Page 105 of The Devil’s Lair

She wraps both arms around my waist and tugs me back to bed. “Will need to get used to seeing her mama and her step daddy in bed together.” She bites her lip. “Unless you’ve had second thoughts about last night.”

“God, no. It was the best night of my life.”

“Then, get back under the covers and cuddle me.”

The most ridiculous grin takes up half my face. Rebecca rolls over, and I nestle against her back, draping my arm across her waist, my palm sneaking underneath the T-shirt she slept in last night. I grip her right boob.

“You have gorgeous boobs, by the way.”

Her shoulders shake on a laugh. “Thank you.”

“I mean it. I think I might spend the rest of the day clamped onto your right breast.”

“What about the left one? It could get snarky if it’s not included.”

“Hmm. Good point.” I slide my other arm beneath her body and grip her left boob. “Better?”

“Left boob says yes.”

I press an open-mouthed kiss to her shoulder. “Talking boobs? We could monetize that.”

She’s openly laughing now, her entire body shaking. “Isn’t that called OnlyFans?”

“They have talking boobs on OnlyFans? I should get a subscription.” Her elbow shoots back, catching me in the ribs. “Ow. Violence on a Saturday morning, Mrs. De Vil?”

“Deserved. No subscriptions to OnlyFans.”

“Hmm, okay, but only because you asked so nicely.”

She wiggles her bottom, and my dick jumps to attention. I groan. “Please stop that.”

“Don’t you like it?” There’s a waver to her voice, an uncertainty, and it reminds me that we’re both going to trip up as we navigate our new reality.

“I love it. You have no idea how much. But it makes me want to turn you over and bury myself inside you, and Isla will be up soon.”

She sighs. “True. Maybe this afternoon when she goes down for her nap?”

“It’s a date.”

On cue, Rebecca’s bedroom door flies open, and Isla bounds inside with the energy only kids and puppies seem to have in abundance. She climbs up onto the bed, and, as though this sight is the most normal in the world, crawls underneath the covers between Rebecca and me. I give my wife a look over the top of Isla’s head. Rebecca shrugs and makes a “Well, okay then” face.

“Good morning, pumpkin. How did you sleep?”

“Good. ”Isla wriggles herself into a comfortable spot, her head on my arm and her tiny palm resting on the top of Rebecca’s hand. It’s as though she’s been doing this every morning for her entire life. I stare at the crown of her messy curls, and something fierce swells in my chest.

Mine.

Not biologically. Not legally, even.

But mine in every way that matters.

Rebecca tucks the covers around Isla, her movements gentle, just as they were with me. Last night, she put her hands on me, and I didn’t balk. I didn’t get sick. I didn’t want to peel my skin from my body and set fire to it. Now she’s lying beside me, her daughter tucked between us, and it’s everything I never knew I needed.

I’m not healed, and I won’t be for a long time, but I’m taking the steps I need to in order to move past what was done to me and make sure I can be the sort of husband Rebecca deserves, as well as the kind of father Isla always should have had.

Rebecca brushes a lock of hair from Isla’s forehead. “Did you have good dreams?”

Isla nods and snuggles closer… to me. Her little hand grips my bicep, and I melt.