Epilogue
“Merry Christmas,” Cujo said with a smile, his hands still under her butt. “That was your first gift,” he added breathlessly.
Drea laughed and kissed him one more time, her heart racing. Every inch of her tingled as Cujo pulled out of her and headed to the bathroom to deal with the condom.
She pulled on her Christmas pajamas and padded into the living room. Their living room was now a mix of their things. Not that Drea had brought much stuff with her.
The lights of the Christmas tree twinkled, shining over the envelope Drea had placed under it after Cujo had fallen asleep.
Coffee. Even standing on her tiptoes she couldn’t quite reach the coffee canister. A kitchen reorganize, or at least the purchase of a step stool, was in their future. Strong hands gripped round her waist and boosted her the extra few inches into the air.
“Put me down,” she giggled, slapping at his hands. He lowered her to the floor, and nuzzled her neck as she put the coffee into the filter.
Leaning back against him, she caught sight of their reflection in the kitchen window. He was her rock. She fit completely within his silhouette. The sight of his bare chest around her did crazy things to her insides—she could seriously stare at him all day.
But today they had things to do, people to see.
Everyone was gathering at Devon’s house.
Even Evelyn, who had moved into a spare room at Alec’s after leaving the hospital, but everyone knew it was a temporary decision until her injuries were fully healed.
They were already well on their way toward reconciliation, and now that she was reunited with her sons, she couldn’t bear to be away from them.
Thankfully the media feeding frenzy had died down.
The governor had not survived the fallout from Evelyn’s revelations, and had lost the election.
Trip Henderson and Cleffan Energy were under formal investigation by the FBI.
No arrests had been made yet, but detectives Carter and Lopes assured her that it was only a matter of time.
The coffee gurgled to a stop, breaking her train of thought. “Coffee. Then presents,” she said.
“I have a better idea. Let’s go back to bed for an hour.” Cujo turned her in his arms and kissed her deeply, his tongue sweeping her lower lip.
“No.” Drea laughed, pushing hard at his solid chest.
Cujo pouted but moments later, they were sitting on the floor by the tree, coffee in hand.
“I want you to have this first.” Cujo handed her a long narrow box.
Drea held it cautiously. It was light as a feather, and as she gave it a gentle shake, nothing rattled inside.
The brown lid slipped off easily, and inside was a folded piece of paper.
She peeled the paper out of the box, opening it carefully.
She instantly recognized it as a medical document. She’d seen enough of her mom’s.
The test. That was what he handed her. She looked at his face, but it was totally unreadable.
She scanned the document. Words and numbers bounced off the page, but she didn’t know what they meant.
“You want it from the top?” Cujo offered.
“Please.”
“Twenty-two million sperm per milliliter with sixty-eight percent of them swimming, forty-eight percent of them swimming forward after one hour. And thirteen percent of them meet the Kruger criteria.” He knew the results from memory, obviously, but still his face gave nothing away. Drea’s stomach sank.
“And that means?”
Cujo took a sip of his coffee, studied her face. He placed the mug back on the table. “It means, Shortcake, that when you are ready, I’m more than capable of having kids with you.”
“SHUT UP!” Drea screamed and flew across the living room floor, knocking him back on to the floor with a loud oomph.
She wrapped her arms round his neck as their lips clashed together. His arms tightened around her waist as he thrust up against her.
“Seriously?” She pulled up, looking straight into his blue eyes that sparkled at her.
“Seriously.” He nodded. “But I meant what I said about you being ready.”
“But what about you, when do you want them?”
“Since I found out the results. But I know there are things you want to do. Need to do, even. And we just moved in together. So you need to go off to college in the fall. We do that first.”
Which reminded her. Drea climbed off him.
“Where you going, Shortcake? Things were just getting interesting.” Cujo rubbed his erection through his plaid pajama bottoms, grinning salaciously.
“Merry Christmas.” She put the white envelope into his hands and sat back on her knees.
Cujo ripped into the envelope and pulled out the piece of paper. The University of Miami logo was clear through the back of the paper.
“You’re staying with me?” Cujo looked at her, his eyes wide, his smile wider.
“They accepted me to start in the fall on their journalism program. Normally they wouldn’t, but Gilliam pulled a few strings, and your mom gave me an amazing reference.
I need to do a couple of catch-up courses in the New Year before school starts but I am going to keep working at José’s as long as I can. ”
“So we’re staying in Miami?” Cujo grabbed her, pulled her back on top of him. His lips trembled as he kissed her, and tears filled her eyes.
“I might not be able to work as much when I start school. I can get a loan or something but I won’t be able to—”
“Like I give a shit. I told you. We’re in this together. We make the big decisions together. You want to go back to school, we manage it together. We want to have kids, we manage it together.”
His eyes, so serious. He meant every single word. Finally someone to care for her as much as she would care for them.
“I love you, Brody.”
“I love you, too, Shortcake.” He kissed her swiftly. “Now can I encourage you to come back to bed? I want practice avoiding making babies until you’re ready to have them.”