Page 96 of Fall Love

“She’s still sleeping,” I say, my voice quiet.

“Need anything?” he asks, emphasizing the question with a soft squeeze to my shoulders.

He’s so good to me. So attentive. I almost don’t know what to do with all the emotions I’ve been storing up inside me. Like a heavy pile of leaves I expect to be blown away with a strong breeze.

That fog inside me shifts to sunshine when he’s near me. The simplest action from him brightens my day.

“I’m gonna get something to drink.” He squeezes my shoulders one more time, then excuses himself for the kitchen area. I glance over my shoulder, watching him walk away. He’s wearing gray sweats and a fresh, dark T-shirt, and I admire the muscles in his back. His ass isn’t too bad, either.

“You just gave him plus twenty for those gray sweats, didn’t you?”

I spin back for my sister and laugh at her pulling out our rank game. She knows me so well.

“He’d earn an extra five if he were wearing a backward baseball cap.”

But it doesn’t matter what Tate wears. A suit. A flannel shirt. A racecar driver costume.

He has more points than I could ever count.

CHAPTER 34

[Tate]

Neve and I exist in a bubble of our own making. And any second, I expect that bubble to burst, because of what I’ve been holding back. Something I desperately want to tell her but can never seem to find the right moment to share. It isn’t just that Wren consumes us, it’s that Neve and I seem so steady, so happy, and I don’t want to do anything that will shatter what we have. I don’t want to do anything to lose her.

Still, I need to be honest with her. I want to be honest, but I worry what it will do to what we’ve become to each other. Or what she’s become to me. Because after I share what I know, I want to share how I feel. It’s time to tell Neve how much I love her. How much I want a future with her.

With that thought in mind, I want to do something special, just for Neve and me, especially as we pass the three-week mark since Wren’s birth, and I need to return to New York soon for a few days. I transitioned into remote mode, finding it more difficult than it’d previously been because Neve and Wren are here twenty-four seven.

Which is exactly where I want them to be.

Every year for Sweetest Day, Over the Hill Farm hosts a barn dance.

Neve doesn’t want to attend, arguing the holiday was contrived by a greeting card company and has no meaning. She also isn’t ready for a babysitter, especially as she’s still nursing, and I don’t blame her. I don’t want to hand Wren over to anyone either.

Even though I want to give us a night out, give us a parent break, I don’t want to share Neve either.

I want her to myself.

So, I tell her to take a long shower and change into something comfortable. Maybe one of my flannel shirts. Maybe a fun dress.

“Do I look like I wear dresses?” she grouses.

Okay, wrong suggestion. I just want her to put on something that makes her feel pretty. But I admit the truth, “You could wear a potato sack, baby, and you’d still be the most beautiful woman there is.”

The touch of pink in her cheeks says I’m forgiven for the dress suggestion.

“Scoot,” I tease, slapping her ass and nodding toward the staircase.

I need an hour to set things up, and once she’s upstairs, I send a text telling her not to come down until I call her. I’m not exactly certain if my plan will work. Wren is temperamental in the evenings, but I’m still hoping for an hour with my other girl.

Just us.

Once I’m ready, I give Wren a bottle and get lucky that she passes out. I set her in the portable crib we keep in the living room, ensuring we’ll be able to see her from the porch. Then I call Neve and tell her to come downstairs.

To my surprise, Neve is wearing a dress of sorts. She has on another one of my flannel shirts, cinching it with one of my belts at her waist. She isn’t wearing leggings. Instead, she has on a pair of combat boots.

“Rosie,” I whisper, because the outfit looks tough, which is fitting for Neve, and takes my breath away. “You’re so fucking hot.”