“Are you okay?”
“Yes. I just…” I stop walking. We’re almost in the center of the land now anyway. “This property is for sale?”
"Yeah, and I want to buy it." Tate puts the lantern and basket down, opens the basket, and pulls out a blanket. "But I wanted you to check it out first. Make sure you like it."
“Me? Tate… I mean… I would like anywhere you choose to live.”
“Enough to live here with us?” Tate asks, his voice getting soft with vulnerability. “Dylan and me? I know that you’re with us now, in the apartment above the barn but it’s less than ideal. I’m going to build a place here over the season. My own home. Our own home.”
God, we are so complicated. "As the nanny?"
“No nanny in the off-season remember?”
Right. We made that agreement when we came back to Silver Bay. His entire family is taking turns helping us out when we need time away from Dylan, but now we're basically co-parenting. He's not paying me anymore. He asked me to stay with him as his girlfriend, instead of getting my own place in Silver Bay and I agreed. But we haven't talked much about the future. I wasn't even sure if I would be moving back to L.A. with him. I assumed but hearing him say it would be nice.
“Mal?” he prods and I blink. When I can’t figure out what to say he lowers himself to the blanket and pulls me down too. I sit cross-legged shoulder to shoulder with him and stare at the view again. “So here’s what I’m thinking. I’m firing you.”
“Excuse me?” I turn to stare. He smiles at me.
"I'm going to hire a nanny in Los Angeles," he turns the other way and digs something out of the picnic basket. He drops a pamphlet onto my knee. "So you can go back to school. You said you wanted to get your master's in childhood education. Long Beach offers that."
“I know. I’m the one that told you.”
“So you go back to school. I’ll do the hockey superstar thing.” I laugh at his fake egotism. He pulls me to him gently and presses a kiss on my lips that’s light and sweet. “And everything else stays the same. You live with us. You’re my girlfriend. We co-parent Dyllie Bear. Same as now.”
“So you still want me.” I shouldn’t sound stunned and I shouldn’t say it out loud. It isn’t fair. Tate’s never given me any reason to doubt his commitment to me since that stupid tabloid drama.
"Baby girl, I not only want you, I need you," Tate whispers and kisses my neck softly. But then he pulls back and lets out a heavy sigh. "Your dad talked to me tonight. When you left the table to go to the restroom."
Oh shit. “What did he say?”
“That it was convenient of me to pay my girlfriend to raise my kid.”
“I’m going to murder him!” I hiss. “I love Dylan. I want to be in his life. I would do it without money.”
“And you love me too?”
“I love you too,” I confirm.
"So be my partner," Tate whispers. "And nothing more."
“Okay.” I feel a jolt of excitement at going back to school. He pulls me to him, cupping the back of my neck and pulling us down to lay on the blanket.
His fingers curl under the hem of my panties. “I was thinking… there’s one thing I want to eat out of the Cup more than ice cream.”
I think about tomorrow. His day with the Cup and all the fun activities lined up with his family and our friends. “Cereal? Strawberry shortcake? Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles?”
"You…" he breathes as his thumb makes contact with my clit. "You wanna get naked and put that sweet ass of yours in the Cup and spread those legs and let me lick you until you scream?”
“Oh my God,” I shudder out a breath, my head tipping back into the scratchy blanket as his fingers slip into me. “We could never. I mean… that sounds so hot but… you know we can’t.”
"Then let me have you here," he begs. Tate begging is next-level hot. The Golden Boy begging for me. "Show your pussy to the stars and let me fuck you with my tongue on the land where we'll grow old. Raise Dylan and probably more perfect babies."
I’m turned on by his hand and melting inside at his words. He’s got my panties down to my ankles so I slip one foot out of them and spread my legs as I lift my dress. The humid air swirls around my exposed flesh, but only for a second before his tongue claims the space. I tangle my fingers in his silky hair and tug him back so he looks up at me, impatiently. “Only if you let me ride you after.”
“Right here?” Tate grins and it’s feral. “Under the stars and the moon and the universe.”
“Yes. On our land,” I pant as his tongue goes back to dance across my pussy. “Where we’ll grow old together.”
