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He didn't have to work at Forbidden, so we'd be together for the rest of the night. That might've been why he was so on edge. I began to worry I'd upset him this morning. Maybe he was going to kick me out because he just couldn't handle the way I had teased him. He'd already made it clear he wouldn't touch me again. My playful temptation could've come across as not so playful to him.
Julian turned into a little butt after supper, throwing things and crying when we didn't pick them up for him fast enough. Since Skylar wasn't causing any problems, I dumped her off with Pick and focused my attention on the boy, wondering what was up with the guys in this apartment. But I guess the little boy only wanted to hog all my attention because as soon as it was just him and me, he settled down and went right to sleep. Pick carried a sleeping Skylar in a few seconds later.
But with the kiddos down for a while, that just left the two of us.
I silently followed him into the living room, but he didn't sit. He paced from one side of the room to the other.
Leaning against the hallway entrance, I watched him, knowing this was probably it. He was going to give me my walking papers, except I wouldn't go down gently. I set my hand on my hip and lifted an eyebrow. "What is wrong with you tonight? Sit down before you wear a hole through the carpet."
He glanced at me, his gaze intense, but then he followed my order and perched himself on the edge of the couch where he wrung his hands together between his spread knees. He was so masculine and beautiful. Regret speared through me. I was going to miss him.
"I'm getting an annulment," he blurted out, jerking me from my doldrums.
My gaze shot from his tightly clasped hands to his nearly panicked expression. "What?"
He nodded, letting me know I'd heard him correctly. "And I'm asking Tristy if I can adopt Julian."
The breath left my lungs. I shook my head. "I . . . okay." Don't freak out. Just because this was the very best thing he could say to me right now, there had to be a catch. Somewhere. I took another small breath to calm down. "Um, do you think she'll agree to that?"
He lifted his hands in a slight shrug. "I don't see why not. She's been gone this long and hasn't checked in on him once."
I stepped fully into the living room, letting my hope grow. "But what if she says no?"
"Then . . . nothing. Nothing changes at all. I have no rights to him now as it is. If social services came in here tonight, they'd take him away. I've looked it up online and read everything I could find. Being his stepparent in this state means nothing. I am illegally harboring that child. So, remaining married to Tristy isn't accomplishing anything either. That finally struck me today. The only thing it's doing is keeping me from you."
I gulped. "So you're doing this because of me?" Oh my God! Yes, yes, yes!
He surged to his feet and went back to pacing. "I'm not being fair to you, Tink. I keep thinking about what you said the first night you decided to stay on and how you were worried about us being wrong. The last thing I ever want to do is make you worry about anything. But you have it right. Kissing you, wanting you, just being here with you while I'm legally bound to another woman . . . that's not what I should be doing. I don't want to belong to her in any way when my heart is yours."
"Oh." The word puffed from my lips in a stunned gasp. "Oh my God." I pressed my palm to my chest, hoping that could help slow the thumping of my heart, but it didn't help at all. My blood raced with ecstasy.
Moving my fingers up to my mouth as tears filled my eyes, I let out a nervous, scared, thrilled laugh. But, oh my God. Pick loved me. He'd just proclaimed his love in the sweetest, most romantic way ever.
"Then we're totally asking her." I shifted toward him a step and then stopped. "It can't hurt to ask, right?"
He took a step toward me, only to stop as well. Eagerness and uncertainty filled his brown eyes. "Can't hurt at all."
"Do you know how to find her?" I moved another step closer and he countered by doing the same.
"Not physically, but I have an idea of how to get in contact with her. If she's still logged into her Facebook account on the laptop she left behind, I could message her."
Overwhelmed by the realization that we might actually end up together after all, I darted around him to the couch to sit and soak this in just as he started to reach for me. Covering my face with my hands, I focused on taking deep breaths.
"Tink?" He sat next to me, sounding worried. "Baby, what's wrong? Do you not want—?"
"Yes!" I dropped my hands to face him. "I do. I want it . . . so much."
He took my hands and rubbed his thumb over my knuckles. "Then what's wrong?"
"I just . . . " I shook my head, not sure where to start. So I blurted, "Reese was the first person I ever really loved, like, I actually care more about her than I do myself. I only want to see her happy."
"Okay." He nodded, following along with me so far and letting me know he was willing to listen.
"And then, I guess, in a lukewarm cousinly way, I love Mason too . . . because he's so good to Reese and he let me move in with them when he hated me."
That one made him scowl, so I rushed to add, "And I love Skylar. Almost as soon as I knew she existed, she wormed her way into my heart." I waved a hand. "I mean, after I was finished freaking out because I'd just found out I was going to have a baby. But yeah, I fell for her pretty much immediately. "
Pick smiled and tightened his fingers around mine.
