Page 54 of Healed Hearts

“Yeah, I’m pretty in over my head here, darlin’. I didn’t think I’d be doing this again, that I’d feel this way again. I don’t regret it, and I don’t want to change it, but it’s scary for me too.”

He drops his head back to my shoulder. “I promise I’ll try not to hurt you too,” he says, voice full of sincerity.

“I know you will,” I say, then I kiss the top of his head. “Do you want to go home?”

I can feel the shake of his head. “No. Do I have to?”

“Of course not. Do you want to go home to get a couple of days’ worth of clothes? You can stay here until it’s time for you to go back to work. I can share with Roman and Beck,” I say, chuckling a bit to myself. “They can have you on workdays, and I get to keep you when you’re off.”

He giggles. “Yeah, I think that’s a good start, right? Are you sure you don’t mind?”

“Darlin’, I’d keep you here and never let you leave again if I had my way. Let’s go get you some stuff packed up, and then we can go pick up Wren. I’m patiently, impatiently waiting to hear about her latest blood work, and I want to soak in all the good times I can with her, just in case…” My voice trails off and Holden sits up.

“We’ll figure out what’s going on, even if I need to rip the asses of every single doctor in that place to get it done.”

My cock twitches at his expression, which is probably not an appropriate reaction, but he’s ready to defend my kid—fire and determination pouring from his eyes—and something about that just… fuck. “Okay, we better go before I lose my mind over that look on your face, darlin’,” I say, once again praying to the God of limp dicks that mine will behave. I have a feeling this is going to be an ongoing prayer.

Holden asked if we could pick Wren up before going to get his clothes, and did I fold as soon as I saw that pouty bottom lip and his pleading eyes? Yeah, I really did. It couldn’t be helped, though, and I’ll be taking zero questions on that at this time. The second he finds out how much power he has over me, I’m going to be even more screwed than I am now. Do I resent that? No.Am I thankful he seems like the type to use his powers for good and not evil? Yeah, I really am.

So now Wren’s in the back seat, bobbing her head in her car seat, while Holden has his hand tucked into mine and is turned around in his seat, singing the Frozen soundtrack with her. I’m trying to keep myself balanced on the edge of the falling in love thing, but the way he’s smiling at her, encouraging her, and matching her energy with his own is making that a damn near impossible task. I’ve read about a million parenting blogs since Maya died, especially ones for single parents after a loss, and it seems like the hardest part of moving on is making sure that your child is protected and loved—finding someone who will love them like you do. Something about Holden just screams natural caregiver, which yeah, okay, he’s literally a fucking pediatric nurse, so makes sense. It’s more than that, though. You can really tell that he cares about her—no artifice, no bullshit, and certainly no obligation.

“Sing, Daddy!” Wren shouts, her voice and Holden’s answering giggle pulling me from my thoughts.

“Yeah, sing with us,” he says, grinning from ear to ear. His cheeks are flushed with happiness, and he’s got a twinkle in his eye that I genuinely couldn’t resist if I tried.

I let my voice join theirs, and Wren squeals from the back seat, clapping her hands in excitement. By the time we pull into Holden’s driveway, I have a smile etched into my face, and we’ve sung most of the soundtrack.

“Wren, I’ve got to show you Mulan. It’s my favorite Disney movie. We love a fierce princess. Plus, we gotta get down to business to defeat the Huns.”

“The Huns?” Wren questions, making Holden giggle.

“Yeah, pretty girl,” he says, smiling back at her, obliterating all hope I had of not losing my entire heart to him. I mean, honestly, does he have to be so perfect? He doesn’t even have to try. Itseems like it comes naturally to him, and he has me level one thousand fucked up. “You’re gonna love it. You’ll see.” He turns to me with a smile, and I get lost in his eyes, happy to once again be drowning in him.

“You’re everything,” I whisper, closing the distance between us and pulling him into me to give him a soft, chaste kiss.

When I release him, his eyes are closed. He keeps his face tilted toward mine, and it makes my heart skip a whole-ass beat in my chest. “Let’s go, darlin’,” I whisper.

I climb out of the car and start to open Wren’s door to get her out when I’m literally body checked by Holden as he shoves me out of the way to get to her before I can. It’s like the universe is laughing at me because be real. If I’m not expected to fall in love with him, this is a pretty weird way of showing that to me. He gives me a triumphant grin, holding his hand up in a peace sign before darting off toward the door. Wren giggles as he bounds up the steps to the front porch. He pauses, turning back to me with a raised eyebrow, and then he leans in to whisper something to Wren that has her lighting up and nodding. “Come on, Daddy,” she says, so I shake myself out of my stupor and take off after them.

As we step into the house, Roman and Beck are engaged in what appears to be a very intense conversation that Holden pauses to listen to. It’s clear they’re too lost in their own world to have noticed we’re here.

“I just don’t see how it would work, beautiful,” Beck says. “You work just as much as I do, if not more, and we can’t ask Holden to take that on. Not to mention, he probably won’t be spending as much time here now.”

Roman pouts but nods. “Ugh, okay. You’re right. Have I mentioned I hate when that happens?”

Beck shrugs and pulls Roman in for a heated kiss that is, quite frankly, more than I think I need to see of them. Holden gasps,covering Wren’s eyes with his hand, which makes me chuckle, and Roman and Beck jerk apart like a couple of teenagers. Roman’s face is positively red, and Holden is glaring at the two of them. “There’s a baby in here, Beckett. Do you think you can keep it in your pants in the common areas?”

Beck turns around on the couch and smirks at Holden, who drops his hand from Wren’s eyes. “If I had known you were bringing this cutie over, I would have kept it more child-friendly, but I didn’t even knowyouwere coming, let alone coming with a baby in tow.”

Roman hasn’t said a word. He’s still trying to get his face under control if I had to guess. Beck stands and comes around the couch, holding his arms out to Wren. She shocks the hell out of me by reaching for him. I watch in mute fascination as she clings to him. “My, my. You are a little cutie pie, aren’t you?” he says, grinning at her. “Look at her, beautiful. CT here found himself an instant family and made us uncles.”

Holden giggles, but my mind is reeling. Uncles? They don’t even know her or me. What the hell. They’re just going to accept us into their little mismatched family? No hesitation? I follow Holden as he takes off and sits down on the couch beside Roman, leaning his head against his shoulder. I sit down beside him, trying to figure out how it’s possible that they’re so accepting of us, so quickly at that.

Beck sits on the floor with Wren in front of him and starts talking to her. He’s animated and bright as he does, and she’s eating it up. Giggling and talking to him like she’s known him her entire life. I can’t drag my eyes from her. We haven’t really had anyone in our corner in so long. Ruby and Henry, sure. But my parents have never met her. And my friends were all so happy for me to have a baby, until Maya got sick and died, and then I wasn’t fun anymore. I don’t know how to handle this quick acceptance.

“So, I guess we have a niece, huh?” Roman says with a chuckle.

Holden shrugs. “Looks that way. Did you expect anything less? He adopted you, then me. And so did his parents. Some people get lucky that they were raised to be full of love like him.”

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