Page 47 of Silver Lining Love

“So…it’s not a surprise party?”

“It is. You’ll understand when you meet her.”

She grinned, but then it fell.

“What?” I asked. “What’s wrong?”

“You said your mom invited us. I don’t want to go if you don’t want?—”

“I want you to go. I don’t want to go without you. I was considering canceling because I didn’t want to leave you guys. Even for a few days.”

Her face looked hopeful, but I noticed that her bottom lids were filling with moisture and her bottom lip quivered. “Really?”

“Really,” I assured her.

“You really want me and the kids to go home with you?” Tears spilled over her lids and slid down her cheeks.

“Yes, I do.”

She stood and walked over to me, climbed on my lap, and wrapped her arms around me. Her head nuzzled into the crook of my neck. She straddled me, and I held her as she cried into my shoulder. My hands ran up and down her back, but I made sure to keep them away from her ass. I was already dealing with a pretty significant boner. I didn’t need to bust out of my pants.

20

WHITNEY

“Hope is the only thing stronger than fear.” ~ Gamma Mary

As my happytears dried up, I sniffed and let myself absorb all of Wyatt’s strength, his security, his reliability.

Of all the things that I’d thought were hot about Wyatt over the years I’d known him, who knew that the one thing that would end up being the hottest was that he always did exactly what he said. His words and his actions always lined up.

I trusted Wyatt. Completely.

If he said he wasn’t going anywhere, if he said that he was in this with me and the kids, there wasn’t a doubt in my mind that he meant every word, and his actions would reflect that.

His large, warm hands were running up and down my back sending tingles spreading through my entire body.

For the first time, maybe ever, I had hope that everything was going to be okay. Even before my life had blown up, I’d never had this feeling. I’d always been waiting for the other shoe to drop. If things were going well, I wondered when it was going to all be taken away. If they were going bad, I wondered how much worse it would get.

The past year had only reinforced that way of thinking.

But right now, cradled in Wyatt’s arms, the anxiety that I’d had since I was a child wasn’t present. I felt lighter, freer than I ever had in my life.

I pressed my lips to the crook of Wyatt’s neck, and when I did, I felt his entire body shudder. His fingertips tightened against my lower back. Feeling his body respond to me infused me with boldness.

The night before, in the bathroom, I’d been so overwhelmed with what was happening that I’d allowed Wyatt to take the lead. But that wasn’t normally my style. I liked to take matters into my own hands. And mouth.

Leaning back, I moved my hands between us, and my fingers skimmed along the hem of his shirt. As I did, my knuckles grazed his zipper that was trapping his steel-hard shaft behind it. His eyes were dark with passion as he lifted his arms, and I tugged his shirt up and off his body.

When he was shirtless, he started to reach out for my shirt, but I moved back and then scooted off his lap. I knew that if he touched me, there was a very good chance the same thing would happen to me as had the night before. I’d be at his mercy, which wasn’t a bad thing, there was just something I wanted to do before I surrendered to him.

He watched me with a captivating intensity that heated me up faster than a Fireball shot. My hands were shaking as I reached for the button of his pants.

His hands covered mine as he looked over his shoulder. “What if Alice wakes up?”

“She was snoring when we left. She’s out.” I motioned to the monitor. “Plus, we would hear the door open.”

He nodded, and before he released his hold on my hands, growled, “Take off your shirt.”

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