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Raelyn flopped back on their brand new bed panting and glistening with sweat as she brushed her hair back out of her face. Quinn’s weight fell into the spot next to her, also catching his breath with a hand on his chest.

They had just gotten Raelyn moved into Quinn’s house in California and were having a housewarming celebration of their own.

There might have been a bit of an argument earlier about how Raelyn was absolutely not sleeping on the same bed Quinn had had so many meaningless one-nighters in. Nope. Not happening.

Quinn pointed out that she’d already slept on it before, but she was adamant.

Hot head that he is, and a bit of a drama king, he decided to throw the old mattress off the balcony and into the pool before storming out to buy a new bed.

Of course when he’d come back, he was more than happy to break in the new mattress and maybe challenge the durability of the new frame and headboard. It was still intact. So far.

“Fuck. We’re. Awesome,” Quinn declared between heavy, gasping breaths. He grabbed Raelyn’s hand and pressed her palm to his chest, “Feel that. Fuck, I hope this is how I go. You’re gonna make my heart explode. I’ll be coming and going at the same time.”

A burst of laughter escaped Raelyn’s lips.

“That’s horrifying!” She rolled and slung one leg over his, kissing the line of his jaw down to his neck where his pulse was visible.

Her diamond ring glimmered in the low light of her bedroom, her hand slid across his chest, feeling his strong muscles, slippery with the sweat they’d just worked up .

“It would traumatize you and you would never be with another man again,” Quinn said, and she could hear the curve of a grin on his lips as he spoke.

“You’re a little twisted, Quinn Casey Casey,” Raelyn purred into his skin.

Her fingers traced down his long torso, feeling those familiar solid, hard, defined muscles.

She felt the dips and lines of his abdomen, the sharp V-cut next to his hips, then down his dark happy trail.

Already, she knew his body well, but her heart fluttered and a heat melted into her at the thought of having forever to completely learn him. With her hands, her mouth, her tongue.

“Should we pick a date?” Quinn asked after a few silent moments of letting their breath slow as they touched and felt each other skin-to-skin.

“Right now? Sure,” she laughed into him. “Just call Zoey up and ask her to relay your entire schedule for the next year and a half.”

“Spring? Summer?” His fingers massaged into her lower back where he held her with one arm around her, while the other brushed lightly up and down her arm.

“That’s baseball season. Aren’t we going to be a little busy?”

“I think summer,” Quinn said, ignoring her concerns, “on the beach. And it should be small and intimate.”

Raelyn bit her lip, smiling as she propped her head up to look at him. “You’ve given this some thought.”

The corner of his mouth tugged up enough to give the smallest flash of dimple and he linked their hands, eyes focused on her ring as he spoke.

“The first time I imagined our wedding, it was on a nude beach in Jamaica or somewhere tropical.” Raelyn laughed again but urged him to continue.

“I was fifteen, I think. Maybe sixteen. I had just gotten over the guilt I felt at picturing and fantasizing about you naked. It was a big deal. But once I gave in, I just went all out.”

Since Quinn’s confession a few months ago about how he’d been in love with her for so long, she’d done a lot of reflecting, revisiting past memories, trying to remember if there were signs.

There were. Lots of them, in fact. And she wondered how she had been so oblivious.

Especially junior and senior year when she’d started having similar feelings toward him.

“I didn’t feel guilty the first time I pictured you naked,” Raelyn confessed. “We were seventeen. Well, I was sixteen, you were seventeen. It was glorious.”

She felt Quinn’s chest rumble with his silent laugh.

“The second time I pictured our wedding,” he said, “I added bathing suits. It was a sexy white bikini from a Sports Illustrated magazine. I figured if we were getting married, your parents would want to be there, so we’d better wear something. But it was still on the beach.”

“And the time after that?”

“The time after that I pictured you in a white dress. I remembered how much it took my breath away seeing you in your fancy homecoming dresses. I wanted you to dress up like that just for me.” Quinn pressed a kiss to the top of her head then added, “Although, I don’t know that a white dress is the right choice here. ”

Raelyn swatted his chest with a “Hey!” and he laughed playfully.

“Either way,” he continued, “I always picture it on the beach. Maybe it’s because that’s where we met. Whenever I think of you I think summer and sunshine and waves. California is going to look great on you, baby.”

“Yeah, I think I’ll adjust.” She turned her head toward the window where the ocean was turning pink against the glow of the sunset. “Just look at that view...I want to go jump in.”

Quinn laughed under his breath. “You do that, I’ll stand on shore and watch.”

“What?” Raelyn exclaimed. “Are you afraid of the ocean?”

“I’m not saying I won’t pee on you if you get stung by a jellyfish, but I don’t know that I’d fight a shark if I see a fin pop up out of the water,” he replied, and his body gave an exaggerated shudder.

“You would let me get eaten?” Raelyn asked, incredulous. “I seriously doubt that.”

“Even Superman has kryptonite, babydoll. ”

“Noted,” Raelyn giggled quietly into his chest and placed a kiss there.

A few more quiet beats passed and Quinn inhaled before asking, “So...how many?”

“How many what? Wedding guests? You want small and in-”

“No, not that,” he interrupted, then paused. His voice shook slightly as he continued, “How many...kids...do you want?”

“Oh,” Raelyn paused. She realized they had never talked about having a family.

Creating a family. Quinn never talked about kids or wanting them, wanting more than just her.

It wasn’t something she had given much thought to either, to be perfectly honest. She wasn’t filled with any sort of need to reproduce and spend her days raising miniature humans who would talk back and make messes for her to clean up.

Now, however, she was hit with the idea that their kids would be half her and half him.

Obviously, that’s how that whole thing worked.

It was just the realization of how fun it would be to raise a version of herself that had Quinn’s edge, or a little boy with both their athletic abilities, wit, and charm.

She thought about her dad as a grandfather, like he was to Camille’s children, and how he would absolutely love the shit out of anyone who looked or acted remotely like a miniature Quinn.

“I have four other bedrooms in my house,” Quinn said, “but we could always upgrade if we needed. It’s not like-”

“Four?” Raelyn repeated the number. “You want four kids? Or more?”

Quinn shrugged. “I wouldn’t mind filling you up more than a few times.”

“You can fill me up without the babies, you know,” she replied, nearly laughing, but not sure how serious he was.

“Yeah, but seeing you like that, knowing I did that. Knowing part of me is actually a part of you…I don’t know that I could get enough of that.”

“You do realize that eventually the baby belly goes away and there’s an actual living breathing human with a self-destruct button on the top of its head and it’s our responsibility to keep it living and breathing and to absolutely not mess with the self-destruct button, right?

” This of course came out far more panicky than she had meant.

His laugh rumbled through his belly and into his chest, “Oh my God, Rae... you’re afraid of babies!”

“I’m not afraid of babies,” Raelyn scoffed defensively.

“Sure, give me shit for not wanting to be eaten by a shark, but here you are terrified of an infant.”

“They’re so tiny and fragile!” Raelyn argued through a laugh. “I’m not afraid of them, but the concept is a bit daunting.”

“So...no babies?” Quinn asked, and she could hear the disappointment in his voice that he was trying to mask.

“I didn’t say no babies,” she corrected. “I said the idea of taking care of them is a bit scary, but I have to admit we would make some adorable children. And they’d be sassy and a little edgy, and way cooler than anyone else’s kids. So maybe let’s start with one and see how that goes.”

“Half me, half you,” Quinn sighed. “The world won’t know what hit it.”

Raelyn’s hand slid back down his abs until she grasped him, massaging gently and feeling him grow again in her hand. “You know, I’m still on the pill, but we can always practice making babies, if that’s something you think you’re interested in.”

The satisfied growl inside his chest started a fire between her legs and she pressed her hips into his thigh.

“Practice makes perfect,” Quinn said, his voice low and gravelly, “and that’s not something you want to get wrong, so I think we’re going to need a lot of practice.” He dipped his head to catch his mouth on hers, groaning into her lips, sliding his tongue inside to meet her own.

“Well then, how do you want me?” Raelyn bit playfully at his lip, sucking it into her mouth.

Quinn flipped her onto her back and rolled on top of her in one swift and well-practiced movement. “Let’s start with the basics: You, on your back. Me, moving inside you. I’ll hold you down, and I’ll know how good it feels when you scream my name. Got it? ”

“Got it, Coach.”

“I love you, Raelyn DeRose,” Quinn said, voice and eyes softening briefly.

“I love you, too, Quinn Casey.” She smiled back up at him before his grin turned wicked and he got ready to claim her once again.

She thought of all their history, their connection, their friendship, the miracle of finding each other again, and all that lost time in between. Already they shared so much; love, hope, countless memories, maybe some regret. But he was hers forever now, and she knew this was just the beginning.