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“Christopher and Max, thank you for teaching me the value of pranks. Life at Casa Bennett would have been dull without them. Never lose your humor. We need the next generations of Bennetts to take after you.”
Lastly, I turn to the younger pair of twins. “Blake and Daniel, you were my partners in crime, but also my silent protectors. Yes, I know all about those times you sabotaged my dates in high school and after I returned from college. I know you thought you were smooth about it, but you really weren’t.”
They flash me sheepish grins, not looking sorry in the slightest.
“Well, thank you for doing it. Every sabotage brought me one step closer to Alex.” I glance at my husband, who stands up the moment I utter his name. “I love you more than I can say. But I’ll be happy to show you every day.”
As everyone starts clapping, I lower the mic, gazing up at him. “I promise to always have a smile for you and to believe in us.”
“We’re going to have a wonderful life, Summer.”
He pulls me in a long, passionate kiss. Heat level?
Though the roof.
Epilogue
One year later
Summer
I can’t stop watching them. I’m half hidden by the doorframe, drinking in this moment of bonding between father and daughter.
Alex sits in the armchair next to Libby’s bed, and our daughter is sleeping soundly on his chest. He sang to her right until her little eyelids closed. For a week, this has been the only way Libby would fall asleep, and we need her to take her morning nap before we leave to go to my parents’ house. I promised myself every day that I wouldn’t spy on their special moment, and every day I failed.
I hold my breath when Alex rises to his feet, returning Libby to her crib.
The day Alex first held Libby, who looked like a red and wrinkled burrito against his enormous body, I fell in love with him all over again. Being on the receiving end of his affection is pure bliss, but watching him with Libby fills me with a different kind of joy altogether. My heart grows in size every time he plays with Libby, or kisses her forehead, or just holds her. I try to duck behind the door, but it’s too late.
“You’ve been spying again,” he says as he pulls me out of the room.
I search my mind for a real excuse, as I have all week—I’ve come up with some stinkers such as “I was just passing,” or “I thought I heard something,” or “I needed something from my room”—then decide to own up to it from the get-go.
“Guilty.” I lifted my arms, lacing them around his neck. “But you both look so adorable! I just can’t help it.”
He brings his hand to my cheek, pressing his thumb on the bow of my upper lip. Then he kisses me there, and when he pulls back, my breath catches.
Sometimes he looks at me with lust, sometimes with tenderness, and sometimes, like now, I see something in his eyes I can’t quite decipher, but it tugs at all my heartstrings. He angles my face up, kissing me deep and hot.
Lowering both hands to my hips, he guides us backward down on the corridor. I chuckle when I realize where he’s taking us.
“I’m already dressed for my parents’ party. What do you think you’re doing?”
“If I get my way, I’ll be making love to my wife in a few minutes. And we both know I always get my way.”
I narrow my eyes, attempt to glare... and fail. I’d point out how smug that assumption is, but he does get his way when it comes to activities of the wicked and hot variety.
It isn’t my fault that the man is hotter than sin though. Or that I grow more susceptible to him as time goes by.
Okay, so maybe that is my fault, but I can’t own up to that, or I’ll never hear the end of it.
I pull him in for another kiss, sighing against his mouth. He makes sure to close the door to our bedroom once we’re inside. “You look beautiful, Summer.”
“It’s a new dress.” Pink chiffon, with a trim bodice and a layered skirt. “I managed to buy it in my old size.” I twirl once and, when I come to a stop, notice Alex has moved closer. He’s right in front of me.
“You’re beautiful in any size, Summer.”
He brings his hand to my belly, caressing it, the way he used to do when Libby was inside. He even made up a song for her, and she kicked the first time when he sang it—even if it was terribly off tune, but I didn’t have the heart to point it out. “Our Libby grew in here. She came out strong and healthy, like you.”
