Page 114 of A Forbidden Arrangement

“What about it? I’ll find someone to run the day-to-day and handle the rest from there.” I lean down and kiss her, ignoring Bash’s whistle. “I told you. Anything you want.”

She smiles, quiet and knowing. “You really can’t help yourself, can you?”

“Not when it comes to you.”

Behind us, the family’s laughter rises again. Someone’s calling for pictures, someone else is asking if the baby can crawl yet. The answer, unfortunately, is almost.

Dahlia laughs under her breath. “You realize your brothers will try to corrupt her.”

“She’s an Everette. She was born corrupted.”

“She gets that from you.”

“She gets everything good from you,” I reply.

“Now you’re just sucking up. What do you want?”

“Whatever you’re willing to give me,” I tell her honestly.

“You really believe that?”

“Every word.”

She smiles, and it’s the same smile that undid me the first time she ever looked at me. The same one that pulled me in and made me forget every reason I’d built to stay away. Only now, it’s softer. Certain.

I take her hand and pull her closer until our foreheads touch.

“You happy?” I ask quietly.

She nods. “More than I ever thought I could be.”

I close my eyes for a second, letting the warmth of the moment settle deep. The sound of her voice. The faint coo of our daughter from a few feet away. It all folds into something steady.

I open my eyes and look at her again. “Good.”

She leans in and kisses me, soft and unhurried. “You?”

“Since the day I met you.”

She scoffs. “Corny.”

Her fingers tighten around mine. She looks up, her eyes a warm, endless brown, and she smiles at me the way she did the first time I knew I’d never let her go. Only now, she doesn’t have to ask if she’s safe. She already knows.

The End.