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I clear my throat, place my hand over my cloth napkin, and rub the material in the corner back and forth.Just tell them. They’re going to be happy.The back of my neck heats, and Knox’s warm, tan hand covers mine. I look at him, and his lips pull up into a smile that matches his eyes. He dips his chin once silently telling me it’s okay, and I respond with my own nod. He lifts my hand to his mouth, brushing the lightest kiss to my knuckles before thrusting my fist in the air. “She’s staying!”

An eruption of fist banging on the table, and soft claps ring out. Before I know it, Liv is squeezing me from my left and Sophie from my right. Ryder gives Knox’s shoulder a tight squeeze, and the girls make their way back to their seats.My smile is pulled so tight it almost hurts, and the relief in my chest is enough to make me cry. Knox drapes an arm around the back of my seat, and I focus my attention on Isla, who holds her hands together under her chin with a slight sheen in her eyes.

“If you have availability, I’d like to extend my stay.”

“You need a job, Tatertot? I’m in need of a barback,” Liam says.

“Hush, Liam.” Isla flicks her hand at him. “She already has a job. With me.”

Her smile lines are deep, and I can no longer hold it in. I get up from my seat, with salty streaks dripping down my cheek, and I make my way to the end of the table. Isla scoots her chair out, and I drop down, wrapping my arms around her neck.

“Thank you,” I whisper, holding her a little tighter.

She cups my cheek in her hand and doesn’t break eye contact when she says, “My sweet girl, you belong here.”

I blink, and another tear falls. I pull her back in for another hug, and she rubs my back in a motherly embrace.

I am home.

I wipe my tears, moving back to my seat where Knox’s arm is outstretched to me.

“Damn. I really did need another barback,” Liam mutters, leaning an elbow on the table.

“How about Liv?” I point to where she sits across from me and her eyes go wide. “Since you won’t be needed in the kitchen, that will open up some free time for you.”

Liam turns his attention to Oliva, where nothing other than the column of her throat has moved, and he raises that pierced brow at her. “What do you say, baby Browning? You want to come work with me?”

She ignores him, her eyes turning murderous on me, and I hide my smile behind my water glass.

Dinner continues without a lull in conversation, and I stop to look around the table at the family I’ve gained. And then to the man I love, who was able to help me let go of that fear I had carried for so long by giving me a taste of commitment.

Epilogue

KNOX

TWO MONTHS LATER

You would thinksomeone who’s been living out of two suitcases in a single bedroom wouldn’t have that much to move.Wrong.

I should have known when I had to build exposed shelving in the kitchen for all the coffee mugs Taylor had accumulated over the last three months, that her room was likely overflowing with stuff, too. I can’t complain though. I’ve never been happier than I am when she comes home with a new coffee table book and says,“We needed it.”She’s made our house a home, and today is the day she officially moves out of her little corner room. I say officially because unofficially, this has been her home since the morning she decided to stay.

I set a box of various vases and bowls on the kitchen table, and Mi Hambuguessa hops up alongside it, head-butting the brown box. I scratch the soft spot between her ears and then head down the hallway to the bedroom. I findTaylor sifting through a pile of clothes on the bed, I stand behind her as she hooks the dainty strap of her green dress onto a hanger.

She drops the garment and turns around to face me, her fingers already working on the button of my jeans. I take a quick glance at the clock beside the bed and decide we have time.

“What’s going on, Browning? You’ve been checking the time all day.”

“I’ve just been waiting for a good time to fuck you in your new house.” Her lips pull up as she sits down on the edge of the bed. I cup her cheek and trace her lips with the pad of my thumb. “So fucking pretty, Nova girl.”

She looks up at me through a thick fan of lashes as she pulls my thumb into her mouth, her cheeks hollowing out when she sucks it. The sting of her teeth causes my breath to shutter as she rakes them down my finger before dropping me from her mouth.

She lays back on her piles of clothes while scooting up the bed and sliding her pants down, exposing her bare legs and a purple lace thong.

“You’re going to ruin your dress,” I say, pulling out my already hard cock from my briefs and letting my pants fall to the ground. I stroke myself, loving the way it excites her and the way her tongue wets her bottom lip as she follows my hand with her eyes.

“Fuck the dress,” she taunts me with the words she spit at me the first time we did this. Months later and it still somehow feels just as exciting as that first time.

I check the clock once more and lose all restraint as I rip her thong off and push into her in one quick motion.