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Fourteen
Em
Luca loomed behind me like a silent, roiling storm cloud while I changed Noa then cuddled her to me.
“This isn’t how this is happening,” he said quietly as I headed toward the kitchen to get her bottle.
“Luca…”
“No.” He shook his head. “I love you. I know it’s quick, but I fucking love you. I’m not gonna live here while you go back to Michigan to work with someone else’s kids while your daughter is right here. And you know she is. She adopted you the second you held her.”
I felt that way about Noa, too, even if I hadn’t ever admitted it aloud to him. And he loved me? I trembled as he stepped closer and gently, swiped away a tear that had escaped down my cheek.
“I do love her,” I murmured.
“Do you love me?” he asked, just as quietly. “Like I love you.”
“You love me?” I couldn’t help but ask it, though he’d said it twice now.
“I do. I didn’t even know something was missing in my life. I mean, I was never looking for love, my life was fine.”
“I know that feeling.” I’d been happy with the status quo, too. Since Luca, I’d been questioning everything. In fact, that was why I hadn’t answered Ardith yet. Despite what a huge change it would be, I didn’t think I could walk away from Luca. Or Noa, for that matter, but especially Luca.
“Then there was Noa. She changed everything in my life. Just a few months later, there you were, and you changed everything again. Made us better. Since you stepped into my life, I’ve just felt like everything is right. We are right. You and me. Us with Noa and whoever else comes along for us. And if that means I keep working remote from Michigan, that’s what will have to happen. Just don’t go. Stay with me.”
Hot shame burned through me. He’d change his entire life for me, and me? Even though it would be easier for me to make a move—I didn’t have a company of over a hundred people relying on me—I’d dug in my heels and been sure I’d have to find a way to walk away from Luca.
“You’d really do that?”
“I’ll do whatever it takes for us to be together. I just need you to stay forever.” He gave me a small grin that told me he knew he was pushing the envelope with this. But Maybe, I needed him to push me that way.
“I don’t want to go anywhere that you won’t also be.” When I’d talked to my mom, she hadn’t given me any advice other than to listen to where I really wanted to be, and when I closed my eyes, how I felt about each place. My old life looked gloomy and dull compared to being here. Home wasn’t a place. It was Luca and Noa.
“Good.”
Though she hadn’t eaten yet, the baby seemed content. Luca took her from me and settled her down to play on her nearby infant gym mat. She cooed while she tried to reach for the dangling toys above it, and Luca returned to me. He pulled me into his arms, and I went easily, tears brimming in my eyes and relief washing over me.
“I’m sorry. I just didn’t—”
Luca’s lips covered mine, desperate and hungry, stealing my words. I sank into him, my hands sliding up his chest while his arms tightened around me. I stopped thinking and just let myself feel.
“Just so you know,” he breathed when we pulled apart slightly, our foreheads touching, “This has nothing to do with you being Noa’s nanny. It’s about you being my woman. I want you to be my wife. And officially Noa’s mother. We belong together. Be with us, Em.”
My eyes widened. His wife?
“I’ll get the ball rolling for a permanent move to Michigan when I get into the office today,” he went on before I could say anything.
I extracted myself from his arms and took a step back, shaking my head. “You can’t keep working from Michigan. You need to be here with your staff.”
“Fuck that. You’re more important—”
My fingers softly pressed over his lips. This was one of those moments where everything changed in a split second. Though I’d been thinking of this for days, his words and determination changed my perspective from what I’d always believed. He didn’t need to make the sacrifice. I did. Was it really a sacrifice when I’d be getting him?
I met his eyes. “I love you.”
His body wilted as if he let go of the air he’d been holding. Or maybe it was his worry and tension sliding away and leaving us alone.
“I love you, Em. I love you so much. We’ll go whever—”
