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“Because knowing how much my son loves you and his habits, he’ll be in here in another thirty minutes or so and I’d rather not have to give him a lesson on the birds and the bees quite yet,” I tell her grinning, then make my way back to my side of the bed, holding her close once again.
“You’re staying tonight?”
“Is that a problem?”
“No. I’ve missed you, Noah. I kind of thought after the other night that… Well…”
“I wanted to, but I didn’t want to push you too much. I wanted to give you time. I’ve hurt you a lot, Rory. I know that. I have way too much to make up to you. The last thing I want to do is to damage the progress I’m making—or at least trying to make.”
“Dani said something tonight that I keep playing in my head,” she whispers as I reach over and turn the lamp off and then snuggle my woman deeper into me.
“What’s that?”
“She said that once darkness touches you that you see and react to situations differently than others. That you can’t make your brain do anything else really.”
“She told you her story?”
“Every bit of it, while downing a lot of Jack.”
“She trusts you, Gorgeous. I don’t think she’s given that story to another soul. You should feel special to have gotten that from her.”
“I do. I admire her. She’s been through so much, much more than I. I don’t know how she’s still standing.”
“Crusher and her saw each other through it. It was a dark time, but together they came out strong—probably stronger than any other couple I know to be honest.”
“I can see that,” she says, her fingers moving in random patterns over my stomach.
“You have something on your mind,” I tell her, understanding that she needs to say something but is having a hard time verbalizing it.
“I saw things from my darkness, Noah, but I couldn’t see that you had your own kind of darkness you were dealing with and that it colored the way you reacted with me. I can see it now, at least much better than I did before,” she whispers and my heart fucking flips in my chest and my breath feels like it stops for a minute.
“Christ,” I mutter when I can finally get the word out.
“What?” she asks, startled.
“I love you, Rory. I love you so fucking much,” I growl taking her mouth hard and harsh, my tongue diving into her mouth and claiming all of her I can. It’s a kiss that’s steeped in emotion that I can’t find the words to truly express and Rory is right there with me.
When we break apart, Rory lays her head against mine, and she wraps her hand in mine, fingers intertwining.
“Noah?”
“Yeah, Gorgeous?”
“I…” She stops talking as the door opens and Ryan comes in rubbing his eyes. I reach over and turn the light back on.
“Rory, can I sleep with… Daddy?”
“Hey, Bub.” I grin. I love my boy, but right now I’m wishing he’d waited at least ten more minutes before making an appearance…. Maybe twenty.
“You guys having a sleepover?” he mumbles, tiredly. He walks over and Rory bends down helping him up on the bed. He crawls over her and gets in the middle of both of us.
“Something like that,” I say, grinning as I look over at Rory. She’s actually blushing yet again.
So fucking cute.
Ryan burrows under the covers between us and immediately turns on his side. Rory follows suit and her arm wraps around Ryan and just like that they’re in the position that I find them in every morning. It feels good to be here with them for a change. I turn on my side, knowing I can’t lie like that long, the position gets to my hip—but still, for a little bit I want to just look at the two most important people in my life. I’m getting better every day, but I definitely have limitations and right now I hate them even more. I brush Ryan’s hair away from his face and link my hand with Rory’s and we hold my son together.
“Are we watching a movie?” Ryan asks, his voice already full of sleep and his eyes closing.
“Not tonight, buddy. Tonight, we’re just going to sleep,” I tell him.
“Okay, Daddy,” he whispers. “Love you.”
“Love you too, Bub.”
“Love you, Rory,” he adds, his voice so full of sleep that it comes out ‘war-wee’.
“Love you, Baby,” Rory whispers back, kissing the top of my boy’s head with a smile so tender my heart aches.
This is it. My dream that has come to life. The things I’ve wanted for longer than I can remember are all right here and they’re mine.
I reach over and turn off the lamp so my family can sleep. And maybe so they don’t see the tears of happiness sliding from my eyes.
