Page 74 of One Love

“Is this your man?” I look over at the tiny little woman whose eyes are bulging right out of her head in shock and fear. She nods.

“Do you have children?” She shakes her head.

“Do you want children?” There goes the nodding again.

“Hmm, I’m a generous guy. Next time you want to insult a lady, think about your future children and the fact that you may have lost them today.” Pressing just a little to make my point, I grin, wink, then step away under the moans and curses of half the nearby spectators. There are phones pointed our way, no doubt about to go viral, but I’m careful to hide my face enough not to get caught full on.

When we reach J’s bike, Hallie grabs the helmet we bought for her a few weeks ago from the top case. It took me two hours to convince J to buy it using the argument that Hallie’s safety was more important than the aesthetic of the bike. I may have insulted her, but before she could maim me, I kissed the fuck right out of her and she forgot to be pissed.

“Meet me back at my place? I wanna show you something.” With my hands shoved deep inside my jeans pockets, I’m suddenly nervous, worried this will all backfire on me.

J looks at Hallie who shrugs. Fucking teenagers and their ability to say a thousand words with one gesture. Problem is, depending on their moods, those words could be a million different things, which means the probability of getting it right is next to nothing.

“Hey, Kid, I don’t speak teen yet. Is that a yes or a no?” Fuck, I love this woman.

“Sure. Least we could do after ruining his night out.” Hallie beams at me, teeth and all. “Sorry about that but we didn’t need to have a live action show play out in front of fifty phones over there.”

“Hallie to the rescue. You are your mother’s daughter…Sugar Booger?” I’m still trying out new nicknames. Fuck, this is hard, man.

“If you EVER say that to me again, I’ll knee you in the man-parts.”

I cringe. Definitely her mother’s daughter.

“So that’s a no, then.”

J shakes her head and pats the seat behind her. “Still want the package deal, Stalker?”

I grin. “More than ever. Okay, just sent you the pin to my house. You’ll get there before me but…don’t freak out, okay?” Angling her helmet to the side, I place a soft kiss on her neck, ignoring her tiny growl-turned-moan, then step back as Hallie gets on the bike, holding out her hand. I kiss the back of it and wink at her.

“See you soon, drive safe.”

By the time I make it to my truck and battle through New York traffic, it takes me almost an hour and fifteen minutes to get to my place. Before now, going home was just a pitstop to more important things, but everything’s changed these last six or so months.

I met the love of my life. Stalked the love of my life. Fucked the love of my life senseless on many different surfaces. Met the love of my life’s daughter and fell in love with her too.

Having a home seems like the next step but I’m an eager man with the patience of a two-year-old and J’s more of a dinosaur with the skittish tendencies of an alley cat. Okay, that analogy just escaped me but my point is…I can’t fuck this up. It has to be perfect and I know for a fact that the only way to make my kitty happy is get the mouse on board.

My cute little mouse with the perfected eye-roll.

To be fair, I may have gone overboard when I decided we’d need a family home. It’s not like I don’t have the money, and my primary goal was to get Hallie to do the job of convincingher mother for me. I’m pretty sure the pool and fully-furnished basement, or Play Cave as it shall be named, will do the trick nicely.

Just as I pull up to the house, I push the remote for the garage and signal J so she can pull in beside me. Okay, so, she’s not gone yet, this is promising.

“Are you fucking serious right now?”

The sigh that escapes my mouth isn’t one of surprise or disappointment because I knew this was coming. But hope perked up there for a second.

“Oh my God! This is soooo cool.” Oh, Hallie, you are so getting spoiled for Christmas.

“I did say, ‘Don’t freak out’ and it looks like you’re freaking out.” I high five Hallie, who’s practically bouncing on the balls of her feet waiting for me to open the side gate. We could go in through the garage and into the kitchen via the mudroom—of course—but I want to give them the full effect.

“I think this is bigger than the Mancini house,” Hallie whispers, her eyes darting all around, taking in the scene, the neighborhood, and the house itself.

“Nah, nothing’s bigger than that palace,” I say, looking over my shoulder and grinning. “You ready?”

“Yes!”

“Hell no.”

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