Chapter 17
Chapter Seventeen
Foster
“What do you want to do today?” Eden asks. We’re lying in bed, the morning sun barely peeking through the blinds.
“I have no plans,” I tell her.
“Foster!” She rolls to her side and props her head up on her elbow. “It’s your birthday. We have to do something. What about the guys? Do you have plans with them?”
“Nah, they’ll text me, probably call, but no plans.” The guys have tried over the years, but they know birthdays are not a big deal to me. They just didn’t know why until recently.
“You should call them. Go to dinner or something.”
“Or I could stay exactly where I am, with you,” I tell her, leaning over to steal a kiss.
“It’s your day of birth. The day you were given life. We have to celebrate,” she insists.
“Birthdays were never a big thing for me growing up. You know how it is,” I tell her.
There’s no point in rehashing our past in foster care.
We both know how the other grew up. That’s part of what I love about her.
She understands. She not only understands my past, but she lived it, and that makes me feel closer to her.
“That’s exactly why we need to make a big deal now.
Foster, you’re incredible, not because of your career or those abs.
” She giggles, and fuck me, I love it. I love waking up with her.
“It’s because of who you are. Your big heart that you try to keep hidden, but those of us who know you see it.
We see you. I see you, and I want to celebrate you. ”
“If it’s that important to you, we can do whatever you want.”
“Foster!” she half scolds, half laughs. “This is your day. What do you want to do?”
I waggle my eyebrows, and she rolls those big blue eyes of hers, but her smile never falters.
“Fine, you can have that, too,” she says as her phone rings.
Her brow furrows. “Who is that this early on a Saturday?” she muses, reaching behind her to the nightstand on her side of the bed—yes, her side—to grab her phone. “It’s Carrie, I’d better take it.”
I nod, not that she needs my permission, as she places the phone next to her ear.
“Hello?” she answers.
We’re lying close to each other in bed, so I’m able to hear the conversation. It’s muffled, but I can follow along.
“Hey, Eden, I hope I didn’t wake you,” Carrie says.
“No. We were up,” she answers. I fucking love that she includes me in her answer. I want to be everywhere she is, even if it’s a phone call. I’m aware that sounds creepy as hell, but Eden is addicting in the absolute best of ways.
“Good. Hey, I hate to ask this on such short notice, but is there any way that you could watch the kids for us today? Nick had a guy call in sick—well, his only guy,” Carrie says with a chuckle. “And I just got a request for a showing. It’s at noon and should only be a couple of hours.”
“Carrie, I—” Eden starts.
“We can watch them,” I tell her. “They can bring them here, or we can go there.”
She pulls the phone away from her mouth. “Are you sure?”
I smile and nod. “That’s what I want to do today. Spend time with you, and those closest to you.”
“Foster,” she says, her eyes welling with tears.
“Eden?” Carrie asks.
She clears her throat. “Sorry, yes, we can watch them.”
“We?” Carrie asks, and I can hear the smile in her voice even secondhand through the phone.
“Yeah, I’m spending the day with Foster today. It’s his birthday.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. I can take the kids with me,” Carrie says.
“No,” I say, hoping that Carrie can hear me. I can hear her, so the chances are good. “We had no plans. We’re happy to,” I say, and Eden’s smile grows.
“Did you hear that?” Eden asks her best friend.
“So, we finally get to meet him, huh?”
Eden’s eyes hold mine. “Yeah, you finally get to meet him.”
“Thank you both. I’m sorry to crash your day.”
“You’re welcome, and you didn’t. We were literally just talking about what we were going to do today. I assumed he’d be with his friends, but he’s a bump on a log and says birthdays are just another day.”
Carrie laughs. “You’re going to have to show him how it’s done, babe.”
“My thoughts exactly. We’ll come over a little early so you don’t have to rush to your showing. How far away is it?”
“Just twenty minutes.”
“Great. We’ll be there around eleven.”
“Thank you, Eden. You’re a lifesaver. Please thank Foster for us, too. I’ll have to do something special for him for his birthday. It will just be a little late.”
“No need. Just another day,” I answer, and Eden shakes her head at me.
“We’ll see you soon,” Eden says, ending the call. “Thank you,” she says, immediately.
“It’s fine, really. It sounds like she needs you.” I wrap my arm around her waist, pulling her close. “We have hours before we have to leave,” I say against her lips.
“I need to brush my teeth,” she mumbles into our kiss, making no move to stop me from kissing her.
Instead of replying, I lick at her lips, and she opens for me.
I’ll take this woman any way that I can have her.
She moans into my kiss, leaning into me, and the next thing I know, she’s pushing me onto my back and straddling my hips.
We’re both naked from last night. We got messy, showered together, got messy again, and fell into bed, naked and exhausted.
It was the perfect night.
I’m quickly becoming addicted to her. No, that’s not right. I’m already addicted to her. This woman lights me up in ways I never saw coming. I didn’t know I needed her, but now that she's in my life, I never want her to leave.
“Whatcha doing, baby?” I grin up at her, palming a breast in each hand, testing their weight, before rolling her nipples between my thumb and forefinger. She moans and grinds her hips against my hard length.
“Celebrating you,” she pants, as I lift my body to reach her and suck a pert nipple into my mouth.
“I changed my mind,” I say, releasing her from my mouth and trailing kisses up her neck.
“If this is what birthday celebrations are going to be like going forward, I want all the birthdays and all the celebrations,” I say, nipping at her ear.
She laughs, and I love the sound. “Note to self: seduce him to get him to see things my way. Got it.”
“Eden, babe, there is no seducing when your naked body is involved,” I say, kissing her neck again, stopping at her collarbone, taking my time, tasting her. Fuck, her skin is soft, and she smells like heaven.
She pushes on my chest, and I fall back to the mattress. My hands roam over her thighs, needing to touch her everywhere that I can reach. I don’t care how much time I spend with my hands on her soft skin. It will never be enough.
“Tell me, birthday boy, what’s your wish?”
I don’t have to think about my answer. “You. You’re my wish.
My dream.” My everything. I keep that last one to myself.
I’m not ready to tell her that yet. I keep waiting for my old familiar friend of feeling unworthy, partnered with his sidekick rejection, to show up, but they’re both eerily silent where Eden is concerned.
“You can wish for anything. Today is your day.”
“I have all that I need right here.” As I say the words, I know that they’re true.
If everything in my life were to go away tomorrow, but she was still standing next to me, lying next to me in our bed, no matter where that might be, I’d be fine.
It’s a revelation that surprises me, but the rapid thump of my heart inside my chest tells me that it’s my truth.
She’s all that I need.
My words settle between us, fragile and certain all at once.
I don’t dress them up or soften them because they don’t need it.
They’re already the truest thing I know.
I watch her face as she processes what I’ve just said, as if I might find doubt there, or surprise, or anything that tells me I’ve gone too far.
But there’s nothing like that—only a quiet stillness, the kind that feels like being understood without having to explain yourself.
I’ve only ever found that with Eden.
It’s strange how calm I feel. I’ve spent so much of my life bracing for the moment when something good slips through my fingers, convinced that happiness is temporary and love even more so.
Fear usually whispers first, then grows louder, reminding me of every reason I should hold back.
But here with Eden, staring up into those gorgeous blue eyes of hers, that voice has nothing to say.
For once, it’s like my heart knows something my mind hasn’t caught up to yet.
I think about all the things I used to want—plans, goals, the idea of a future that looked impressive from the outside.
None of it feels as solid as this moment.
None of it feels as real as the way my chest tightens when I imagine a world without her in it.
I’ve never needed someone like this before, and the realization should terrify me. Instead, it feels like coming home.
This is bigger than anything I’ve ever felt before.
Her.
This moment.
I don’t tell her everything. Not yet. Some truths need time to breathe before they’re spoken out loud. But I let myself feel it, let these feelings take root, let them change me. Because for the first time, I’m not wishing for more. I’m not searching for what’s missing.
She’s here.
She’s mine.
And somehow, that’s enough.
No words are spoken as she reaches between us and grips my cock.
She strokes me at a leisurely pace, her soft palm driving me crazy in a way that only she can.
My hands fall to my sides, and I grip the sheets.
She has no idea that in the last ten minutes, I’ve concluded that I’m hers.
She’s mine, but I’m just as much hers, and she can do with me as she wishes.
It’s not just about my dreams. It’s also about hers.
I’m changing the play.