Chapter 41
Forty-One
Harper
Leo still wasn’t home when I got back from my event, but I wasn’t expecting him to be.
Smitty had texted and told me they were “exorcising demons.”
I didn’t know what that meant exactly—except that it likely involved lots and lots of beer—and since I had an event in the morning, I decided to take a quick bath and then go straight to bed.
No crocheting.
No planner time.
Just me and the bed.
But it’s not just me and the bed now.
I slit open my eyes and my heart nearly turns to mush on the spot.
Because Leo is sitting on the edge of the mattress, his big body bent over my belly as he murmurs soft words to the baby.
“I’m sorry about today, little potato”—more heart convulsing—“but don’t worry, Grandma and Grandpa aren’t going to be in your life often enough to be more than an annoyance.
” He presses his lips lightly to the small curve of my belly.
“When I first saw them here today, I wanted to run, wanted to protect your mama from them. But I should have known better. Your mama is the strongest person I know—she wasn’t going to let an old curmudgeon and a drama queen blow up our lives. ”
He’s quiet for a long moment, for so long I almost reach down and smooth back his hair.
But before I can do that, he keeps whispering.
“I used to think I was like them, that I could only be like them because I didn’t have any other examples in my life, because I was born of them and could only be like them.
Your mama showed me that’s not true. Same as you’re not going to be like us.
Though, I hope you’ll have your mama’s strength and maybe my love for oatmeal raisin cookies.
” He chuckles. “But the most important thing is you’re going to be your own person.
And I’m going to make sure you’re so loved that you have the space to do that. ”
A tear rolls down my cheek and I try to blink it away.
But it’s as though Leo senses I’m awake now, because he looks up and smiles at me. “Hi, Mama.”
“Come here,” I whisper.
He crawls up my body, brushes away my tears.
“That was beautiful,” I say before he can ask if I’m upset. “And I want you to know that I am so damned proud to know the man you are—not the man they tried to make or the one you thought you were. You, Leo. You’re the one I’m proud of.” I touch his cheek. “You’re the one I want.”
His throat works then he settles his forehead against mine. “You’re the one I want too.”
It feels like a vow.
And maybe it is.
We haven’t exchanged I love you’s—not if you don’t count him saying it as he drifted off to sleep.
Which I don’t because…well, because I’d prefer him to be conscious when I give over my heart. But those words he just gave to the baby—hearing what he thinks of me, listening to him realize his past really doesn’t make him the person he is today, watching him grow and change—
It’s amazing.
Perfect.
And it’s enough for me right now.
So, I kiss him, tease him about his love of those damned oatmeal raisin cookies, and then I kiss him again, but this time I pair it with lingering touches and my hands sliding down his stomach, with my fingers wrapped around his cock, stroking until my name tumbles off his lips.
Then I’m pushing him to his back so I can crawl on top and take him inside.
“You feel so good,” I moan softly as I rock on him, slow and steady, drawing us slowly up the rise.
It’s leisurely.
It’s lovemaking at its purest.
And when I clench around him, my orgasm dragging him over the precipice alongside me, I know it’s forever too.
Not even because of the orgasm or his strong arms around me, his hold so gentle it brings tears to my eyes.
But because the moment my stomach growls and I happen to mention that a milkshake and fries sound good, he’s out of bed and pulling on his pants, stepping into his shoes.
And twenty minutes later, he’s back with a Neapolitan shake.
With extra crispy fries even though I only mentioned my preference for them once offhandedly.
Then as I eat and drink, he tells me about Smitty’s antics in the back seat of Sawyer’s van, and he shows me the listing for the house he and the guys say he should buy if his parents ever show up again—
“Though, thanks to Smitty, I highly doubt they’ll bother coming back up.”
He tells me how Aiden and Gray joined them for beers.
Then food so they could have more beers.
He just…talks to me, shares with me, opens up to me, trusts me.
And that, perhaps, means most of all.