Chapter 19
Chapter Nineteen
Heath
two weeks later
Emily blows out the candles on her cake with gusto. Our little miss is twenty-one now, and we celebrate with chocolate cake and free-flowing champagne.
Everyone claps, then she carefully removes all twenty-one candles, setting them on a plate before cutting the cake into even slices.
“What did you wish for?” I ask her after she crawls into my lap to share a piece with me.
From across the room, I notice Daniel’s raised eyebrow at the adoring way I hold my little one, but I don’t care. He’s just as besotted with Rosie.
Emily licks a bit of chocolate frosting off her thumb, her eyes twinkling. “It’s a secret.”
I lower my voice. “You can share your secret with Daddy, though.”
She leans in, her chocolatey breath warm and intoxicating. “I wished…”
I squeeze her hip, encouraging her to tell me what she wants. Whatever it is, I’ll make it happen.
She smiles nervously. “I wished that I could move in here when I finish school at the end of the summer.”
My cock thickens. Time for Daniel and Rosie to take their cake and hit the road. “You can move in tonight if you want. You’re sleeping here almost every night anyway. Let’s make it official.”
The only nights she’s spent on campus have been at her demand, because she has studying she needs to do and two boyfriends eager to please her at all hours of the day competes with that.
But we can be better about that.
Maybe.
Definitely, if it means she’s in my bed permanently.
Wyatt comes in from the kitchen and sprawls beside me. I tangle my fingers in his hair, tugging him close.
He chuckles. “What?”
“Tell him what you just told me,” I urge Emily.
She climbs onto his lap and whispers that she’s going to move in here.
I squeeze Wyatt’s neck. We’ve already talked about this. When she’s ready to move in, I want him to move in, too.
He gives us both one of his happy, goofy grins. “Sounds like a plan. I’m off tomorrow, I can do the bulk of the move out while she’s in class.”
“Excellent.” I stand, leaving Emily in our lover’s arms, and catch Daniel’s eye.
He kisses Rosie, murmuring something about leaving shortly, then follows me down the hall to my den.
For a long time, this house was my bachelor pad. Now I’m moving two people into it, and every space will change. Maybe I’ll give Emily this room for her studies, since I also have an office at our headquarters.
“It’s nice seeing you happy,” he says when I close the door behind him.
“Thank you. And the same, of course. Rosie is a wonderful partner.”
He nods. “She is.”
“Speaking of that…” I lean back against my desk. “I’m not asking a question here, but I want to give you a heads up. I’m going to be getting my lawyer to draft a trust that provides Emily and Wyatt the same legal protections as they would have if they could both be my spouse.”
“Okay.”
“And I know that as my business partner this—”
He frowns. “I said okay. I mean it. Look at how happy you are. And honestly? Wyatt? I should have seen that months ago. He’s been a bright light in your life since he joined our team, but something happened earlier this year, didn’t it?”
My chest goes hot. “We saw Emily. At the same time. And she was off-limits, because she was a student and we had that big contract with the college. But I knew he fell for her, like…so hard, and she was everything I’d ever wanted, and he recognized that in me.
It should have torn our friendship apart, but it only made us closer. ”
“You love her.”
I do. I nod.
“And you love him.”
“Yes.”
“Then do what you need to protect your family. And our business will be behind you one hundred percent.” He holds out his hand, and when I take it, he yanks me into a tight hug. “You fucking jerk, keeping secrets from me.”
“Same.”
He laughs. “God, we’re lucky, aren’t we?”
So damn lucky.