Page 89 of Rectify

“God, yes!” He paused, yelling aloud as he came inside her.

Twenty minutes later,after a quick shower to clean up, Natalya curled against Aedan’s chest as they lay on the bed.

“Think we’ll ever have a normal life?” she asked.

“Normal? What’s that?” he joked. Then, he grew serious. “Probably not. Is that a problem?”

She heard the tension in his voice. Leaning up on one elbow, she stared down at him, looking serious. “I want to be with you no matter what, no matter how insane our lives are.”

“Even if it means dealing with crazy-ass stalkers, an interfering cousin, and a paranoid bodyguard?”

She kissed him. “Yes. Because I’m with you. We’re a family now; that’s what’s important.”

“Speaking of family . . . ” He climbed out of bed, and she watched curiously as he walked over to his briefcase, resting against the wall by the door. She’d wondered why he’d brought it into the bedroom instead of leaving it in his study. Guess she was about to find out.

When he returned, he held some papers in his hand. “I was going to wait for the right moment, but . . . ” With a shrug and looking surprisingly vulnerable, he handed them over to her.

Natalya read through the papers with growing astonishment.

“You want to adopt Mateo?” she asked.

“I want the three of us to be a family.” He clasped hold of her hand and cleared his throat nervously. “I had this whole romantic gesture planned, but I don’t want to wait. Natalya, will you marry me? Will you let me have the honor of spending the rest of my life with you, loving you, cherishing you?”

She stared at him for a long moment.

“If you’re not ready . . . ” He drew back, a hurt look flashing through his eyes.

“No, I mean yes,” she growled with frustration. “Yes, I’ll marry you!”

His eyes widened. Whether at her declaration or the fact that she’d yelled the words, she wasn’t sure. “I’ll marry you. I’d love nothing more than to be your wife.”

He pulled her against him and kissed her with a passion that had her seeing stars.

“And the adoption?” he whispered.

She thought about it for a long moment. “Diego may not be on Mateo’s birth certificate, and he hasn’t been much of a father to him, but I wouldn’t feel right doing this without his agreement.”

“I thought you’d say that, so I went ahead and got Diego’s agreement.”

He handed her a letter.

“Seriously?” she asked after reading it. “He actually agreed? How did you do this?”

“Rogan,” he said simply, as though that explained everything. She supposed it did. Rogan was a force to be reckoned with.

“We can really be a family?” she asked in amazement.

“Yes. Are you okay with that? Are you all right with me adopting Mateo? I love him like he’s my own, but if you don’t think?—”

Putting her arms around his neck and pulling him down, she lay them both back on the bed with Aedan on top of her. “Shut up and kiss me, you big hunk of spunk.”

“I thought you’d never ask.”

EPILOGUE

Rogan entered the dark restaurant and made his way to the booth in the far-right corner, slipping in on one side.

Colm wasn’t pleased to be left outside in the car, but Rogan didn’t need help. And if he did, then he was in more trouble than Colm could assist him with.

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