He grabs my hand, yanking me back into his arms, then kisses me passionately. When he ends the kiss, I’m breathless. “I love you more than life itself, baby. I can’t go one more night without you in my bed. In our bed. In the home that I built for you, because I remember every detail you ever told me about what kind of home you’d want. Those two matching rocking chairs on the front porch? Yeah, I got those so we can sit together and watch the sunrise. Please. Move in with me.”
“You built that house for me?” I whisper, fresh tears filling my eyes.
“I did,” he answers tenderly. “I surrounded myself with every memory of you.”
“I love you so much,” I breathe. “No one will ever love you like I do.”
“I know,” he replies with a smile. “You’re my home, Ladybug. I love you, too.”
We kiss, a soft and tender kiss full of longing, and I feel like my heart is singing. This is where I’ve always been meant to be.
“Oh,” Leo says, pulling away from me slightly. “It’s also worth mentioning that I’ve ordered more mirrors for our bedroom, so we can watch as I rail you from every direction.”
Good God. I squeeze my thighs together, even as my heart skips a beat at his words. “Okay, IguessI’ll move in with you, but it’s mostly for the mirrors.”
He lets out a loud chuckle. “That’s the spirit.”
By dinnertime, we’re officially moved into Leo’s home. I should have known it wouldn’t be only Alex that showed up to pack things. Eight members of the Santo family packed up my entire apartment in less than two hours, delivering everything to Leo’s soon thereafter. We’ll have to go back to decide what we want to do with the furniture, but all of our things are safely inside Leo’s.
We passed Jeremy on one of the last trips down to the street, and Leo waved cheerfully at him. “Guess who got the last laugh? Gonna go fuck my woman at our house now. Bye, Jimmy!”
“His name is Jeremy,” I say, laughing as Leo pulls me outside.
“No one fucking cares what his name is, Ladybug,” he says huskily, dipping me into a kiss. “He doesn’t matter. No one matters but you, me, and the kids.”
Back at the house, after picking up nine large pizzas from a local pizza place, I watch as Leo’s family sits around his living room, inhaling pizza and joking with each other. What a wonderful group to be part of. I know if Ember were here, once she got over her initial thoughts, she’d be right in the mix, taking digs at the older Santo brothers, and sharing parenting tips with Leo’s sisters. I miss my sister so much. I miss the inside jokes I had with her, how she made me feel, and how much she loved her babies. While I’m not close with my brother at all, I know he’s created his own family among a large group of friends in Denver, and I’m happy for him. But this? I need this. Being part of the Santo family is exactly what my soul needs.
“You good, baby?” Leo asks quietly, putting an arm around my stomach, and pulling me into his body.
“Yeah,” I reply simply. “Just watching your family.”
“Our family.”
I smile, loving that Leo knew exactly what I was thinking. “Our family.”
“Come outside for a sec?” he asks, and I nod. He grabs my hand, walking quickly out his back door and into the yard. His surprise for Oliver was a large wooden swing set, on which Oliver played for two straight hours while we unpacked, then collapsed in complete exhaustion across Luca and Hannah’s laps. Violet seems to have fallen in love with Dominic, being completely unwilling to leave his arms all evening, leaving me child-free for a few hours.
“I know Oliver loved his surprise, but I also have a surprise for you,” Leo says, his voice low and tentative. He grabs both of my hands, walking backward until we’re in the middle of the yard. It’s the twilight hour, when the sun is behind the mountain peaks, leaving the beautiful silhouette of the mountains to the west, and a smattering of stars already glow in the sky. “Do you know the first time I realized I loved you?”
“Not exactly, no.”
He smiles warmly. “It was in Mrs. Wickman’s biology class, our junior year of high school.”
My mouth drops open. “What? Why?”
“Most of the girls in that class were grossed out by everything, but especially when we had to dissect things. But not you. When other girls were shrieking and crying about the poor life of the worm or frog, you snatched the scalpel right out of my hand and attacked the thing with gusto. It was absolutely mesmerizing,” he boasts.
My face screws up in a grimace. “Why? I hated doing that stuff.”
“I know you did. I’m pretty sure you told me multiple times how much you hated doing it, especially the worm one, because you are not wriggly critter friendly in any way.” He chuckles when I nod emphatically. “It was the drive. You were determined. You hated it, but you persevered. I fell in love with you right then. I knew that, if I had you as my partner, I could achieve anything, and be happier than I could be with anyone else. I knew you’d push me to try my best, but love me through my worst, because that’s the kind of woman you are. Every accomplishment I’ve ever made has been because I knew you had my back.”
Tears block my vision as I give a watery giggle. “I’ve always felt the same way about you. You pushed me out of my comfort zone a lot, but I knew you’d catch me if I fell. And for the record, I’m pretty sure I fell in love with you that same year, when you made me stop my dad’s car so you could go rescue the tortoise that was in the middle of the road.”
He laughs heartily. “I forgot about that! At one point, I did actually like animals.”
A movement out of the corner of my eye catches my attention, and I turn to find the town marmot, Mason, hanging out on the top of the swing set. “I don’t think I’m that surprised he’s already up there.”
Leo looks up, swearing. “That fucker has Luca’s hat!”
