Page 92 of Bobby

“Okay.”

“Okay?”

I lick my lips and nod. “I wouldn’t let you let us get away anyway. You’re kind of stuck with us.”

He wraps his arms around me, pulling me even closer as a smile spreads across his face.

“Is that so?”

“Yes.”

“Promise?” he whispers as his lips brush mine.

I nod slowly, barely moving my face, but he sees it as he keeps his eyes locked with mine. “I love you.”

His lips seal to mine in a passion-filled kiss but pull off before I can enjoy it.

“About damn time. I fell in love with you the second you told me to wait that first day.”

I bite my lower lip as I glance at his lush lips before looking back at his eyes. “Was it because no one has ever made you wait before, or because you like it when I tell you what to do?”

He smiles at my humor before it slips from his mouth. “Definitely the second.”

His mouth finds mine once more, and I wrap my arms tight around his neck and don’t let him pull away this time. From the tight grip he has on me, I don’t think he plans to let go either.

Which is fine with me. Right now, I need him in my arms, the laughter of my girls in my ear, and the vibration of the plane taking off to make me feel the best I’ve felt on a day that I thought would never make me happy to remember again.

Chapter 32—Bobby

I groan at the ringing from my phone, willing it to turn off on its own so I don’t have to move or wake up any more than I have to.

“Make it stop,” Willow mumbles into my chest and snuggles closer. My arms instinctively wrap her tighter in my hold.

After we got back last night, we had a small dinner with Payton and my family, got the girls to bed, and then we went to sleep too. Neither of us had slept at all over the last two days, and we needed the rest.

And since Willow was here to be close to the girls, I wasn’t about to be anywhere else.

I need to hold her. I need to be in her circle. It’s beyond want. I have to wake up knowing they’re safe. That all of them are.

I have money. Power. Resources most men spend their entire lives chasing. And it still wasn’t enough.

The fire. Lily’s teacher. Trevor.

Reminders that no amount of planning or money can protect the people I love from everything. That’s the part that sits heavy in my chest. That demands I stay close. Not what happened, but what could happen again.

If I let it. Which I won’t.

She didn’t even bat an eye when we tucked the girls in, and then I took her hand and led her to bed. We crawled under the covers in our clothes and fell into the same embrace we’re waking up to now.

The ringing stops, and we both sigh contently. For half a second.

“Ahhh,” she groans, and I look down at the pout on her face, making me chuckle. I lean down just enough to kiss her stuck-out lip, then roll over and grab my phone off the nightstand to answer the call.

“Yes, Mama.”

“Roberto. Are you still asleep? It’s after nine. You should be on the road already.”

“Mama, it’s been a long few days. I think we need to rest.”