Page 93

A pleased smirk plays around his lips. "Yeah?"
I resist the urge to roll my eyes. There’s a reason this man’s ego is bigger than any room he walks into. And after that orgasm—correction, multiple orgasms over the past few hours—I feel more than kindly disposed toward him. "Yeah, and you know it."
The skin around his eyes relaxes. The look in his eyes is tender, protective. It’s like how he regards Serene—but there’s something else layered beneath it. Possessiveness. Hunger, held in check. As if I’m his, and he knows it. And the way that makes me feel… It’s too much. Like I matter in a way no one else ever has.
I lean in and kiss him hard. "Thanks."
"For what?"
"Everything. For bringing me here. For letting me be part of Serene’s life. For allowing me back into both of your lives."
His expression grows serious. "There was never anyone other than you who could have played this role in her life. I was wrong"—his throat moves as he swallows—"wrong to push you away."
Something inside me settles at his apology. He hasn’t said those three words… But this makes up for it in a big way.
He kisses me hard, and soon, we are panting. I feel him thicken inside me, and when we break apart, I stare at him. "Again? So soon?"
* * *
“Mama!”
Serene darts toward us, all windblown hair and sunshine, and launches herself into my arms. I catch her with a soft grunt—she’s heavier than I remember. Denser. Like childhood is slowly giving way to something else. Something taller, bolder, more her. She’s growing, in front of my eyes. And I get to witness all of it.
The ache in my chest is fierce and golden.
“Hey, honey. Did you have fun?” I press a kiss to her cheek, breathing in the warmth of her.
She nods, breathless. “I played with Matty. Pirates and Cowgirls. I beat him.”
“You did?” I look past her to where Matty stands, flanked by his parents, arms folded across his chest like he’s thoroughly unimpressed. But there’s a softness tucked in the corners of his eyes that gives him away.
“She was better than me.” His tone is matter of fact.
Sinclair ruffles his son’s hair. “Proud of you, Son. Takes a man to give credit where it’s due.”
Beside me, Tyler lifts his brows. “My own daughter forgets I exist.”
I turn to him quickly. “Oh, no. Serene would never—she’s just still finding her footing with me in the picture, and?—”
I take in the teasing glint in his eyes and relax.Love isn’t about losing yourself in someone else; it’s about discovering the parts of you that were always meant to shine.
I’m not sure which self-help book I read that in, but it strikes a chord. This man seems to bring out the best parts of me, with very little effort.
Then, Serene backs me up by taking a flying leap into his arms. It’s how she landed in mine that day when I turned up at Tyler’s doorstep. And my, how things have changed since then. I shake my head. If I hadn’t lived through it and found myself here, married to Tyler and on my honeymoon, I wouldn’t have believed it.
Serene hugs her father and kisses his cheek. "Missed you, Papa."
"Missed you too, honey."
She looks at him with those big melting eyes. I can see Tyler’s entire body relax as he smiles at her. "Can I stay the night with Matty and his parents?"
Tyler turns to me, awhat-do-you-thinkexpression on his face.
The fact that he consults me when it’s something to do with Serene when, really, he could have decided for both of us, turns my pathetic heart to Jell-O. I feel a familiar ball of emotion in my throat and swallow it down.
"Oh no, honey”—I touch her cheek—“we can’t be bothering Matty’s parents like that."
"But you’re newlyweds; you need alone time," Matty says in that grown-up voice which should sound incongruous but coming from him—and despite my suspicion that he’s simply repeating what he heard his parents say—it doesn’t seem wrong at all.