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I loved that I could surprise her. “In the Marines, we didn't have a lot of books in the library. We did, however, have pristine copies of Austen’s novels. I must have read them each a half a dozen times.”
She shook her head into the pillow. “Wow, you really should have led with this information. I’d have slept over much sooner.”
I lifted her pillow out from under her.
She gasped in mock indignation. “No, you didn't.”
I propped myself up on my elbow. “Seems like I just did.”
Her mouth fell open, and her eyes lit with unfiltered joy as she, quick as a whip, grabbed my pillow out from underneath me and whacked me with it.
“No,” I cried, holding my hands up to block the second hit.
“Daddy?” Alice asked from the hall.
Luna and I both halted our movements mid-air. Her pillow fell to the floor, and she immediately reached for the tie on her robe as if Alice would just burst through the door at any second.
Which,fair. She was still naked under that thing.
“Meet me downstairs, Alice, and I'll start breakfast.”
“Can I watch cartoons?” Alice asked eagerly.
I smiled. “Sure.”
“And is Luna joining?” my daughter asked.
Luna looked terrified. I went over to give her a hug. “If she wants to, and I hope she does.”
Luna melted in my arms.
“I do,” she said.
And for a quick second my mind didn't compute the question, just the response and the spark of hope it ignited for our future.
I heard footsteps leading away from my room.
It was just the two of us again, with Luna looking curiously at me.
My hands found her lower back, and I pulled her close. “I love you.”
CHAPTER41
Luna
I blinked several times.“Did you just tell me that you love me?”
A smile played on Beck's lips. “Are you suggesting I shouldn't?”
“N—-”
“No, I shouldn't love you?” he teased.
I ran my hands up the firm planes of his chest, trying to keep them from shaking. Carter said he loved me, but I'd never felt that feeling in return. The idea that the man in front of me could love me. It struck me senseless.
Even though I felt the same. Even though the words had been on the tip of my tongue several times now.
So I relied on humor. “Oh, please. You barely know me.”