“Oh God,” I moan, and he comes at me faster and harder. I never want to wake up from this dream. I have Tate and he’s saying everything I wanted to hear five years ago.
“Tell me you want that. Tell me you need it as badly as I do.”
“I do, I want that too.” I’ve never wanted anything more.
Tate fills me and I find my release expecting to wake up any second from my dream only reality sets in. This isn’t a dream. It’s really happening. Tate’s here and he really just fucked me stupid because here in his arms I don’t care about the past. I don’t care what’s happened in the five years we’ve been apart. We fit. We belong together.
“What are you doing?” Panic swells in my chest when he rolls off me and from the bed and grabs his jeans off the floor.
“Doing what I should have done five years ago.” I scoot to the edge of the bed and stare at him perplexed until he drops to one knee and produces a ring. “Amaya, baby. I know I messed up. I messed up so fucking bad. I know I have a lot to make up for, but this all ends now. We belong together. I had this great speech worked out in my head but fuck it. I love you and that’s what matters. I want you to be my wife. You’re it for me, it’s only ever been you.”
“Yes,” I whisper, tears rolling down my cheeks.
“I haven’t asked yet.” He grins and slides the ring on my finger.
“Shut up and kiss me, Tate.” His lisp meet mine and I know without a doubt that I’m so going to marry Tate King.
Epilogue
Amaya
5 years later
T
ate held true to his word. The night we reconnected, six weeks later, I discovered I was pregnant with our first child. A beautiful little girl, who looks so much like her dad, it scared me. I kept inspecting her when I got her home, because I was almost sure the doctor accidentally cut off a penis. Now that Leah is four years old, I no longer think the doctor made a mistake, instead I just tease Tate, he looks pretty as a girl. She loves dance as much as I do, and she attends ballet two days a week.
Two weeks after we made love again for the first time in five years, since the day I walked away from him, he dragged me to the courthouse. My man surprised me by having both our families there, and we got married. He seriously wasn’t fucking around anymore.
Now five years later, I look down at my twin babies. A boy and a girl. Both so precious. I told Tate I was done, no more babies. We have three, for me that’s perfect, but then he brought up a conversation we had years ago, in his family home. So, we have to try for one more. I did say, three kids, but if we have twins four. Such an idiot, I should have clarified that a little better. But now, I wouldn’t change it for the world.
I look over at my husband, and I smile as he attempts to change Tyson’s smelly diaper. He’s waving his hand around and gagging. I fight back a giggle. Tate seriously can’t handle changing shitty diapers. But that’s okay, because I seriously can’t handle puke. Taylor coos at me, and I stroke her cheek.
Valentina, Tate’s old agent, tried to cause problems at first. He apparently fired her only four days before the contract ended, and she lost her shit. Tried to say she was pregnant, tried to say our marriage wasn’t legal, because he was married to her. It was all bullshit, just an attempt to hurt me. She’s the reason he wasn’t there that night at my performance. The evil bitch convinced him that I had moved on and was secretly engaged to a dancer from the tour.
It later came out, she’d been lusting after Tate since his first college game, it’s the reason she went to him the second he was drafted. She sat on the sidelines for a year, whenever Tate would profess his love for me, she got angry. It also turns out her mother owns the dance company I danced with, and she was the reason for me getting picked for that tour in the first place. She wanted me out of the way.
I thought shit like that only happened in over the top drama books, or TV shows, but it happened to us, Tate and me. She’s currently in a mental institution getting help for her crazy ass, after she tried to break into our home when I was pregnant the first time.
She showed up in the maternity ward when I gave birth claiming to be a family friend and security believed her. She was throwing shit at me and screaming that my baby should be hers. That my daughter should be her baby with Tate. She was insane.
I had thought Keith was crazy, but Valentina takes the cake. They would make a perfect couple.
Tate smiles at me and I mouth, “I love you,” at him.
He finishes up with Tyson and puts him in his crib. I follow putting Taylor down and pray that they sleep through the night.
“What are you thinking so deeply about?” My gorgeous husband asks me.
“How I hope the babies sleep so we can get baby number four on the way.”
“Amaya, are you being for real?”
I nod chewing on my bottom lip.
“I love you.”
“I know you do,” I tell him, because I do. I know Tate loves me and the life we share.