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“I got it.” She nodded her head feverously.

“So what’s it going to be? You’re making a man wait and it’s hard as hell on me, sweetheart.”

“You. I want you, I want us. I want a man who’s going to love all of me–stretch marks, broken family and all–someone who can love me at my worst, even when I’m being a stubborn bitch. I want a man who will love my daughter as his own … and you do Johnny. You do that and so much more. You’re a father to Brooke, and that means more to me than anything in the world.”

His eyes grew dark, his lips an inch away from hers. “I am her father, Alyssa.”

“You are. You really are.” She choked up. John was Brooke’s father in every sense of the word.

“So, this is it. No going back.” John couldn’t stop the grin on his face. “No going back. Because I don’t know if I could deal with having you, then not again.”

“How can you not hate me after everything?”

John pulled back as if he’d been slapped. “How can I hate you when I love you so much?”

Tears filled her eyes and she smiled so big her cheeks hurt. “No going back.” Alyssa stood on her tiptoes and pressed her mouth to his, breathing in his goodness. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she slanted her head and kissed him hard. John rolled his body into hers and lifted her up into his arms. She looked incredible sexy in her black satin dress, but John couldn’t wait to rip it off and make her fully his, heart and all.

Alyssa loosened up into him, and John used the opening to slide his tongue along the seam of her parted lips. His tongue met hers, but this time it was different. The kiss itself was different because they were fully devoted to each other now, heart and soul. No going back. Warmth spread throughout his body and they moaned into each other, their kissing picking up speed as they devoured each other like it was their last night on earth. Alyssa was his, all of his.

“I’m yours, Johnny. Forever. You’re my family now. You and Brooke. It’s us against the world.”

“I love you, honey.”

“And I love you. I should’ve told you the first time you said it to me.”

He angled his head, and she answered. “The night of the accident. We’d just returned from the hospital and were lying in my bed. I regretted never saying it back since that day.”

He kissed her forehead. “Say it again, and you’re forgiven.”

“I love you, Johnny.” Her eyes lit up, finally showing the sparkle he’d been working for.

“Once more for good measure.”

She looked deep in his eyes. “I love you so much.”

He grinned so big she felt his happiness. “We should probably head back into my brother’s wedding.”

Alyssa nodded her head and tried to suppress her grin but failed miserably. John was a sweet talking, rough around the edges, country boy. Who’d ever guess that the city girl in her would fall so hard? “Do you think they’ll notice we’ve been gone so long?”

“Nah. It’s not really about us tonight, so I doubt it.”

But it really was.

Alyssa and John were inseparable for the rest of the night. At times they held Brooke and danced with her, but when it slowed down it was just the two of them. Diane didn’t mind staying back with her daughter while they fell more in love with each other. John never took his eyes off her, proving how much he loved her and how much he wanted her.

He made her whole.

Tonight was a revelation. She had a guy who loved her and her daughter with no reservation. Most men considered babies to be baggage, but John jumped right

on board as if it was meant to be.

And maybe it was.

Yesterday may be gone but tomorrow was a new day. It was her, Brooke, and Johnny, together at last, just like it should have been all along. What had Olivia once told her? Life is a wild and unruly path, there will be bumps and mountains along the way, but having your other half with you makes it easier. No one knew the outcome, everything happens for a reason. And while she never believed that before, she did now.

The drive down to South Fork was quiet and somber this particular day. Brooke had long fallen asleep in the backseat of his truck and Alyssa sat next to John with her feet propped up on the dashboard with the seat laid back. His thumb circled her open palm while her other hand rested on her growing belly, her hair billowing in the wind as she stared at the passing trees.

She was pregnant with his baby, a boy.