Page 41 of Broken Promises

Harlow nods as if she expected that answer. I know they’re pretty close, so I’m not too surprised. I am a little worried I shouldn’t have said anything, but I’m so over secrets tonight.

“Why do you call her Princess?”

“Because when I first met him, I said ‘Hi, I’m Willa Prince, but I’m not a prince. I’m a princess.’” Willa walks into the room, a tired and sad smile on her face when she looks at me.

I hand Harlow the last dish, dry my hands and walk straight up to my wife. Grabbing her face in my hands, I kiss her like I’ve wanted to all night. I try to show her how much she means to me and that we’re going to be okay.

“And I said, ‘yes, Princess.’”

“So, does this mean we can go to his games?” I turn to see Cal coming into the kitchen with Cora in his arms. He goes straight to Harlow, pulling her into him too.

“Of course. You let me know when and how many tickets you want. You won’t be able to sit with Willa, though. She sits with Gideon’s wife in her season ticket seats.” Unless Maggie’s parents don’t go. I don’t want to give Cal false hope, though.

Cal smiles. “That’s even better. I went to a few University of Maine games with her and her dad. She’s terrifying to watch with. And a little dangerous. I got an elbow to the nose oncebecause I was too close when the player from the other team tripped our center.”

I laugh and squeeze Willa to me. “That sounds like my girl. You should see the long texts I get after every game.”

“You do realize that I’ve been sending you those texts after every game for nine years, and you’ve still barely listened to me.” Willa smiles up at me, and I would have to be blind to miss the affection there.

“I’ll do better,” I promise her.

“Ready to go home?” she asks.

“Thank you for tonight. Even though you had no idea I was coming. I still had a lot of fun,” I tell Cal and Harlow.

“It was nice to meet you, Declan,” Harlow says.

Willa takes my hand and pulls me towards the door. “Where’s the fire?”

“I want to take you home,” she says. I swear my heart skips a beat at that.

“What about Jo?” I ask. Not that I’m expecting too much, but even if we’re just talking through what happened tonight, I’d like privacy.

“She’s staying here tonight.”

I sweep her up into my arms the moment we step outside. Willa’s house is right next to Cal’s, so I’m at her door within a minute.

“Code, Princess.”

“Zero eight one four.” Her mother’s birthday.

As soon as I have her over the threshold, my mouth is on hers. I let her slide down my body so she can stand, but she pushes away.

“Dec, wait. I wanted to apologize. I swear I never intended to hurt you.”

I grab her chin and force her eyes to meet mine. “There’s something you need to understand, Willa. You’re mine. You canrip my heart out and run it over for all I care because it’s yours. There is nothing you can do that will stop me from wanting you.”

She gasps and the sound goes straight to my dick. I take her lips again, trying to swallow all her sounds. I kiss her again quickly before pulling away.

“Where are we sleeping?”

She takes me upstairs and leads me to the first bedroom. “We’re definitely going to need your bed.”

Willa’s bedroom is large with white birch floors and dark wood furniture. The walls are the same emerald green as my eyes. That makes me smile. Maybe Harlow was right.

“I’ll get it moved here as soon as I can, but I’ll enjoy having you snuggled against me until then.”

“Just snuggling?” she asks, biting her bottom lip. I pull her to me and kiss her softly at first, then deeper.

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