“I’ll be there in a minute, Noah,” Fury says, not taking his eyes off me.
“I feel that, too,” I say softly as those butterflies kick it up a notch. God, how I feel that. “I thought I hated the last four years, but now I know we needed them. We weren’t ready for each other before, but now, now we’re ready.”
Fury and I are exactly where we’re meant to be. Everything has happened how it should have. All the hurt and confusion and mess was worth it.
I rebuilt myself so I could take on the world with confidence and self-belief. What I never knew was that this new me would feel so good with Fury. Four years ago, I desired him in the way a naive eighteen-year-old girl wants a guy. Now I want to know his body, but I also want to know his hopes and dreams and hurts and fears and every little part of his soul that makes him the man he is.
“Daddy!” Noah’s voice reveals his growing frustration.
Fury brushes his lips over mine one last time before nodding. “Now we’re ready.” With that, he leaves to go to his son.
I stay resting against the wall, catching my breath. I don’t know what the future holds, but I do know I’m strong enough to handle anything. I also know that while life is messy, that mess is easier to cope with when I have my people by my side. And four years ago, Fury became one of my people. He might have removed himself from my life for a beat, but the thing about our people is that it doesn’t matter the length of time we go without each other; coming back together is like coming home.
36
Zara
* * *
Fury: Are you still a midnight girl?
Me: LOL. Yes. Are you still an insomniac?
Fury: Yeah.
Me: Gah. Not even Noah can exhaust you enough for sleep?
Fury: No, though he tries.
Me: I bought a plant today.
* * *
He calls me. “How the fuck do we go from talking about sleep straight into plants?”
I grin as I squeeze my thighs together. It’s been just over twenty-four hours since I’ve heard his voice, and I can’t even put into words how good it is to hear it again. After we told each other how we’re feeling last night, we had dinner and shared pieces of our life with each other while Noah kept us entertained. Noah was way too tired to stay much past dinner, so we didn’t get any more alone time before they went home. I haven’t heard from him today and have spent the day thinking about him. I was disappointed he didn’t call or text, but I reminded myself he’s a single dad with very little time for anything but Noah and Storm. This midnight call lights up my night.
“Well, I was thinking about being tired because I didn’t get much sleep last night, which made me think about how tired I was this morning, which made me think about what I did this morning, which made me think about buying the plant.”
“All that in the space of a few seconds?”
I grin again. “Yeah.”
“Jesus, how the fuck are you a midnight girl? All that thinking you do should knock you out early.”
I like how he calls me a midnight girl. I also like the playful tone in his voice. And I really like the rumble that goes with that playfulness.
“You’d think so, wouldn’t you? It doesn’t help when my thoughts are all about a guy I can’t get out of my head.”
The playful tone disappears from his voice when he says, “That’s why you didn’t get much sleep last night?”
“Yeah.” It breathes out of me because that rumble in his voice has shifted to a deep gravel that shoots need through my veins. God, I wish he was here in this bed with me.
“I didn’t get much sleep last night either.” He might be an insomniac, but everything about the way he says this lets me know his being awake had nothing to do with his inability to sleep.
“So you wanna know what kind of plant I got?” If we don’t shift this conversation, we’re both going to spend the night frustrated with need.
He chuckles. “Tell me.”