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“I can’t either.” I wrapped my hands around his wrists and pressed my cheeks into his palms. “I love you too.”

He kissed me, and I poured all of my emotion into it while he did the same. Then he cradled me against his chest, and I never felt safer than I did right then with his arms around me.

“Are you one hundred percent sure you have to be at that meeting for Serena?” I mumbled against his suit coat.

“Unfortunately, yes.” He gave me another quick kiss. “But I’ll try to leave early so we can celebrate properly.”

I wagged my brows. “In bed?”

“Anywhere you want, baby.”

I was considering my options when his phone rang. He glanced at the screen and then showed it to me. Seeing his daughter’s name, I waved him off. “Take it. I’ve got this.”

As he left the kitchen, I heard him murmur, “Good morning, Ellie.”

I finished the last of my breakfast while he was on the phone, the low rumble of his voice in the background. By the time he returned, the dishwasher was running, and I was halfway done with another cup of coffee.

I’d poured what was still in his mug into a travel mug and added the rest of the pot. Then I filled a container with some of the trail mix I made last night. An upgraded version with roasted pecans and cashews in brown butter, rosemary, and cayenne pepper, plus high-quality dark chocolate chunks and dried cherries.

He tucked his phone in his pocket. “That was surprising.”

“A good one, I hope.”

He didn’t talk about her much, but I knew he wanted a closer relationship with her. But from a couple of calls he’d taken from his ex-wife while I was close enough to hear, it sounded like she put up as many roadblocks as she could between him and Ellie.

“It was.” His smile made his blue eyes twinkle. “She’s going to be in town this weekend and wants to have dinner on Saturday night. Her husband will be there too.”

I hugged him. “That’s wonderful.”

“You’re free that night, right?”

“Yeah.” I handed him the tumbler and trail mix. “I’m just doing a meal prep earlier, but I’ll be done around two. Why?”

“I know we’ve only been together a few months, but I’d like to introduce you to Ellie.”

My eyes widened. “Really?”

“It could be a while before the opportunity presents itself again, and I don’t want to wait too long.”

I grinned at him and teased, “So you think we’ll still be together however long that while is?”

“I know we will be.” He reached out to take my hand in his. “I love you, and what we have is good. I’m not going to do anything to fuck this up.”

I couldn’t argue when he put it that way. “Then I guess we have plans for Saturday.”

I met Harrison when I was only twenty-two, so I had never dated a single dad before. I wasn’t sure what to expect from his daughter, and I doubted we would have much in common from the little he had shared about Ellie. But I was determined to make a good impression on her because I’d fallen in love with her father.

15

JULIAN

“He wants ten percent on the back end.”

“Gross?”

I huffed out a breath. “Of course.”

“You and I both know that’s never going to happen.”