her throaty voice rumbles through her chest and into my body as she opens up to me.
My head is pressed to the side of hers, and I’m in the perfect spot to sneak kisses on her cheek, jaw, her neck and shoulder as she talks. And I don’t know if it’s enough for her, but I’ve never felt more intimate with someone in my life, listening to the love of my life describe her vision of our family, our future successes, and the undying passion between the two of us as if she can will it into existence through her voice alone. I’ll do everything I can to make it come true for her.
THIRTEEN
CHRISSY
The way he looks right now, out of the corner of my eye, over my shoulder…I get a flash of the first time I saw him.
At the front desk at Mitchell Media. His workplace since that very day.
He was applying for a job in sales. I was the very shitty, very temporary receptionist.
When he first walked in, I caught him in my periphery and thought he was Channing Tatum for a hot second, back to his hometown roots in Tampa.
After a quick double take, I noticed all the differences between them; the height was off, Chance’s features were a little more rough-hewn than perfectly chiseled like the magician that is Mike, nose has a little more character, but fuck, he had me from that first glance.
When he puts on a backward hat, he still fools me sometimes, especially if alcohol is involved.
And the way he looks right now? It’s reminding me of why I fell in his web from a single look.
The dangerous glint in his eye that tells me he’s snared something he wants to keep. The thrill running through my low belly that tells me I want the same thing.
The more of these dates we do, the more he proves to me that we still have the intimacy between us that I’ve been missing for so long…the harder it’s getting to keep him out of all of me. I’m worried I won’t last one more date if he keeps this up.
