Page 66 of Flawless

“Why do we need rules or boundaries?” My hands were resting on her hips and I wanted to pull her even closer. “Why can’t we just give ourselves permission to do what feels right? Agree not to read too much into it and⁠—”

“I grew up with a mom who ‘just went with it’ remember?” she asked, making air quotes around the words. “I won’t do that to our baby. I want him or her to feel safe and secure. To know we’ll always love them, and be there for them, even if we’re not a family, in the traditional sense.”

I wanted more than anything to give this woman the family she’d never had, or even known she wanted. I wanted to show her what it meant to be with a man who stayed when things got hard.

“So, we just go with it until our baby is born,” I suggested, tipping her chin, forcing her to look me in the eye. “That should give us plenty of time to figure this thing out.”

“I’m scared,” she whispered. “You broke my heart before. How do I know you won’t do it again?”

Her raw vulnerability cracked my heart wide open. “I can’t ask you to trust me, Ry.” I tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, before resting my hand against her cheek. “Trust is earned. The proof that you can trust me will add up, one day at a time. If you’ll let it.”

“What would this even look like?” she asked, tipping her head to study me.

“No labels, just doing what feels right.” I let that sink in before I added, “Kissing when it feels right.” I let my gaze linger on her lips. “Making love if that’s what we want to do. Calling me in the middle of the night when you can’t sleep. Asking me to spend the weekend when you don’t want to be alone.”

“That sounds a lot like a relationship. It sounds like what we had.”

I couldn’t deny I wanted that back more than anything, but I didn’t feel I’d earned it. Rylee deserved a guy who would fight for her, and I hadn’t. I deserved to suffer for that.

“It’s whatever you want it to be. And when our baby is born, if you just want to go on being friends, I’m okay with that too.” It would kill me, but I’d rather be her friend, the father of her baby, than not be in her life at all.

“And if I want more?” she whispered, leaning in to tease my lips with hers. “If I want you in my bed every night? If I want you with me and our baby all the time?” She deepened the kiss. “If I can’t get enough of you?”

“Then I’ll be here.”

I couldn’t stop kissing her, even though I’d just offered to upend my life if that’s what she wanted me to do. But I’d be upending my life to be a dad. To be her man. And that meant more to me than any job, or any title ever would.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Rylee

“I want you,” I whispered in his ear, dragging my tongue down his neck as my hands explored under his shirt. “I’ve been fighting this since we broke up, but I can’t fight it anymore. Please…”

I was peeling off layers, mine and his, without waiting for a response. But the hungry look in his eyes told me all I needed to know. He was definitely up for this.

He was laving my sensitive breasts with his tongue, making me gasp and plead as I tugged on his hair. As my guard crumbled, I eased down slowly, allowing him to fill me completely as our eyes locked.

Rocking back and forth gently, watching his eyes drift closed as his hands dug into my hips, guiding me. I felt a rush of possession, knowing I would be the first, and hopefully only woman to give this man the baby he’d been wanting for so long.

Knowing I couldn’t hold back with him, I whispered, “I can’t wait to have your baby.”

He groaned, letting his head fall back. “You don’t know what that does to me. How much it turns me on…” His gaze slid over my stomach before his hands did too. “How much I want this baby… with you.”

“Tell me.”

“Tell you?” He was tweaking my nipples, his voice raspy when he demanded, “You want me to tell you how stoked I am that you’re pregnant? How I can’t wait to watch your belly swell…” He grabbed me, kissing me hard. “With my baby.”

His words ignited something primal in me. Stirring a longing that had been buried under years of fear and doubt. “I’ve been waiting for this…” I was bracing my hands on his shoulders, riding him hard, as I spilled the truth. “For someone to love.” I stilled, captivated by his blue eyes. Wondering if our baby would have them too. “I fell in love with our baby the second the doctor confirmed I was pregnant.”

He eased me back on the deep couch, bracing his weight on his forearms as he entered me slowly, his eyes never leaving mine. “This was meant to happen, Ry.” His movements were slow, controlled, but mind-blowingly intense. “You. Me. This baby. It was fate.”

I nodded, feeling the same way he did.

My hands were gliding up and down his back as he made love to me slowly, as though he was healing all our past hurts with every stroke.

“I’ll always keep you safe, sweetheart. Both of you. I promise.”

His words made my eyes burn with tears because I’ll keep you safe are words I hadn’t known I needed to hear until I heard them leave his lips. And knowing I could always count on him to keep our baby safe… meant everything. Every baby deserved a daddy like him, who would go to battle with anyone who tried to hurt them. The kind of father I’d never had.