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“But you did it.”
“I did what?”
I took a chance and turned in his arms, staring up at him. “You survived.”
His jaw ticked. It did that whenever he was pissed or thinking about something serious.
I reached up, running my fingers along the muscle, the beating of it in tune with my heart.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
“I have to get Brynn cleaned up,” he murmured, closing the final space between us. “But I want you to remember.”
I let out a soft sigh at feeling him pressed up against me. “I remember.”
“Do you?” He stared down at me.
I looked away, fidgeting under his scrutiny.
“No.” He gripped my jaw in a rough move, forcing me to meet his dark eyes. “Tell me that you remember that we belong together. That I’m not going anywhere. That you need me and that I need you. Tell me, Piper.”
“I remember,” I gritted out. “I also remember your dirty and filthy words. Your delicious way that you like to use me to make you feel better. Your need to dominate—”
Brynn took that moment to start crying. She usually fussed right after eating. I was surprised she waited this long to interrupt us.
I shoved out of Jaron’s grip and stepped around him. No matter what happened or how much we fought, he was my safe place. He pissed me off, turned me on, and treated me like I was the only thing that mattered.
“Cyrus and Sammy used to come over for supper once a month,” I told him, grabbing a cloth to clean up Brynn. “We would talk about you and they would fill me in on everything they could. Sammy also told me that he tried convincing you to let me come and see you. But you never agreed.”
“I didn’t want those bastards seeing you. It’s bad enough I have to deal with friends who fucked you and probably wish they were still fucking you.”
I stared up at him, scanning his face. “You can’t seriously be jealous. I gave birth to your kid, Jaron.” I could feel the rage burning through me and I waited for it to blow, but luckily for us both, his next words stopped that from happening.
“No, I’m not jealous.” Jaron leaned down until he was eye level with me. “You want to know why? Because you gave birth tomybaby. I’m the only man you’ve let fuck you without a condom and I went to Paris for you.”
“I never asked you to do that.” He couldn’t possibly be blaming me for something I never suggested.
“I know that,” he said, his voice rough. “Fuck, Piper.” He pulled away from me and leaned against the wall opposite me. “Listen, I went to Paris because I needed to know that what I felt for you wasn’t just one-sided.”
“Really?”
“I did. When I told Cyrus and Sammy why we were going to Paris, they jumped on the idea. I only told them that I was going after you and they never asked any more questions. Even Sammy, and he hates the idea of a relationship. Or he did at the time anyway.” Jaron ran a hand through his hair, blowing out a huff. “What I’m saying is that,” he took a step toward me, “it’s you and me against the world, baby. I knew this would be hard, but I didn’t realize just how hard.” And that was the most honest thing he had said since he had been home.
“Do you think we’d still be here if you never went to Paris?”
He tilted his head, thinking a moment. “I’m not sure,” he finally said. “I’d like to say that if it was meant to be, which I know it was, then we would be here whether I went to Paris or not but maybe we’d have a harder time of it. Or you would be with someone else and so would I. But I’d like to take you back to Paris one day.”
“Since it started it all,” I finished for him.
“Exactly.” He closed the distance between us and placed a soft peck on my mouth. “It started everything.”
I cupped the back of his neck when he went to pull away and tugged him down harder, needing to feel him against me.
“Listen, I’ll go to the grocery store and grab some new formula,” Jaron murmured against my lips. “Anything else you need? What did you want for supper?”
It was on the tip of my tongue to ask if we could go out for dinner, but I hadn’t been out in so long, just the idea of being around people, sent a nervous flutter racing through me. Maybe over time that could happen.
“What is it?” he asked, tilting his head.
