Page 138 of Driven Daddy

But then I shut my eyes and tipped my head back, forcing my muscles to relax. She’d never had anyone in her corner before.

Remembering that, I lowered my chin to look at her again. “Duchess, you aren’t alone anymore.”

Her green eyes went shiny, but because she was Rita, there weren’t any tears falling.

Just brimming there as she held herself so tightly.

“I’m scared too,” I said hoarsely. I swallowed hard. “But not about loving you.”

She sucked in a startled breath.

I glanced at the pile of tissue behind her wrapped as tightly as she was around herself. “That answer right there doesn’t change that. I promise you that.”

“Penn…”

I shook my head. “It doesn’t matter because it just accelerates our schedule. I didn’t think I would ever find anyone that made me think about a future beyond the next publishing release. But I have been.”

I took a single step closer to her.

“I’ve been imagining mornings wrapped around you. About how many weird flamingos I can find for you. About this ridiculous bougie coffee pour-over thing I found that actually looks like a mad scientist’s lab because I knew it would make you laugh.”

I took another step.

“About moving back to Crescent Cove permanently and building us a house where you can find limitless corners to put yourself in weird positions to write.”

She lifted a hand to cover her mouth as those tears got bigger, but they still didn’t quite brim over.

“Because making you happy is even bigger than worrying about Duality Press. It’s bigger than me making myself crazy with the nextKnights of Chaos. It’s bigger than anything I ever imagined. And that girl today that mentioned changing up my story wasn’t just talking about Moksha. She could have been talking about me.”

I stood in front of her and placed my hand on her middle. I wanted to crush her to me, but I needed her to come to me. In this moment, it needed to be us coming together equally.

She glanced over at the wrapped pregnancy tests, then to me.

“Help me write that happily ever after this time, Duchess. Please.”

She dropped her hand and stepped into me, wrapping her arms around my shoulders until we were so fucking close.

Until there was nothing but her heartbeat between us.

And maybe a little heartbeat on its way to becoming both of us.

“I love you, Penn,” she said against my neck.

“Thank God.”

The sob that came out of her rocked me, but I held on. Much like the first time she was vulnerable with me about her past, I let her cry through the hope of something new.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“Don’t be sorry.” I pulled her back to let her see my own wet eyes. “Loving someone for people like us is too big to keep inside. I didn’t have to be alone like you did, but I always felt a little apart from my family. Living in my head was easier than living out there in the world like they did. Loving so easily like they all seem to.”

She lifted a shaky hand to cup my face and brushed away the tears clinging to my lashes. “I’m not sure it’s easy for anyone. I know it isn’t for me. Everyone leaves.”

“Not everyone. You have me.” I sniffed and pressed her against me. “You already have my family. You have Colette and Bridget. You have all those people that love your words. You’ll never have to be alone again, Rita Savage.”

She pressed her lips together as those tears ran unchecked.

Then I moved back just enough to cup her stomach. “And maybe this right here. Maybe a little bit of both of us.”

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