Page 99 of Better Daddy

I bite my lip and pick at the comforter. Sully has never said any of this before. I never realized how much they appreciated my work. “Really?”

He nods. “Really.”

Feeling more grounded in my decision, I nod. “I’m excited to do it again. Excited for a position that I think will be a better fit than litigation.”

“I’m happy if you’re happy,” he says, his eyes roving over me.

“Know what would make me really happy right now?”

He breaks into a cheeky grin. “Eating your cheesecake?”

“No.”

“Definitely that. But also, will you stay with me tonight? Watch this movie with me? Hold me? Just be with me?”

Sully’s face lights up. “Nothing would make me happier, sweetheart.”

“I think there’s a pair of your sweats in the drawer.” I tilt to one side and roll myself to my feet in the most unsexy of ways. Crouching, I pull the sweats from the drawer, and just as I stand, Tia does another little dance. “Sully!”

He’s at my side in the space of a heartbeat. “What’s wrong?”

I snag his hand and guide it to the side of my belly where she’s moving. “There’s our girl.”

Dropping to his knees, Sully lifts my shirt and cradles my belly with both hands, before pressing his mouth to my skin. “Hello, love. It’s your daddy.”

When she moves again, he lets out a delighted chuckle and his eyes find mine. They shine with hope and so much love. God, is there a lot of love. And in that moment, I know that I don’t just have a crush on my husband. It’s official: I’m full-blown in love with him.

Chapter 35

Sully

Iset my alarm for four a.m. so I can be home for when T.J. wakes up but my eyes open at three, my mind still a bloody mess from the night before. On the one hand, I’m thrilled my wife finally told me what was bothering her. Thrilled that she called me and told me she missed me. Thrilled that she asked me to stay in her bed.

But there’s this rage bubbling at the seams that I can’t seem to quiet.

It’s not necessarily directed at Sloane because I understand where she was coming from. Though, I don’t love the lies.

Really, I’m angry with myself though. Angry that I put us all into this position to begin with. Angry that another man even had the option to take my wife out on a date because I’d left her available for the taking.

And fucking ravaged that a man put her in that position. That Will Fucking Higgins had the audacity to dangle her career like a fucking carrot in exchange for a relationship with her. It makes me sick how any man could do that. But to have it done to Sloane. I’m seeing bloody crimson.

“Sully.” My wife’s sweet voice calms me for a moment. I know she isn’t awake, she’s just talking in her sleep. I have to fold my lips into keep from laughing as she jackknifes up and pulls at her tank top. It’s the only garment left on her after two bouts of sleep walking resulted in her losing first her pants—which she folded and placed back in the drawer without once actually waking up—and then her panties, which she flung across the room.

The room is dark save for the sliver of moonlight peeking through the curtains, but it’s just enough to douse my wife in a beautiful glow as the tank top disappears and her full breasts come into view.

Bloody hell my wife is perfect.

My chest tightens as I think how I almost lost this. Almost lost her.

Sloane doesn’t lie back down immediately, she stretches her arms and yawns.

Normally, I don’t wake her, but I get slightly nervous when she shifts that she’ll fall off the bed, so I wrap an arm around her bare thigh and squeeze. “Sweetheart, come lie back down.”

Her eyes seem to focus at the sound of my voice and she blinks twice before shaking her head. “Did I sleep walk?”

I smile up at her. “Almost.”

She glances down and finds herself completely nude, then her expression seems to morph into one of delighted surprise. When she raises her eyes, I know exactly what she’s thinking. With a suggestive curve of her lips, she beckons me closer. “Almost indeed.”