It was a blurry selfie of Theo and Amber at a Dave & Buster’s with Jennifer and Lu climbing all over them whileColin Thayerstood in the background, holding what looked like six stuffed animals and wearing a thousand-yard stare, like he’d just woken up there and wasn’t sure why he was holding so many plushies.
Theo: Family bonding time. Colin lost over three hundred bucks trying to win Lu a giant Pikachu. Turnsout what she wanted is something called a Rumi? All good here. Talk later.
I snorted. Honestly, Dave & Buster’s was an odd choice for two men who had more money than the Pope, and I wasn’t quite sure how Theo had roped Colin into it, but the important part was that the girls looked happy and loved.
Lu was grinning so hard, her eyes were nearly shut, and Jennifer’s entire face was alive with a smile of her own. I just hoped they didn’t get sick like the last time they went to a place like that. But if so, I would be prepared to handle it.
Footsteps padded quietly across the hardwood and I looked up to see Adeline emerge from the bathroom. She wore only a towel knotted around her chest, her wet hair falling over one shoulder.
“You’re smiling at your phone,” she observed jokingly. “Who is she?”
“Theo.”
She laughed. “How are they holding up?”
I held the phone out toward her, but instead of taking it, she hopped onto the bed with me and leaned in to look at the screen. “Is thatColin Thayer? Oh my God, he looks miserable.”
“I know. Isn’t it awesome?”
She bumped her shoulder against mine. “I don’t know him well enough to answer that, but since you’re my husband, I’ll take your side.”
“Just like that, huh?” I teased, sending him a quickthanksbefore dropping the phone somewhere on the mattress, but not even checking to see where it’d landed. “Say it again.”
She smiled and wrapped her fingers around the nape of my neck. “You’re my husband, and I feel like you should take advantage of how easy it’s going to be to get me out of this towel tonight. Because on our fake wedding night, you’re going to have to cut me out of that dress.”
“It’ll be my honor. I’ll cut you out of anything you want.”
She rolled her eyes. “You have no idea how much fabric we’re talking about. It’s going to be exhausting.”
“Nah, it’s going to be worth it.” I brushed damp hair back from her face and moved in to kiss her, groaning as soon as my lips brushed hers. “Fuck, I can’t believe you’re my wife. Do you have any idea what that does to me?”
“Ties you down for life?” she teased.
I smirked and kissed her again, each kiss harder than the last. “Yeah, but it also means I get to tieyoudown for life.”
“I’ve never been tied down,” she murmured thoughtfully, moaning when I ran my hand up the length of her bare thigh. “We should try it sometime.”
“We’re going to try everything,” I promised, finally dragging my mouth from hers to press kisses to her jaw, her throat, and her shoulders. “We have the rest of our lives together now, Adeline. It finally happened. It’s just us, and sure, the girls will be back tomorrow, but every night, it’s only going to be you and me. Forever.”
CHAPTER 48
ADELINE
This didn’t seem like an opportune time to remind Zach that the girls wouldn’t always stay in bed after going to sleep there. Besides, I knew what he meant. From now on, once the girls and I moved in here in a couple weeks, he and I would be sleeping next to each other every night for the rest of our lives.
We could lock our door and get lost in each other for hours, or we could leave it open for the girls to come climb in between us when they had bad dreams. We could have family movie nights in bed and all fall asleep together, or he and I could wake up super early and sneak in a quickie before work.
The point was that we’d be together, all of us as a family, under one roof from now until the girls were eventually all grown up and moved out. And even after that, Zach and I would still be together.Thatwas what he was talking about and I loved the sound of it so much that I leaned all the way into him, kissing him harder and more passionately than I’d ever kissed anyone in my life.
Zach responded like he was thinking the same thoughts, which he probably was, and like he was just as happy, as incredulous, and as relieved about it as I was. A lot of things had changed since that first morning when we’d confessedour feelings to each other, but one thing that never had and hopefully never would was that when we were together, it felt like home.
I ran my hands up to his chest, feeling his heart pound under my palm, and then I slid my fingers to the buttons running in a line down the center of his abdomen. Slowly, one at a time, I undid them, thankful that it was Zach groaning into my mouth. Zach who alternated between kissing me like the ship was going down and backing off, like he just needed a moment to calm down. Zach who now wore a wedding band on his left ring finger.
A wedding band that finally made him mine.
I’d honestly never thought this day would come. When I’d committed myself to Louis, no matter how much it’d hurt or how deeply I’d still felt for Zach, I’d genuinely thought this chapter was closed. Now that I knew better, I also knew that I would never take one day, one kiss, or one moment with him for granted.
We’d been to hell and back to get as far as we had, and as I pushed his shirt off his shoulders, I vowed that I would not only make the absolute most of every moment, but also that I would work every day to banish whatever lingering guilt, remorse, or regret might still be living inside him over what had happened before.
