Total pages in book: 113
Estimated words: 110113 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 551(@200wpm)___ 440(@250wpm)___ 367(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 110113 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 551(@200wpm)___ 440(@250wpm)___ 367(@300wpm)
My heart is bursting by the time it’s just Sawyer and me on the couch. He started to cry all over again when I informed him June and I would be staying here until he was fully healed. She and Ella were beside themselves to be put to bed together in Ella’s room a little bit ago. I can still hear them giggling together.
“They’re so fucking cute.” Sawyer puts a hand on my thigh.
I reach over to play with his hair. “You’re so fucking cute. How are you feeling?”
“Sore. Tired.” His gaze meets mine. In the light of the fire Ryder lit earlier, Sawyer’s eyes gleam with tenderness. “Happy. I missed everyone.”
“They missed you. We all did. Life wasn’t the same. I’m so”—my voice catches—“so relieved and so happy you’re back and you’re okay.”
“I’ll be okay as long as you’re here.”
I hold his gaze. “I’ll stay as long as you’ll have me.”
His eyes go wide. “That mean—”
“I’m asking to move in with you, yes.”
“But you don’t want—”
“I want you.” I gingerly press a kiss to his cheek. “And I want us all to be together. I thought we could put twin beds in Ella’s room so the girls can get their sleepover. And then we’ll put a king in your room so you and I can get ours.”
“I like this scenario,” he says huskily.
At my feet, Mule starts to wag his tail. My heart explodes into a thousand butterflies. I’m doing it—I’m trusting Sawyer. Trusting the universe.
I’m letting love win.
“Stay, pretty girl,” Sawyer continues. “Not so I can tie you down, but so we can be free. Together. Us and the girls. We’ll do whatever the fuck we want, be whoever the fuck we want, as long as we’re together. Because that’s what makes me happiest.”
I’m shaking and I’m laughing, tears rolling down my face. “That makes me the happiest, too.”
“Forever?”
“Forever. One condition, though.”
He reaches up to wipe away my tears. “Name it.”
“We have to have really ridiculous hotel sex at really ridiculous hotels at least once a year.”
Sawyer laughs. “I’ll bring the champagne.”
“I’ll bring the Tide pen.”
He’s still laughing when he leans in to kiss me. “Deal.”
Epilogue
SAWYER
Shower Sex and Surprises
Taking a deep breath, I shake out my shoulders. Tilt my head to one side, then the other, the sofa cushions groaning as I wiggle my body.
Ava laughs when my neck cracks. “You know braiding toddler hair requires significantly less effort than, say, working cattle, right?”
“Yeah, Daddy.” Ella looks up at me. She’s seated on the floor between my knees, her pretty blue eyes almost translucent in the morning light that slants through the family room windows. “It’s not that hard. Right Ava?”
“Right.” Ava reaches down to give her shoulder a squeeze. “We’re going to turn your daddy into a French braiding pro.”
“Can you do two braids?” Ella glances at Junie, who is seated on the floor between Ava’s knees. Ava patiently brushes the long blonde hair that courses down her back. “I want it to be like Junie’s was yesterday.”
I chuckle, even as my palms break out in a clammy sweat. Mule looks at me in sympathy from his perch by the windows.
“One braid at a time, Elly Belly Boo.”
“I’ll help him do two,” Ava leans down to whisper conspiratorially in her ear. “We’ll make sure it looks just like Junie’s did, I promise.”
It’s Monday morning. Eight fifteen a.m. A few months back, I would’ve dreaded this part of the day—the one where I shook off the cobwebs from the weekend and endured the crucible that was getting my three-year-old ready for school. A long week behind us, and another long week ahead.
Now?
I’m smiling like an idiot as I run a brush through my daughter’s hair. She yelps. Ava stops brushing her own daughter’s hair to grab a nearby bottle of detangler and sprays it on Ella’s hair.
“That will help,” Ava explains. “It keeps the knots from getting too big and hurting.”
Ella grins. “Thank you, Ava.”
“You’re so welcome, sweet girl.”
I’ve lived long enough to know my life is a dream right now. Ella is thriving. Her teachers tell me she’s really come out of her shell now that she’s in class with her bestie, June. Ava bonded with Ella right away, the two of them exchanging giggles and secrets like they’re best friends too.
Junie has become the second daughter I always knew I wanted. She’s so different from Ella with her extroverted personality and fearless approach to pretty much anything and everyone. But I adore her differences as much as I adore how much the two of them are alike. They delight in the smallest things. It’s easy to make them laugh. They both love arts and crafts, almost as much as I love sitting down with them while dinner’s in the oven to color or cut out shapes from construction paper—purple or pink only, obviously.