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Chapter Twenty-Five
Payton
“What?” I ask. Well, choke out is more like it.
“That’s bullshit.” He turns me in his lap so that I’m practically facing him. “There is so much more to you than your ability to have a baby, Payton. You are the most loving, fiercely loyal, gorgeous woman I’ve ever known. You’ve proven how smart you are by successfully running your own business. You’ve shown me more patience and love when you interact with my daughter than anyone else who is around her. The fact that you may not be able to have a baby has nothing to do with you as a woman. You’re still an incredible person.”
I try to swallow, but it gets caught in the golf ball lodged in my throat.
“Do you hear me?” he asks. Something warm and comforting wraps around me as he slides his hands up the sides of my face and into my hair. His grip tightens, not enough to hurt, but enough to let me know that he’s here, beside me, with me. If I weren’t able to feel it in his touch, I can see it plain as day in his eyes.
“I hear you,” I whisper, sniffling and probably looking all gross and shit.
“If you were, someday, able to give me a baby, it would make me the happiest man alive. But do you know what? That doesn’t define you. That doesn’t define us. The truth is, I love you, with or without a baby in our future.”
There’s no controlling the stream of emotions falling down my face. Closing my eyes, I hold tightly to his words, reliving them each time he repeats them. And he does. He tells me over and over that he loves me as he pulls me against his lips and claims mine with his own.
My heart breaks wide open, a new euphoria that I’ve never known filling my entire being. His lips are soft but urgent, his tongue coaxing my mouth open. The kiss is so much more than a kiss. It’s a declaration.
Gripping the front of his shirt again, I let myself get swept away by the moment. He tilts my head slightly, lining himself up perfectly to deepen the kiss. I finally feel myself letting go of everything: the past, the questions of the future, everything. It’s just him and me, together.
Well, us and an adorable little girl who will forever hold my heart.
Eventually, when we’re both breathless and delirious, he slowly pulls back, licking and nipping at my swollen lips. “Let’s take a moment to recap, shall we?” Kiss. “You might not be able to have a baby.” Kiss. “You were going to break-up with me tonight so that you could spare me the agony of saddling myself to a baby-less life with you.” Kiss. “I’m in love with you, so all of that doesn’t fucking matter.” Kiss. “Because.” Kiss. “I.” Kiss. “Love.” Kiss. “You.”
Best. Kiss. Ever.
“I’m not letting you end this, Payton. I don’t know where this is going to end up, but I know where I hope it’ll go. I knew the first time you walked into my conference room that you were different. So I plan to spend the rest of my life proving to you that you can be happy and that I can be happy, even without a baby. Because, as long as I have you, I’m happy.”
“You love me?” I ask, pleading with him to confirm once more what I already know.
“I do. I fell in love with you when we were in Richmond, sharing a hotel room.”
Closing my eyes, I savor the words. Sure, my sisters say it, my dad says it, and my grandparents say it. But hearing Dean tell me he loves me? Trumps everything. Cole used to tell me all the time, but over the years, it became more out of routine and with less feeling. Now that I look back, it got to the point where neither of us really said it at all in the end.
“Do you know what?” I ask, wrapping my arms around his neck.
“What?” he whispers, his breath fanning across my chin.
“That actually works out really well for me because I love you too.”
His eyes light up with excitement as he offers me the biggest grin ever. “Yeah?”
“Oh yeah. I’m pretty sure I started to fall for you in Richmond too,” I confirm.
“Those were two amazing nights.” He pulls me in and nuzzles my nose.
“I loved waking up beside you in the morning.”
“I loved falling asleep with you in my arms.”
“No interruptions.”
“No time restraints.”
“Just you and me and a whole lot of nakedness.”
“Those were my kinda nights.”
