27. SIN
Ilooked around the spare room, eying up all the boxes that housed shit I’d collected over the years and, rather than feel horror at the prospect of emptying them, I kind of felt excited.
Yeah, surreal.
But this?
It was going to be the baby’s room.
Fuck, there was gonna be a kid in here in the future. Seven months were nothing, they’d pass in the blink of an eye, and soon, there’d be a mini Tiff or a mini Padraig roaming around.
The thought fucked with my head, even as it made me happy. It was a good kind of fucked up, which I knew didn’t make that much sense.
It was weird how the world was still spinning, but inside this house, I was happy in my world. With my world. A place that Tiffany was now a part of.
I’d known we gelled before my exile, but getting back here only confirmed it. We slipped seamlessly into each other’s lives, moving around one another like things were choreographed. She was the easiest ‘roommate’ I’d ever lived with. Even if she was messy where makeup was concerned.
I leaned against the doorjamb, trying to visualize where the furniture would go. I didn’t know much about babies, but I knew they needed a shit ton of stuff. Back when Cyan, Storm’s kid, was born, he’d yet to be promoted to VP, and he’d complained about how expensive shit was.
Money wasn’t a problem, but I knew we’d need to go shopping. The prospect of which didn’t exactly fill me with fucking glee.
I rubbed my chin as I thought about the details, then I felt her slip up against me, sliding her arms around my waist as she asked, “Whatcha thinking?”
Her breath made my back heat up where she’d pushed her face against me, and it felt fucking good. I loved that she wasn’t nervous about holding me. About coming to me.
Some days, I felt like we’d been born this way.
There’d been none of the shit I’d seen my brothers go through with their women. No stupid arguments, no crazy ‘play hard to get.’ We’d just clicked. Straight from the start.
I’d say it was fate or some shit like that, but I wasn’t sure a fucker like me deserved that. I was a sinner, born and bred. I’d done shit that meant I didn’t deserve a woman like Tiff at my back, but she’d found me, and it wasn’t like she’d let me go.
“Why did you think we were over when I was in Ohio?” I inquired softly.
“That’s what you’re thinking about?”
“No, but it just came to me.”
She sighed. “Most men don’t do long distance well.” Her shrug had her tits digging into my back—definitely wasn’t going to complain about that. “That’s without the clubwhores and stuff you guys have on tap. I just never imagined you’d?—”
“I’d what? Wait for you?”
“Yeah.”
“We need to work on your self-esteem.”
She fell silent. “Huh?”
“We need to work on your self-esteem,” I repeated, “because it says a lot about you that you don’t think you’re worth waiting for, angel.”
She didn’t reply, and I didn’t say a word either. I wanted that to sink home. Then, of course, I felt the wetness on my shirt, and I knew she was crying. When I went to turn around, she didn’t let me. She squeezed my waist tighter, pressed into me deeper, and whispered, “I love you.”
“I know you do.” I sucked down a breath, preparing myself to say it for the first time, only, when I did? It came out easy. None of the discomfort I’d expected as I told her, “I love you too.”
Fuck, see? This was how we worked. Sliding against each other, rippling around one another.
Was this what it felt like when you’d found a soulmate?
It had never been this easy with my ex-wife. Ever.
“I missed you.”
“Missed you too.”
“When you were gone, the world was going to shit, but you were still there. I kept expecting you not to answer the phone when I called. Every day, when you did, it filled me with hope. I didn’t want to lose you, and I thought I had.”
“You didn’t. I’m going nowhere. What we have, Tiff, you have to see it’s special.”
She cleared her throat. “I just didn’t know if you knew that.”
“I’m not an idiot,” I grumbled gruffly.
“Never thought you were. Just thought you were a man.”
I snorted. “I’d make you pay for that, but then I have a few brothers who are dicks, so I get it.”
She squeezed my waist. “You gonna tell me what you were thinking about before I turn into more of a cry-baby?”
“Just where we should put a crib and shit in here.” When I felt more tears leak into my shirt, I muttered, “Tiff?”
She whispered, “Just ignore me.”
Confused, I grabbed one of her hands and gently slipped my fingers through hers. “You okay?”
“Yeah, I think I just fell more in love with you is all.”
I snickered at that. “I think I can deal with that.”
“Good.”