Kate laughs, shaking her head, and wipes a smear of toothpaste off Evie’s nose with her thumb. “Okay, spit, rinse, pajamas.”
“I can do it myself!” Evie insists—but reaches for Kate’s hand anyway.
Once she’s wrangled into bed, Kate closes Evie’s bedroom door behind her, lingering with her hand on the knob for a second before turning toward me. Her hair is a little mussed from leaning over the sink, there’s a faint smudge of toothpaste on her dress, and she looks so damn beautiful I forget how to breathe for a moment.
“She’s down?” I ask quietly.
“She’s pretending to be,” Kate says. “But I’m sure she’ll be out in five minutes.”
I nod, waiting for her to say whatever she followed me out here for.
She steps closer instead. Close enough that I can feel the warmth from her body. Close enough that her fingers skim the sleeves of my shirt before she seems to realize she’s doing it.
“Tonight was so special,” she says softly. “I love my ring.”
I blink. “Kate…”
Her eyes lift, and there’s no panic there now—none of the guardedness that used to live between us. Just something open. Something tender. Something that feels a hell of a lot like trust.
She leads me to the bedroom. I brush my teeth beside her in the small bathroom, both of us pretending it’s not the most intimate thing in the world. She reaches past me to grab a towel, hershoulder brushing mine, and my heart does something ridiculous in my chest.
We move back into the bedroom, and she moves toward the dresser, fingers brushing the top drawer as she pulls out one of her oversized sleep shirts—faded, soft, the kind of thing she probably wears on the nights she’s too tired to pretend she’s not carrying the world.
Her hands go to the zipper of her dress. Before she can reach it, I’m already stepping in behind her.
“Let me,” I say softly.
She stills, then glances back over her shoulder. There’s a tiny smile there, shy and knowing all at once. “Okay.”
My fingers find the zipper and ease it down slowly. The soft fabric loosens beneath my hand, sliding open inch by inch, exposing warm skin and the gentle line of her back. She shivers—not from being cold, but from me. From this.
When the zipper reaches the bottom, the dress slips off her shoulders and pools silently at her feet. She steps out of it, bare except for her bra and panties, and for a second, all I can do is breathe her in. How natural she looks standing there. How right it feels to be the man who has the privilege to see her like this.
I reach for the clasp of her bra, brushing my thumb along the curve of her spine before unhooking it. The straps fall away, and I lean in, pressing a slow kiss to her shoulder. Her breath catches, and she tilts her head just slightly like she’s letting me in further without even thinking about it.
“Love you, Katie,” I whisper, because her name feels like something holy at this moment.
She slips the shirt over her head—swallowed up in fabric, legs bare, hair messy, cheeks a little flushed. She looks beautiful. Like home.
I cross to my side of the bed, pulling my shirt over my head and tossing it aside. My jeans hit the floor next, leaving me in just my boxers. She watches me with that same small smile, the one that tells me she’s not just seeing me—she’s choosing me.
The bed dips under my weight as I sit, then lay back against the pillows. Kate slips in beside me, turning toward me, her hand finding my chest. She exhales, and settles against me. And I lie there with her tucked into my side, breathing the same quiet air, and decide that if I could freeze any moment in my entire damn life, it might be this one.
Chapter fifty-two
Kate
I barely make it three steps into Kinsey’s apartment before Brynn grabs my hand.
“Oh my God,” she breathes, already dragging me toward the window like natural light might make this moment more official. “Kate.”
Kinsey, already perched on the arm of the couch like she’s been waiting for this exact second, leans forward. “Okay, let me see it on you.”
I lift my left hand, a little shy. The ring catches the light—soft, vintage, warm in a way that still makes my chest ache every time I look at it.
Brynn gasps. “That is…that is perfect. That is a Kate Prescott ring.”
Kinsey nods immediately, satisfaction written all over her face. “Told him. I literally told him that one was it.”
