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“You were practically made for sex. And you’re very good at it.”
“Uh, thank you?”
“Don’t get cocky, Callahan.” Her voice was stern, but her mouth quirked up at the corner. “Do you want to know the moment I started falling in love with you?”
“Yes,” he whispered.
“At the engagement party. After Leo hauled Collin away and I freaked out. I expected you to snap at me to pull it together, but you didn’t. You asked me what I needed, and then you gave it to me. I don’t think you even realized what you did for me. How you grounded me.”
He hadn’t. He didn’t even understand it himself at the time.
“I tried to move you back to arm's length again after that. I was scared too. Scared you wouldn’t be able to take care of my heart if I gave it to you. But there was something about you that pulled at me,” she said, borrowing his words.
“When I asked you to go all in and you did, I thought this is it. This is our turning point where we finally both figure this out together. Finding those messages from Liam…they drilled into my worst fear. That this was all an act for you. Like the party, the interview, the wedding. That you were pretending to love me.”
“I should never have said that to Liam. It might have been true once, but it hasn’t been for a long time, and it wasn’t when I said it to him. I don’t want anyone else. Only you.” He chanced taking a step closer, reaching up to run his hands up and down her arms when she didn’t back away.
“It’s not just that I want you, Viv. I need you.” He took a deep breath. “I want to fight for you. For us. For our family.” He laid his hands over her stomach. “If you’ll let me. I want to start over. Right here. With you. Let me build us a solid foundation. Let me spend every day of the rest of our lives making it up to you.”
She turned to look out over the empty plot of land. “I have two conditions.”
His heart beat fast in his chest, and he tightened his hold on her arms. “Only two?" he swallowed a chuckle when she raised a brow. “What are they?”
“First. I want an obscenely large kitchen. I’m going to be very picky about it. This is a deal breaker.”
He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, cupping her face in his palm. “You can design this entire house to your exact specifications. Whatever you want, as long as it takes. What’s the second thing?”
Her eyes searched his for a long moment before she said, “I want you to be honest with me every day. No more games, no more lies, no more half truths. If we’re in this, we’re in this all the way.”
“You deserve all of that and more. I mean it, Viv. I’m going to spend every day of the rest of our lives showing you how much.”
“Well, then. I guess you better kiss me to prove it.”
Grinning, he reached down to wrap his arm around her waist, drawing her up onto her tiptoes to bring her face even with his and sliding his hand around to cup the back of her neck. When his lips met hers, she sighed, and for the first time in his life, he knew what coming home felt like.
Epilogue
8 months later
“Ihate everything about you. I never want to touch you again,” she vowed, even as she grappled for his hand when another contraction set in. “This is all your fault.”
“It takes two to tango. But you’re right,” he added when she sent him a scathing glare. “This one is all on me. It’ll never happen again.”
“Shut up,” she panted, collapsing back against the pillows as the contraction subsided.
He opened his mouth to speak, and she silenced him with a warning look.
“I swear to Christ, Callahan, if you are about to tell me I’ve never looked more beautiful, I will cut your dick off and beat you over the head with it.”
The nurse who came in to check Viv’s vital signs chuckled. “Things sound like they’re going well in here.”
“Swimmingly,” Aidan said. “What if it is true?” Aidan wondered once the nurse made notes on the chart at the end of the bed and left. “That you’ve never looked more beautiful.”
Viv slanted him a look out of narrowed eyes. “Then I’d say you’re a liar.”
He leaned down to kiss her forehead. “Mmm. Well. Agree to disagree.”
It was true, though. She was beautiful when she cursed his very existence as the contractions got closer together and became more intense. She was beautiful when he climbed onto the bed behind her to support her when she pushed. She was beautiful when the doctor laid their daughter on her chest. She was everything.
