Her gaze widens, then she snorts. “It’s annoying how you always read my mind.”
“L-e-n-a,” I warn, and she rolls her eyes. A gesture I’ll tolerate, but only from her.
“I’m waiting,” I remind her.
She searches my features and whatever she sees there must reassure her for she finally says, "It’s about children."
"What about them?"
"Do you want them?"
"Doyouwant them?"
She chews on the inside of her cheek. "Not right away, but at some point. I want your children, Jack."
I stare at her. Kids. Doing it all over again with her. With a woman who gets me better than anyone else. With someone who is my partner. With whom I can finally take off the mask I’ve worn for so long, a persona I’ve perfected over the years but which has felt so constraining of late. Now I know why.
I want more. I want life… as I had once hoped it would be. A future I’d thought would never be mine. A place I can call home, with someone whoishome. A unit. A family that belongs to me, and to whom I belong.
"I thought I was too old to start again." I lean in and brush my lips over hers. "But when I’m with you, everything seems possible. When I’m with you, I’m greedy, Lena. Greedy for you, for us. For what we are together. For the shared experiences that will be ours. For the hopes and dreams and laughs and tears and happiness and sadness and grief and joy… All of those highs and lows I’ve shied away from for so long. All of those emotions I could never share with Isaac and Tally" —I swallow— "that I want to open up and invite you to be part of."
"And our children," she murmurs.
"And our children," I agree.
"And Isaac and Tally, too?”
"And them. And their families” —I lower my chin— "on one condition…”
She looks wary. “Which is?” she finally asks.
“You move your books into the library.”
She laughs. “You do realize they’re spicy romance books, which may not exactly fit in with your classics?”
“Oh, they’re better than classics, considering I plan to enact each and every scene from these books in real life, with you.”
She draws in a breath. Her golden-brown eyes shine. “That’s the most romantic thing anyone has ever said to me.”
“And I’m just getting started.”
She sniffs.
"No more tears, baby." I kiss first one eyelid then the other. "No more wanting space, either. I want you in my corner. I want to be your backup. Without you, my days were long and lonely, but you burst into my life like a shooting star—all sparkly, and bright, and with so much to give. You dazzled me… You still dazzle me, Lena. You’re what turns my dreams of tomorrow into a reality I can’t wait to discover with you. Be mine, Lena. Stay with me, in my house, in my bed, in my heart, my soul. In every single fiber of my being. Be the mother of my children. Be my North Star… and my south, and my west, and my east. Be mine, Lena."
Her chin wobbles. She leans up and kisses me with so much passion, so much depth, so much emotion that my chest hurts. My heart stutters. My stomach seems to bottom out. My head spins. I kiss her back with everything I’m not able to put into words. I press her into the bed and she opens her arms, her legs, her heart, and welcomes me home.Thud-thud-thudmy heart slams into my chest, echoing the beat of hers.
Thud-thud-thud."JJ, Lena, you guys in there?"
"There’s someone at the door," she whispers against my mouth.
All at once, my phone vibrates, as does hers.
I freeze. We stare at each other, then pull apart at the same time. "Karma!"
"You scared us." My girl takes Karma’s hand in hers.
"That makes two of us," Summer says from the other side of Karma’s bed. Sinclair stands next to Summer, one hand on the back of his wife’s chair.