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It's fine, though. My heart belongs in her capable little hands. When she's anywhere near me, I feel as if it's trying to beat out of my chest to get to her like in one of those damn cartoons. Every second, I'm a livewire, my synapses firing at the speed of light.
My words soften her expression, lighting those sky-blue eyes. She grins at me, genuinely at ease as she settles back against her seat. "What are we having for dinner?"
I run through a list of options in the fridge and quickly realize I don't have much of anything to work with unless I go grocery shopping first. Since I thought I'd be in Chicago this weekend, I've avoided going. "How do you feel about takeout, and I'll cook for you tomorrow?"
"Takeout from where?"
"First Class Pizza? The Trust Fund Café? The 5th Avenue Diner?" I ramble off suggestions.
"Pizza sounds good to me."
I use Bluetooth to call it in while she plays with her phone. I'm not sure who she's texting, but she mumbles to herself as her fingers fly across her screen, and then she laughs and types something else. She's so fucking cute. I don't think she knows how to be anything but sassy and playful. It's who she is at her core.
"What are you up to over there?" I ask after a minute, genuinely curious.
"Texting my sisters."
"Exactly how many sisters do you have?"
"Four."
"Jesus."
"We have a brother too."
"Your parents were busy," I mutter, shaking my head as I whip around an SUV going ten under. "I always wanted a bunch of siblings, but I was an only child. My parents are both surgeons. They didn't have much time for me. Honestly, I don't even know why the fuck they had me."
"My sisters and I are adopted," she says softly. "Um, we were taken away from our bio parents more than once. They left us to go grocery shopping the last time and just never came home. We were there for like a week before the neighbor found us."
"Jesus Christ," I whisper, my stomach twisting. I turn on the blinker to pull off onto the dirt road leading to my house. "That's fucked up, Leia."
"Yeah, it is." She sits in silence for a moment. "We were separated in foster care. Once Adalynn's foster parents realized she had four sisters, they demanded that we all be placed together with them." A smile enters her voice. "They adopted all five of us as soon as they could."
"Yeah?"
She nods, turning to smile at me. "Our parents are amazing."
Thank God. She deserves that. I don't know her sisters, but I know how much she loves them. I hear it in her voice, and see it written all over her face. They mean the world to her. I'm glad as hell they found a safe place to land, somewhere with people who love them the way they deserve. The shit they went through as little girls…no kid deserves that.
I understand how it shaped Leia, though. She's fierce because she had no choice. She's a survivor because she had to be. She went through something traumatic and horrific when she was just a little girl and came out with a spine forged from steel. Nothing stops her.
We bounce over potholes on the way up to the house. Leia sits forward, peering through the window in avid curiosity. I slow down a little to let her take it in. I live in an old farmhouse several miles outside of town. I've spent most of the last six months fixing the place up. It looks like a whole new house now, but I haven't done much with the inside.
"Wow," she whispers. "Your home is beautiful, Colter."
Is it too soon to hope like hell she wants it to be her house too? Because that's exactly what page I'm on right now. I can see her here, chasing our kids around in the big yard, making love on the patio, sassing me in the massive kitchen. Falling asleep in my arms in our bed. I want that so fucking badly I can taste it.
Who gives a shit if it's too soon? The only rules I've ever played by are the ones that keep me on the ice. The rest never mattered much to me. What people think, the things they say, none of that shit ever registered. Why should it now? This goddess isn't a puck bunny. She doesn't sleep around. I mean something to her. I don't think she'd be here right now if she weren't ready for the same thing. If anyone has anything to say about that, they can fuck right off.
I pull up in front of the doors and kill the engine, my hands still locked around the steering wheel. "It's not a home. Not yet."
"Oh. Why not?"
