Chapter 11
Kade
I clear my throat. “Speaking of fitting in with my family. There are things you need to know, two very specific little things that I don’t tell anyone ever, but if this thing between us is going to go any further, you have a right to know, to decide if that’s what you want your future to look like. ”
She takes a deep breath. “Okay, I can already tell it’s going to be something profound. Something that means a lot to you. My pulse is racing just waiting for you to tell me.”
“I’ve been working undercover for a while, so deep undercover that my family didn’t even know what I was doing.
This hair hasn’t been blond for a long time.
The truth is, it was important to me to take care of a job that would protect others and my family in the long run before I came back home to them. ”
She gasps. “You’re married? I can’t do that ... it’s just something so sacred. I’m sorry, Kade. As magnetic as this thing between us is, that’s a deal breaker for me.”
I nod, smiling. “Well, I’m certainly glad that the woman I decide to trust with my feelings thinks the same way as I do about the sanctity of marriage.
I’m not married, but I am a package deal, Ava.
I come with a little boy and a little girl who have spent way too much time with their grandmother and aunt and as soon as I get this job, it will give me a secure home base in Chicago and I’m bringing them all home where they belong. ”
Tears well in her eyes. “You have two children? And a mom, but no wife?”
I laugh. “Well, I once had a wife, but that was a long time ago.”
“My stomach’s dancing with butterflies.”
“I am asking you to be mine, to be ours. If you’ll have us.”
She nods, and then nods again, tears leaking from her eyes so quickly she has to continuously wipe them away.
“If they will have me, then yes, yes, and yes...”
My chest tightens with everything looming on the horizon. No more secrets, no more lies. I can just be myself and live a happy life with Ava by my side. Neither of us feels the need to say the L word, because no words are necessary when two hearts are as in sync as ours.