I move around until I’m facing him but then stop. “I feel like I have whiplash.”
He smiles, and those dimples I love are there just for me. “Big day. I don’t have any regrets. You?”
Some of my nerves quiet down. “No. None.” It’s true. Not one. Still, I bite my lip. “But I want to talk about something.”
He pats the spot next to him. “I figured.”
I sit, but apparently, it’s not close enough. Because Luc hooks one arm around my back and swings my legs across his with the other. And some more of my nerves settle. He’ll understand. He always does.
“What is it?” he asks. “You think we’re moving too fast?”
I shake my head. “I mean, it’s fast, but it feels right,” I say. “Now that we’re here, I can’t imagine being anywhere else.”
His smile grows, and he nods. “Me too. And I want to stay tonight.” He searches my face for my reaction. “If you’re okay with that.”
Not smiling is impossible. So is not blushing. “I’m okay with that.” I swallow. “And you can move in whenever you’re ready.”
His arm around me pulls me closer against him. “Tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow,” I say with a nod. “Perfect. I’m off tomorrow.”
His eyes glint. “I know.”
The promise in those two words makes a welcome heat prickle over my skin. What are the chances that any of the kids will come downstairs tonight? But I don’t get the chance to calculate them.
“You wanted to talk about something?” Luc prompts.
My nerves rush back single file. “Um, yeah.” I sit up a little straighter and clear my throat. No sense in dragging it out. If he’s offended, he’ll let me know. “I don’t think I can take your name.”
His puckered brow tells me this wasn’t at all what he expected me to say. “Why not?”
I bite my lip. My heart thumps clumsily.“Millie Valencia?I-It sounds like that poser band from the eighties.”
His frown pinches tighter. Then his eyes fly open.“Milli Vanilli?”And just like that, he’s laughing.
Really laughing.
I sigh. “When it comes to names, I’m kind of cursed.”
His laughter quells as he nods. “Yeah, baby, that curse I won’t argue with.”
I get a tingle deep inside. In a place that could never be cursed. One that could only be blessed, and one I now desperately hope carries a blessing we’ve made.
Luc pulls me to him and plants a kiss on my lips. I think it’ll be a quick one, but he slows it down, draws it out, and nibbles on my bottom lip before deepening the kiss again.
When I’m half breathless and hoping the kids are sound asleep, he pulls back.
“I don’t need you to take my name, Mildred Agnes Delacroix,” Luc says. “As long as you take me.”
“Oh, trust me Luca—” I pause. Frown. “Wait. I don’t knowyourmiddle name. How did that happen?”
I can’t believe it. Luc blushes. He actually blushes and says nothing.
“Luc, what’s your middle name?”
“It’s Hugo.”
I blink.“Oogo?”I repeat. Because it sounds like he just saidOogo.
