Page 105 of Alec’s Dream

“Seriously, Macy, what other excuse do you have?”

“I want to come to you strong,” she mumbled. “Not because I was desperate and needed protection. You have to know I’m here because I want to be, not because I don’t have any other options.”

“Do you have other options?”

“Yes.”

“Do you want to be here?”

There was a long pause before Macy’s eyes lifted to meet his and he braced for her denial, which would’ve been a fucking lie that would’ve gutted him because he thought they were past the bullshit.

“Yes.”

Thank fuck.

“Then explain to me why you’d want to take Rory and Caleb, move them somewhere new, only to wait some arbitrary length of time before you move them back here? In case you missed it, honey, neither of them had a problem being here. Rory straight out said she was living here. Caleb wanted to know when the rest of his shit would be hauled over. Jocelyn gets you every day with the addition of the kids, you know she’s fine with it. I want you in my bed. I want Rory and Caleb here. You said you wanted to be here. So we got no problems, Macy. And just for the record, I will always protect you and those kids—whether you think you need my protection or not.”

“My parents haven’t even met you,” she grumbled, running out of excuses and losing the fight.

“They're back from their cruise tomorrow, invite them over.”

“My dad—”

“Wants you and his grandchildren happy. They’ll come over, he’ll see that they are, see you happy and safe, which in turn will mean he’s happy.”

“You don’t know my dad. He’s over-the-top protective.”

“Perfect, then we’ll get along just fine.”

“I put them through hell. He begged me not to marry Doug. He threatened to lock me in the basement until I saw reason. And when I didn’t listen to him, my parents spent years watching me, living it right alongside me, all the shit Doug put me through.”

“He shoulda made good on his threat, baby, and locked your ass away. But I suspect he’s happy he didn’t follow through, because then he’d be missing out on Rory and Caleb.”

“It’s scary when you do that,” Macy blurted out.

“Do what?”

“When you say things like that and I get all mushy inside. You make me believe I’ve found the mythical dream man that every woman from the time she’s a little girl makes up in her imagination. The one that’s perfect, made just for her. When I met Doug back in high school, I knew he wasn’t made for me, I knew I was settling. I knew I was doing it because I didn’t believe the man I’d conjured up existed. I thought I’d aimed too high, dreamed too big.” Macy stopped and something so achingly beautiful flashed in her eyes Alec couldn’t take a full breath. Goddamn, she was stunning. “If I’d known you were real, I would’ve waited.”

Fire seared through him, heated his blood, flooded into his bones, saturated the muscle.

“Fucking hell,” he roared and Macy jumped.

“Alec?”

“Waited a long fucking time for you. Didn’t think you were out there, Macy, so I gave up. Never thought I’d be the type of man who had it all so I stopped thinking about finding it. No way in fuck am I letting you pack those kids up and walk out the door. You’re mine. Those kids are mine. And that means Joss and I are yours.”

“Okay.”

Alec sensed there was more. So he waited with his chest burning, his heart pounding, the need to claim her—physically show her what she meant to him—was so damn overwhelming he shook with it. But he stayed where he was at, body tight, fists clenched and barely breathing.

“I…um…I think we need…”

Macy was shifting and looking uncomfortable and Alec was done with the distance so he closed in on her, pulled her to his chest, and wrapped his arms around her.

“Whatever you think we need, baby, all you gotta do is ask, yeah?”

“There need to be rules, Alec.”